Am I heading for a fall, has anyone already found it so easy?
 

I've just posted a thread on how my month of sobriety has been so great. But I'm worried that I have found it so easy. I've read the topics on this forum on how hard it is to give it up. I am a binge drinker no doubt and easily did 4 to 5 days of round the clock drinking at least once every two months normally around pay day. Now I have no cravings at all. My GP has put me on anti depressants but surely it can't be just that?

I'm not trying to gloat or anything but after reading the heartbreaking experiences on here I thought I would have it harder. It's a difficult subject I know and I'm almost waiting for a hiccup

Different people find it different.I understand as didn't find it really really difficult.BUT, I got to 6 weeks twice last year and then an urge to drink hit me both times and I went for it. I wasn't expecting it and didn't know how to deal with it. Almost because I'd not had bad cravings I had no way of dealing with one when it did occur.

Maybe don't live in fear but be wary and cautious.think of how you will deal with it when you do get a craving/urge/overwhelming drive to drink.

I managed to quit again in December and this time I was more cautious and put more into my recovery,wasn't as complacent

Also,I convinced myself that because I didn't find it REALLY difficult I didn't have a problem so would be ok to drink again..............:(

Congrats on your months btw :)

I hear you! And I'm glad you are concerned. Last month I posted how great I was feeling having 8 days of sobriety. It had been so easy - no cravings, feeling amazing, etc etc... Then, that very evening I felt strong enough to go to a social function and not drink. I was there all of one minute when a glass of wine was presented to me and I immediately accepted it. Be cautious. Your intuition is telling you that you are not out of the woods yet.
And many congratulations on your 1 month milestone! You should be proud of yourself :)

Everyone is differant but a day will come when your addicton will tell you that you over reacted that it wasnt that bad that just one will not hurt. Be prepared for that day

I found for myself that cravings for drink were not really that much of an issue. I made up my mind to quit and that was that (so far, knock on wood!).

What's been really hard is balancing out my life so that I'm not just not-drinking. Being sober is a very different way of living and I find myself meeting lots of ups and downs. The challenge has been meeting them and trying to improve my life, instead of just living with the mess.

And also reminding myself just how bad it was. I do really worry that I will forget and think that just because I quit, I don't have a problem!

I stopped for a month last year and also became complacent after around 6 weeks. Just a beer I thought. Soon the beer wasn't enough and I was back to whisky within weeks. I know how my mind works and I'm sure if I haven't by then in a month I may get whimsical and reach for a can of lager. Last year I didn't have one two one counselling or SR to help.

You are not alone. I too felt only survival, not deprival.

Everyone is different. I almost quit SR because from six months to my first year sober I kept hearing the dire tales of relapse, some seeming to say that since they made a very bad decision and relapsed, that therefore relapse is pretty much inevitable.

If you read a lot here you can see it in the phrasing. Some like me flipped a switch in our heads and were willing to do whatever it took to get and stay sober. If being secretive didn't work we read out docs in and got very public help. Whatever it takes. If what it takes is just SR, then they are committed to SR!

You will read lots of conditional statements that they could never go to a meeting because others would know, as if they didn't already. Or that they can't afford the time off work. Or that stress cases them to drink. Triggers, visuals, smells etc. See many don't want to quit. They just want their cake and eat it too. They WANT to drink, but they also want to keep their marriage and job and will do anything to have them all. For us, we can have it all without alcohol. I don't miss it. My head has healed more each year.

I had some awful PAWS, but from the day I checked into the hospital for a 7 day safe medical detox, I never craved another drink physically or emotionally. I was so sick at the end. See I was doing what you did on binges every day for several years. I am glad you are finding the way forward as easy, before dealing with severe physical addiction such that the day must start with alcohol or the shakes incapacitated you.

Just don't lose sight of the fact that we are all one drink away from enslavement again. I have three years sober. Not drinking once I broke free was easy for me too. I will never forget the morning sickness, the shaking like palsy, the inability to drive myself, the isolation.

Welcome to the world of us non-drinkers. We don't miss it any more than someone who never drank. In fact, except for here, I never give it a thought when around drinkers or alone. Sometimes I decide I'm thirsty around folks drinking beers or iced drinks and a smoothie or coke hits the spot.

Of alcohol, no thanks I've drunk my fill.

I've had the dreadful withdrawal symptoms at least four times in the last year. I don't eat during my sessions so probably made it worse for myself. One of these withdrawals involved me going to hospital. Did I stop then and take stock? Of course not! I was in denial. Now I am out of that mindset and determined to fight

It's been pretty easy for me so far also, day 105. I've had thought of drinking occasionally, but not what I'd really call cravings; cravings that I had while drinking.

