taylord13

Hi Everyone
I'm new to the forum and I've been sober for over 2 yrs now but about a month ago I slipped up for one day. I told myself I was just going to have 2 beers and I ended up drinking 6. I was so sick the next day and I haven't had a drink since.

Everyday I do think about having just that "one beer" but I know now I will never be able to have one drink. I used to drink to combat my loneliness. I get days that I'm bored and want to drink, but I remind myself of the day I slipped up.

Does the craving for a drink ever go away. If I get stressed, bored or lonely, my cravings will hit. I get days that it's real bad and other days I don't think about it.

I binged drank my last 4 yrs of drinking everyday. I had lots of friends when I drank and after I quit they all went away.

bigsombrero

Are the alcohol cravings still bothering you? Or are you feeling worried about being alone and not having friends now? Welcome, you will find a lot of support and insight here!

sugarbear1

Congratulations on one month again! Are you working any method of recovery like rational recovery, avrt, smart?

taylord13

I'm not working on any recovery, I'm just trying not to think about drinking. I only drank that one day and I decided I didn't want to go back to drinking. I like the picture of your cat, I have 3 cats and a golden retriever. I'm not telling myself it's been 1 month because then I might be tempted to give in.

taylord13

I just miss having my friends, but the day I quit they left. The cravings aren't as bad as the first 6 months of quitting. It's hard to find new friends and it's easy to find friends in a bar. I don't want to go to bars. I had a friend that still drinks to join going dancing and I don't trust myself, because I might cave in and have a drink

hayley86

Thank you for posting this and reminding us how important it is to be vigilant even when you have been sober for a number of years. I wish you well.

Isaiah

Recovery is nothing if not a constant lesson. Usually it's a mistake that beats the lesson in.

But great that you didn't slide all the way back and got your wheels back. The two years you had are also not time/experience lost even if your sobriety date changes.

I don't think the cravings go away. I've only got over two years and they haven't. I've talked to men & women with 10+ years and it's still something they have to deal with. It gets easier and I find the cravings diminish in frequency and intensity, but I don't think it'll ever hit zero in my lifetime. I plan to be an alcoholic in recovery until my heart stops.

I have the same trigger to drink. Loneliness where I get squirrel-y. I've told my family and friends that I'm much more comfortable in sobriety at a bar with friends than I am home alone--and that is the truth for me. Thing is I know I can do little to change being lonely, I can't surround myself with people at all times, so I have to keep my focus on how I manage the urges.

Thanks for sharing. Great to hear you're back.

taylord13

I found out that I have to keep on constant guard of not slipping up. I did not enjoy that day that I drank. I felt sick for 3 days after that and even vomited the next day

taylord13

I can go out with family to a restaurant and my husband will have 2 beers and it does not bother me. We went to Reno for a couple days and I did not have any cravings. I also quit smoking and it was a crutch for me for over a year after I quit drinking. Now I'm trying to wean off the patch.

When I wake up unhappy, that's when I think about the liquor store. I used to drink from 8a.m until evening. I even quit a job I liked so I could stay at home and drink. I'm sorry I quit my job. My husband is on vacation now and after he goes back to work, I'm going to start looking for a job, that will help with my loneliness.

Dee74

Hi taylord

I dunno about anyone else, but I had to change my life as well as not drink - if I was pining for my old life and my old friends, I don't think I'd have stayed sober every long.

I need to be sober, but I need rto be happy too - if you're not happy, I think you need to think more about that aspect - maybe find some new friends, find some new things to do that don't involve drinking, or missing drinking?

I find that once I had a sober life I loved, the cravings never bothered me again

D

Bubovski

G/day Taylord.
On being discharged from de-tox 19 years ago I resolved never to drink again.
After about six months I decided to become a 'moderate drinker'.
While managing to some degree by timing myself, keeping notes, along with other restrictions the process was far from pleasant and simply lacking my past and ultra dangerous extremism.
I invented the standard drink glass. A 285 ml glass, marked like a medicine glass, all (or most) drinks from spirits to wine (all alc %s) were marked to help drinkers be aware of how much they had consumed.
I discussed my invention with a patents lawyer who laughed all the way to the bank.
Later I paid the Patents Office for a search only to find 'my invention" had been patented in the U.S. I don't believe it ever took on, and so ended my inventing career.

