Problem or just lucky?
 

I’ve only stopped drinking for 39 days and it seems that I’ve lost all desire to drink. Literally, I have no desire to drink anymore. But reading the SR Newcomers Forum daily makes me wonder if this is a problem. Maybe I’m just fooling myself in some way. Has anyone else experienced this situation?

Maybe I’m just lucky or maybe I’m fooling myself. I guess time will tell.

Maybe a little of both ;-) I am about 4 months in now and I go through long stretches where I don't even think about drinking, and then it just pops back in sometimes. Last weekend was one - it was one of the first very warm weekends we had up here in Northern Wisconsin, and to me nothing goes better with lots of outside work/play than beer. Honestly I don't think I'll personally ever completely lose the desire to drink, but it certainly dissipates with time.

Just go with it. Once I quit, I had no desire to drink ever come up again....In fact, most of my recovered friends have not had any 'desire to drink' come up, after the first few days of recovery, anyway.

"...Honestly I don't think I'll personally ever completely lose the desire to drink..." -----what a sad way to live.

Perhaps I should rephrase - I meant I don't think I'll ever completely eliminate "thoughts" of drinking 100%. I just at times remember and associate certain events with having a cold beer. I doubt anything will ever completely erase those from my brain because so much of my life involved drinking - that will never change.

Having said that I'm not sad at all contrary to what you might believe, and the thoughts I have are completely manageable and i have no problem with them.

I'm not sure I'll ever completely lose the desire to drink either, and that is hardly a "sad way to live." It just IS. We all have our crosses to bear. And there's a whole lotta space between "struggling not to drink from one minute to the next for the rest of my life" and "never completely losing the desire to drink." There is plenty of room in life for joy and happiness and fulfillment in life alongside the occasional desire to drink.

A "sad way to live" would be to continue down the drunk path of destruction.

Just consider yourself blessed to not be having thoughts of drinking.:)

I'm not sure I'll ever completely lose the desire to drink either, and that is hardly a "sad way to live." It just IS. We all have our crosses to bear. And there's a whole lotta space between "struggling not to drink from one minute to the next for the rest of my life" and "never completely losing the desire to drink." There is plenty of room in life for joy and happiness and fulfillment in life alongside the occasional desire to drink.

A "sad way to live" would be to continue down the drunk path of destruction.

Having no desire to drink is only a problem when you use it to convince yourself that you must not have a problem, and therefore, can drink.

Alcoh-logic thinking.

So I guess I have a problem AND I'm lucky! :dance1a::dance1a:

As long as you aren't drinking then it's all good. Just be vigilant, right?

Thank you all for your responses. It's good to hear that other people have had a similar experience and are still sober. I will enjoy my good luck and remain vigilant in my sobriety.

I've got 37 days now after a couple of false starts, guess I'm lucky too :-D I also rarely feel the urge now, which is a shame as my money box was gaining at first (I was putting beer money in it). But I did get an urge last weekend - warm weather, sunshine...I think that affects quite a few other posters. I also think vigilance is key, I've got that from reading stories on SR daily - a daily dose of wisdom! I hope you are enjoying sobriety as much as I am.

LIke I said to someone else today - just go with it wanttobepure :)

For what it's worth, I didn't have a road to Damascus experience at all.

I've never drunk again after April 6 2007, but I was tempted for a few years afterwards, on various occasions, in tough times

for me that's not a failure - the strength of my recovery lies in the quality of my response...:)

D

Exactly. :) This is my issue... I didn't have any real cravings until well into my third month... and even those were more philosophical than anything else. I haven't yet felt like I was actually at risk of drinking. Bored, fatigued, lots of stuff, but never really at risk.

Which then makes me think "this is not so bad! surely I can drink in moderation!"... which of course if I really had no desire to drink would not be the first conclusion I'd come to.

We might be lucky... or we might be dealing with a sneak attack. ;) Keep your eye on it.

I vote sneak attack. ;)

I have gone 30 days twice before and I'm sneaking up on 30 days again. I have usually taken a ride on the pink cloud about this time and rode it for a few weeks or a few months. Eventually the pink cloud will dissipate so like others have said...stay vigilante. I have two different stretches of 7 years of sobriety and like I said, I am sneaking up on 30 days...again. You can't take anything for granted as I have learned the hard way.

Pink Cloud:
The temporary sensation of euphoria and well-being that is characteristic to those who are new to AA and sobriety. For most, the pink cloud eventually dissipates. This heralds the time to get down to business and start seriously working the Steps.

Okay, when the pink cloud dissipates and The Beast appears, I will go vigilante on his a**!:a043:

When i first quit drinking, i too lost the desire to drink. The thoughts were always there but the desire wasn't. I made it 10 months. I started off in the rooms of AA but as my sobriety stretched out i became lax in attending meetings. I got a sponsor a little ways into the program only because an oldtimer caught me and introduced me to her. I existed on thr fringes of the program and only took half measures, if that. Well, half measures availed me nothing. After a few months, i moved and dropped my sponsor. I stopped attending meetings and relied on that pink cloud of new sobriety to carry me through. As all clouds do, my pink cloud eventually dissapated around my 10 month anniversary. Because i had nothing else to fall back on, i turned once again to the bottle. I stayed there for about 3 months. I'd convinced myself that vodka was my problem and wine would not get me. What an alcoholic thought that was! I discovered that wine will get you just as drunk, much to my dismay.

I'm back in AA now and no longer existing on the fringe. I have a sponsor and sobriety sisters and a long list of numbers in my phone that begin with AA. I'm building my sobriety on something solid this time. I know that no matter where i am, there is something i can go to where there are people just like me. That's been my experience. I hope it helps.

For someone to refer to your feelings as "a sad way to live", makes me feel "sad" for them, because that is just plain ignorant as well as highly arrogant-

We ALL have that desire pop back up from time to time, we're friggin' alcoholics!! What matters is how we react to the thoughts- Anyone who claims they "lost" their desire forever after a few days is in my opinion living in a state of denial.. one which could quite easily lead to a relapse, because of the fact that it's a refusal to deal with the realities of recovery- :You_Rock_