brownie374

@jettboy, thanks. I have tried this although with food not drinking and failed miserably.

Everyone, I appreciate your feedback and even when responding to all of you I feel like I am coming off as though I am making excuses. I am not. I guess I am just looking for the golden solutions. I really do not want to rely on alcohol anymore. I want to be able to TRULY enjoy my life and at the rate I am going it will not be a long one.

and I am guessing tagging is not a feature on this site lol

brownie374

@ippochick and @earthsteps. Thanks for the warm welcome and kind words.

Nuudawn

Welcome Brownie! I would start with one solution right now..don't drink. Stay sober ..right now. Stay sober in all your "right nows" right now. Face your situation of the right now by not drinking. Try to stay open to whatever it may require to not drink...right now. Do not overwhelm yourself with too much future or too much past. Just keep focusing on what you can do about your right now. It's all you got. I made a list of things I could do instead of drinking if overwhelmed with desire to drink. I'm not going to AA but a meeting was "on the list" if that's what it took. Try to open yourself to the willingness to do whatever it takes to not drink..right now. Call your doc..yes. This forum is a WONDERFUL place to help you get through some right nows..sober.

Dee74

Welcome Brownie
I think seeing your Dr is a great start

beyond that, try the support here - many people have found that makes a huge difference

D

Junegirl

Hi Brownie,

Welcome to SR! I knew AA was not for me either. I found Smart Recovery and it's working really well for me. Somebody else mentioned AVRT and I know that works for some people too. You should do whatever feels right *for you*. Best of luck,

Junegirl

Grungehead

You asked for help, but I hear a lot of "cant's" and "wont's" and "no's" and "not's". I see this a lot from people coming here hoping to quit drinking, but they want a magic cure. Unfortunately there is no magic cure or we would all be happily sober and this forum would not exist. The closest thing I have found to a magic cure is "willingness" and "open mindedness", both are positive attitudes.

Your dad has stayed sober for 30 years using AA. It seems illogical to totally dismiss AA having this knowledge. I'm not pushing AA on you. If he had gotten sober and stayed sober for 30 years using a different method I would say the same thing about that method if I was serious about getting sober. Getting sober and staying sober is very hard work at times, but it is worth it in the long run. If you're not willing to make changes in your life and put in the hard work you will find it very difficult to get / stay sober.

Hevyn

Welcome Brownie! We're so glad you're here.

You already have some good suggestions - I just want to add my support & to tell you it's wonderful you've reached out. I was older than you when I finally saw the light - I'm glad you aren't going to allow alcohol to destroy you. Being here will keep you from feeling alone. That's what gave me the courage to stop after drinking for a lifetime.

alphaomega

Well Hiya there Brownie !

I'm not sure if you are living in my house, or the person in my mirror, or if you have been watching me live my life, but, dang, girl, we got us some sim.i.lar.i.ties!!!!

First, a heartfelt welcome to you to this incredibly supportive site, where you will find so many of us that are JUST LIKE YOU. My penchant for the sour grapes, and the fact that it satisfied my alcoholic behavior without looking too much like a vagrant, led me to take multiple wine classes at, get this, Northwestern University. Talk about trying to sophisticate the boozer. Ha ! I swished, swirled, pontificated ad nauseaum about the various properties of the wine. But damn if I never spit. Never. Never, ever, ever, ever, EVER. What a waste of a buzz...

Fast forward, oh, about 20 years, and my wine consumption could hardly been seen as "refined". Blowing back a bottle prior to dinner is just another Tuesday night. I didn't care if it was Cakebread or Two Buck. The faster the better to git er done.

Tried AA. Didn't get it. But after spending hours here, I think I'm starting too.

Pouring over literally every bit of info I can to try to make sense of this disease.vvat the very least, do some soul searching to find out who I am and what my path and purpose here is.

It's ok to be one of us.

Glad your here and welcome.

brownie374

Grungehead, your words are not what I want to hear but realize I need to hear. You make sense but I am stubborn and will seek other avenues before I go the route of aa.

To everyone else, thank you for the warm welcome and words of encouragement. I will beat this thing. I am tired of not having control over my life because of alcoholism. There is so much that I want to accomplish in my life and I've got to get a hold of this.

Alphaomega! You are hilarious!

Also, small victory. For the first time in a while I managed to go a day without liquor (yesterday). I am doing well so far today but you know it's calling my name. I won't give in though.

Grungehead

brownie I understand as I am stubborn too. Trust me when I say I was beaten into "willingness" and "open mindedness".

Even though I have found that AA's 12 steps work best for me I don't think they have the monopoly on how to get sober. I think the key is to find "something" that works for you and grab a hold of it. The willingness and open mindedness is what will allow you to find this "something".

Also congrats on staying sober yesterday! Everyone here that is sober all started with one day. I've had a few day one's in my life.

Hevyn

Good job on your day without alcohol, Brownie. Well done. Keep it going.