These days I see the need to realise my frailties when it comes to alcohol rejection and take steps, along with S.R., to accomplish this.

taylord13

When I'm busy I don't think about drinking. We were busy in Reno and I didn't even crave any alcohol. I know I had to find new friends, all my girlfriends wanted to go out and dance and party.

I'm trying to be happy everyday, and I have to work at being happy. Thoughts will hit my brain that will lead me in a downward spiral, and I have to use cognitive thinking and think positive. Drinking is really bad for people that tend towards depression, and that's me.

I used to wake up with horrible hangovers and feeling depressed when I drank and I would head to the liquor store to feel better. It was a horrible cycle I was in.

Today is my birthday and my grown children and grandchildren came over and they brought me chocolate cake and ice cream.

pinkdog

Welcome! This is the place!

IWillWin

Taylord - I relate. I have never had a huge social circle (too busy being a workaholic and an alcoholic, go figure!) but I had a small group of peeps that I considered my closest friends. Yes, we drank and partied and traveled and had some of the best times of my life. Also some of the worst.

Both are still active with varying forms of addiction. I'm realizing that I have to change these relationships or else, eventually, I will wind up throwing sobriety out the window for one more drunk with them. It breaks my heart because I really love them, but my sobriety is too important to me after almost a year.

So, with a heavy heart I'm detaching. Slowly. Eventually, I know they will just be people I used to know. But I have to live with that.

I spend most of my time alone, except for work which is pretty social, but I've yet to find friends I'm comfortable with and enjoy. Even my AA people I found in early sobriety seem to only want to talk about being sober. I want to live and be sober, but I don't want to talk about it all the time.

I have faith that my social life will improve but I also know that time takes time. I'm still learning how to live sober - the blessings of that will come.

Hope my sharing my experience helped a little...and when you feel alone SR is here 24/7 thankfully!!!

Dee74

Happy Birthday

D

taylord13

I went to AA meetings and I didn't find any friends there. I'm a loner that needs people. I had a close friend tell me, since I won't drink with her, she didn't want to be my friend. She said "Sober people are boring". I guess I would rather be boring than a drunk.

The job I quit, I had to be social and I talked plenty and then after work I hit the bars, where I was with a group of friends. I do talk to one of them still and I go watch him play tennis. I tried to take up tennis and I couldn't hit the ball. He wanted me to go dancing and he said he wouldn't drink so I wouldn't be tempted. I was to afraid to be in that party scene and didn't want to go.

I had to detach from the bars and the people I hung out with, I do miss them and the partying, but I don't miss waking up sick and hung over. Those days ended about 4 yrs ago and I stayed at home and drank. That was really depressing.

You don't want to lose the one year sobriety, and thank you for saying you will be there when I'm lonely.:
taylor

taylord13

Thank you for welcoming me to the forum
taylor

taylord13

How have you been doing? I've been doing much better on not having cravings for a drink. Actually that's not true, I went to the zoo today and I thought wouldn't it be nice to sit and have a beer. I decided to enjoy the zoo with just diet pop. I can't have one beer. I will go back to binge drinking everyday..... That one day that I caved in made me realize that I did not want to drink again. That was about 4 months ago. It's been longer than I thought. I did not want to lose that over 2 yrs of sobriety.

Actually the smell of alcohol does not smell good to me. I love snow skiing and I never drank while I skied. I can't wait until winter comes so I can go skiing. I'm not crazy about the heat and luckily our state did not have the heat like last summer.

taylor

LuLu13

Happy birthday!

taylord13

I haven't been on this site for awhile, I'm still trying to figure it out, I quit drinking and then I start up again. Not sure if your still this site