MrBen

For some reason today is a bad day. I've gone plenty of days without craving and now it hit me all at once. This might sound strange but I think what brought it on was feeling happy: traditionally this would mean I would go out and drink to celebrate, so I think my brain might be making that connection, then again maybe it's just random.

I think the best plan is to take it a few hours at a time, It's around half 9, I'll get to mid-day and have lunch, just concentrate on that for now.

Oh, for anyone interested my liver function test came back fine, not to mention I'm at a much smaller risk of a heart attack from the weight I lost not drinking.

These days will happen I guess, just got to make it through.

lorelei

hey mrben,
yes these days will come, and you will get through it, keep yourself busy, and keep posting, sometimes I need to take my days 10 minutes at a time just to get thro but I know you can do this, nice to hear you are feeling happy, you just need to find a new way to acknowledge it without drink x

ImperfectlyMe

Hey mr Ben when you start getting your gears going and come to a good steady place, you can get knocked to your knees by the cravings out if no where. Do whatever it takes to get through that moment, because it won't last for long. At 5 1/2 months sober now it's just becoming second nature. They come and they go, but have little effect on me now.

It's hard to remember that alcohol was once do important to me. For now I couldn't imagine missing out on all the things I'm enjoying

Take it easy and trust yourself, great job!

GracieLou

Not strange at all. This happens more often then you would think.

When we feel like crap it is a reminder of where we were but happy makes those fade. We relate happy to drinking or drunk and that is where we go.

After enough happy sober goes by then I think that feeling fades away and we only associate happy with sober.

coraltint

Great that you posted about the craving....it shows you're really trying something new, and that matters.

Keep it up, let us know how you're doing, and when you get through it, you'll be able to tell the next person who posts that how you got over.

Acheleus

Craving here on day 12 son!! Got to figure out some kind of way...

13unluckyforsom

http://www.brighteyecounselling.co.u...ohol-cravings/

Try reading this Ach might help

instant

Every craving you get through weakens the addiction. In time those really powerful ones become rarer then in the end become a thing of the past.

I did get them on occasions for the first six months or so.

I also found that the changing of the seasons would also stir up positive ideas about drinking.

seahorse661

I too, am far more likely to have cravings when I want to celebrate than when I am feeling low. Mine have got less intense over the months, and each time I survived one without drinking greatly increased my confidence, so the next time I knew I would be fine, just needed to distract myself for awhile.

MrBen

I'm finding anger a good motivation, mainly about all the time I've lost. Each time I've started drinking again- Boom! Six months of my life gone. I've thrown away three years pretty much, I know my life should be better right now. So yeah, I'm angry at alcohol, that's helping.

13unluckyforsom

Try counting things - simple things like corners or patterns in your room - I do this - I count things but as I count I touch my teeth with my tongue lol dunno if this is healthy but it always distracts me. I do get a bit symmetrical with it - two teeth left side - two teeth right - top bottom etc but it really works to distract me.

Or another thing I used to play piano - five finger exercise? Sound familiar? I will repeat in my head 54331,321,4321,321 but i would add it into something i can count 'on' lol it just distracts me. The good thing is there's lines and patterns and corners everywhere - there's always something you can focus on and count. Maybe sounds odd but it's a coping mechanism I've used for years to distract myself when the reality is too much.

MrBen

Distraction is also really useful, if nothing else these cravings are making me a better guitar player =)

ImperfectlyMe

If you are musically inclined that an excellent coping mechanism. Put those feeling on paper throw in some chords and you've got your own soundtrack

Amajorityofone

Amen.

“No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness — they have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it” - C.S. Lewis.

DarkDays

Uk c4 bouncers last night. Watch the sheep poisoning themselves and falling over sick in the street, every town city in the uk this is going on night after night. Anyone who us craving watch it, makes you feel so cool and rebellious to be sober.

Liver tests are fine, well that's good news ! But please do not let this be a gateway to drinking a drug. Free yourself from the prison and obsession of alcoHELL. You can do it cravings are thoughts , ride them out stare at a wall all day if you have to .

Good luck.

MrBen

I did watch it, those programs always astonish me. Look at that objectively, if any illegal socially unacceptable drug caused chaos on that scale, the press would lose their minds. I'm not saying alcohol is better or worse than any other drug, but it's pretty crazy.

No, well the doctor made it clear though they are fine right now that wont last forever.