That said, like you, I think a switch finally went off this time, and I know I need to be done for good. I just can't risk that first drink, as much as I may like to tempt fate.

I am recovered completely. My wife drinks and there is scotch in the house. She smokes so there is always a carton of smokes in the house. Has no more to do with me than the milk in the fridge she drinks and I would gag on. I do not drink female bovine glandular secretions!) Since I was smoking three packs a day and since I was going in hospital for a detox, I figured why quit only one killing addiction, why not both. So I quit smoking and drinking at the same time after 42 years of smoking since a pack a day at the mature age of 12.

I won't get complacent because I will never forget what poor decisions and self indulgence caused me to do to myself. Sorry I don't ascribe the addiction to voices or another personality telling me anything. I have thoughts where I think through the pros and cons, but it is all me. I was the addicted one desiring it. The devil, voices, were not outside me, nor something I could conveniently blame. It was not me! It was my scapegoat!

Nope, it was me. I was the one who decided that alcohol was a poor thing to do for instant adult gratification. I am now mature enough to be adult and not need to drink. I look at it like a binky we give kids. I no longer need my binky to confront life. Outgrown it.

You can too. Just never forget that helpless feeling, and your all powerful start urges. If you don't it WILL progress to where I was.

I used here, and AA for a few months for their great non-judgmental fellowship. Good examples face to face was also what I needed to understand my PAWS.
Congrats on seeing the cause and changing your mindset!
:c011:

I am only on day 3 so obviously no way to judge - but so far it's been easier than I thought.

I was able to kick my drug habits in my early 20's basically overnight. On my 30th birthday I kicked my cigarette habit overnight.

I am hoping this is the same although for some reason I doubt it. Time will tell.

I think it might be easier to have daily cravings or urges to deal with at predictable times and places. When you're just feeling good with no urges at all then it becomes easy to let your guard down. Then BOOM, a drink or a drug leaps into your hand, just like that.

Itchy, I respect your thoughts and always relate strongly to your posts. A switch flipped for me as well, and it has not been much of a challenge for me either and it has been well over 6 years. Actually seems like a complete lifetime ago that I was a drinker. Anyway, I just wanted to point out that many do find it useful to personify their addiction in order to separate. I wanted to clarify that doing is simply a strategy, a technique that many find useful. No method that I'm aware of actually blames drinking on an outside entity.

I can't give up my cigs yet! I do relate to the switch in your mind though. That has gone off. For the last 30 days and today I don't feel like drinking. That's what I'm working with

Mine wasn't easy but it wasn't the anguish i see with some , as with pain i think we all have different thresholds .
I knew i'd flogged the dead horse far enough with my drinking , it no longer held any pleasure . It had become a crutch one that i knew other people managed to quit and stay off permanently , so why not me . I was prepaired for all kinds of stuff .

in the end a few times screwed up on the floor sobbing feeling wretched were about as bad as it got and even then i was thinking " oh mecanix get over yourself " I firmly lay the blame as to why i felt that way at alcohols door and yet another reason why i think relapse is crazy. I'd have to be mad to consider drinking again .

Onwards with learning how to make my life even better, happier and rigourous in freedom , i wish you the same

Day 688 and going strong ,

Bestwishes, m

It's probably easier when you only drink 4-5 days every couple months versus drinking everyday. You're lucky to not have any cravings yet... but I'm sure you will get some.

haha! I do this too mecanix..."oh please, soberlicious, pull up your big girl pants". I guess I'd had enough when I got tired of my own drama.

What MIR said. I'm also a binge drinker, and I will go weeks without drinking and have little or no temptation. And then wham, I start thinking I can control my drinking and that desire for a beer buzz comes on incredibly strong. Be prepared for that moment.

But, at the same time, don't spend time waiting for the other shoe to drop. Be aware of potential danger, but don't dwell on "falling"; otherwise, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I think we all too often wait for the other shoe to drop. For me, as soon as I'm feeling comfortable or secure...I panic. This can't be right. I feel fine. What am I forgetting? I must have neglected something...or I must be headed for a fall.

Trust me, challenges will come your way, and you will know when they appear. There is no need to fear a boogeyman though - if you are feeling happy, confident, sane, and healthy...enjoy it.

For me quitting has been like skydiving; falling is easy, gravity does all the work! The hard part is that first step out the door. That part took me 25 years.