fufu

So I started on Monday 3rd I had a drink on Friday at social gathering (pulke)

At this point I should inform you that I am one of those lone drinkers... I start drinking 3 hours at home before I go out with friends , obviously I am drunk before I step out my front door.

I don't think having one glass is bad in social circumstances. It is a social thing right? So I guess my goal is control

ScottFromWI

To clarify, is your goal to be able have control and quit drinking, or control it so you can somehow moderate it?

fufu

Moderate it... I don't think that in my case it is necessary to completely stop... One drink at a social event for example. My problem is I drink until it hurts. Then I drink because it hurts, then maybe I go to sleep...

fufu

I'm 24 this should be my party party time, I want to have the fun not the self punishment that I practice

least

Sounds like moderating isn't working too well for you so far. Why not give it up completely for a few months and see how you feel.

I used to try to moderate too but never could. It was easier for me to just give it up altogether.

ScottFromWI

There are very few structured programs to help one moderate drinking. I think mostly because its impossible for most with a drinking addiction to do it. Most here have tried many times over to do so and invariably we end up back in our same old ways.

Have you attempted to cut back or "just have one" for any extended period of time?

trikyriky

Where did that come from , drinkers handbook ? I don't want to sound harsh , paddy cake don't work here. 24 turned to 57 for me , the longer you stay with the drink the harder it it will be to stop

hypochondriac

I hate to draw attention to the contradiction in these two sentences Fufu. I understand the goal, I really do, but I am not sure if it is possible. I was in the same place as you and I thought that if I could just stop drinking on my own then there would be no problem. It turns out drinking full stop was my problem. If you had the ability to moderate your drinking you would have done it by now. I used the argument that I could moderate because I would often only have one beer out, but would have to have a lot before I got there and when I got back home. Someone told me that controlling it everyday wasn't control.

Sorry, that's not to say you shouldn't try if that's all you feel up to right now. I guess for so many of us moderation became an impossible aim long ago. To be honest I have known plenty of different types of drinkers go through periods of sobriety and moderation. It's a long path sometimes so just starting anywhere is worthwhile. Glad you are here x

deeker

Most of us have been unwilling to admit we were real alcoholics. No person likes to think he is bodily and mentally different from his fellows. Therefore, it is not surprising that our drinking careers have been charaterized by countless vain attempts to prove we could drink like other people. The idea that somehow, someday he will control and enjoy his liquor drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker. The persistence of this illusion is astonishing. Many pursue it into the gates of insanity or death.

Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. Page 30, lines 1 - 6
Reprinted With permission of AA World services, inc

IMO- No one here is going to tell you how to moderate. If we could we wouldn't be here.

Anna

To me it's quite simple.

If you're not an alcoholic, you will have no problem controlling your drinking.

If you are an alcoholic, you will not be able to control your drinking. Alcoholics are not able to control their intake.

sugarbear1

if ya gotta start 3 hours before just to walk out of your door, what makes you think you can have one in a "social situation?"

most of us are social isolators, we don't do well with groups, our self centered inadequacy has us in a difficult place.....

24? You should be focusing on establishing yourself in a career and making sound decisions with a sober and sound mind.....

mmc514

I am 25 and I have the same issue. You are right about this being your party time, but it sounds like you can't control it (no offense). I am going through the same thing--I drink before I go out, and then get more when I'm out. I have tried stopping, and I want to quit, but it's not working thus far. I've tried controlling it as well, and I find that one beer leads to the next, etc. I feel for ya, bud. I know exactly what you are going through. Good luck!

Ohio1

24 is not party time- the fact is probably 18 shouldn't be party time but it turns into that at least here in America. 24 turns into 30 with no established plan or social skills turns into 40 etc... I'm 28, somewhere around 23 I started having a problem with drinking but chose to ignore it and be the fun young guy and I wish more than anything I could go back and realize that 24 was an age to be creating opportunities and establishing myself as a productive human.

fufu

So it is hot weather and I love beer It is a constant temptation so I have started drinking icy green tea every time I feel for a beer... And fruit juice..

call me Esmeralda

BikerAcct

HI Fufu, or Esmeralda as you prefer. Yeah, hot weather and ice cold beer.. yumm. Or used to be yum at any rate. I brewed my own, and in the summer, did it outside.

That was then, this is now. For me, I've found drinking a nice ice cold glass of root beer works. It was always my mothers favorite drink, and now that I'm not drinking beer or vodka, I'm finding that the taste of a good root beer made with some aged vanilla seems to satisfy my need for something gold, fizzy, and good tasting.

Summer's are tough, but there are other drinks besides beer - as I am finding out.

fufu

Thank you got all comments I feel very positive and motivated... Will be checking in frequently ^_^

call me Esmeralda

fufu

I will try that... I have to change that signature thing was actually meant as a joke (Esmeralda is a character from a ballet)

call me Esmeralda

BikerAcct

I recognize the name and the ballet. Didn't realize it was your signature line though

fufu

Yes I never know what to put as signature and to not put anything seems so impersonal

I like gnocchi ^_^

fufu

Yes! I never know what to put as a signature and to put nothing seems so impersonal

I like gnocchi ^_^