Living without drinking
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 206
Just keep my fingers crossed that I get the job and never drink again. I have this obsession with I will stop tomorrow or on Monday or 1 Decembsr or whatever and have put my life on hold for so many years
Member
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: UK
Posts: 5,678
I'm not saying you'll get a job and automatically want to stop drinking. Clearly that's BS. Just as likely you'll get the job and be sacked for drinking on it 
I just mean having so much time to yourself isn't gonna help your mood. I kept putting it off too but it got to a now or never point. It is never easy but there is help out there if you want it x
I just mean having so much time to yourself isn't gonna help your mood. I kept putting it off too but it got to a now or never point. It is never easy but there is help out there if you want it x
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 206
Hoping that a job will be a good motivator and I realise that I need to be very careful. Also when I have stopped I'm the past and felt better, I have celebrated by drinking. I have lost jobs coz of drinking so I know what it's like.
Member of SMART Recovery
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 1,722
Originally Posted by Kza 
Hoping that a job will be a good motivator and I realise that I need to be very careful. Also when I have stopped I'm the past and felt better, I have celebrated by drinking. I have lost jobs coz of drinking so I know what it's like.
So you already know that if you keep at this you will feel better, and you also know that it doesn't happen instantly, that it takes a while.
The trick is not to let go of what you've gained. What sobriety gives us, drinking can take away in a flash.
Member
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 249
Kza, you may not realize it, but by posting on here you're helping me remember how difficult the cravings were in my first several weeks. I'm on day 52 now and let me tell you it does get easier to deal with the cravings. Right now there's just too much alcohol in your system and you need to give yourself time to detox. Trust me I understand what you're feeling. It really sucks.
Some tricks that helped me in the first few weeks (and still following some of these to some extent but nowhere near as intensely now):
1. Go buy some honey and orange juice. Mix a good amount of honey into each glass you have. Buy a lot of it actually. It's a way to sort of "trick" your body into giving it a lot of sugar without the alcohol with it. With the absence of all of those alcoholic drinks, your body is not used to not getting the sugar intake that goes along with those drinks. This was a good trick for me for the first few weeks when the cravings were still intense. You can also go buy gum and chew a lot of it. Another thing that helped me before was eating italian ice as well.
2. Eat a lot of food! Don't let your body get hungry. Give it another reason to not start craving alcohol as badly. I've been eating A LOT more again since I've been sober. I make sure to feed myself plenty especially in the evenings after work when I am most vulnerable to thinking about drinking. After dinner, I grab a glass of grape juice, pop some popcorn, and eat a big bowl of ice cream. Has helped a lot for the nights where I start feeling weird!
3. You need to start getting yourself to an AA meeting. Get yourself a sponsor and find a "home group" (a group of other alcoholics in AA that you will primarily get to know and hang out with -- as well as be accountable to). I have tried quitting by myself before and each time I wouldn't last any longer than maybe 2 weeks before I would cave into alcohol again. Without AA so far, I know I would not have made it this far so far!
4. Keep yourself occupied! Watch lots of TV for now if you have to. For the first several days that will probably be good enough. That's what I did anyway. I had a job though so I think that helped to sort of keep me occupied.
Good luck!
Some tricks that helped me in the first few weeks (and still following some of these to some extent but nowhere near as intensely now):
1. Go buy some honey and orange juice. Mix a good amount of honey into each glass you have. Buy a lot of it actually. It's a way to sort of "trick" your body into giving it a lot of sugar without the alcohol with it. With the absence of all of those alcoholic drinks, your body is not used to not getting the sugar intake that goes along with those drinks. This was a good trick for me for the first few weeks when the cravings were still intense. You can also go buy gum and chew a lot of it. Another thing that helped me before was eating italian ice as well.
2. Eat a lot of food! Don't let your body get hungry. Give it another reason to not start craving alcohol as badly. I've been eating A LOT more again since I've been sober. I make sure to feed myself plenty especially in the evenings after work when I am most vulnerable to thinking about drinking. After dinner, I grab a glass of grape juice, pop some popcorn, and eat a big bowl of ice cream. Has helped a lot for the nights where I start feeling weird!
3. You need to start getting yourself to an AA meeting. Get yourself a sponsor and find a "home group" (a group of other alcoholics in AA that you will primarily get to know and hang out with -- as well as be accountable to). I have tried quitting by myself before and each time I wouldn't last any longer than maybe 2 weeks before I would cave into alcohol again. Without AA so far, I know I would not have made it this far so far!
4. Keep yourself occupied! Watch lots of TV for now if you have to. For the first several days that will probably be good enough. That's what I did anyway. I had a job though so I think that helped to sort of keep me occupied.
Good luck!
lillyknitting
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Loughton, Essex, England
Posts: 638
Originally Posted by Kza
I know and fully accept that alkies have to learn to live without drinking. But for emits like trying to fill an empty void with meaningless activities. tomorrow I am ging to tidy up, go for a very long walk and I have a Skype interview for a job. That takes care of say five hours if I throw in having coffee and something to eat. Drinking has always been great for me as a way of passing tome easily. Now without it I am here in bed at 8.30 pm and desperately hoping to sleep well but know I will be up at 4 or 5 am.
Member
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: UK
Posts: 5,678
Originally Posted by Kza
No, am going it alone. Just deft get a job.
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