Toffee1

I don't suppose it matters really. What matters is we recognise we have a problem with alcohol. I am on day 32 and doing ok. No real problems. I was a classic binge drinker . I would be 4 or 5 days off the beer then 2 days back on it. Being here has really focused my mind and I feel I am really beginning to break down those habits. You know it's Friday night, I always drink on a Friday night. I am out with friends, I always drink when I am out with friends. I am making pasta, I always drink red wine with my pasta. The list goes on. But as I continue to rack up some sober days the habits don't seem so hard to break. New habits begin to form , better habits I hope. Hope everyone enjoyed a sober and hangover free weekend and thanks for all your posts.

MidnightBlue

Addictive habits, I believe)

Congrats on 32 days! Keep it up!

hypochondriac

I was pondering this very same thing the other day. I have broken quite a few other habits since getting sober, I have made a game of it really and change things just to see if I can. I always can. But I couldn't quit drinking for a long time. The problem with thinking of it as habit is it negates the fact that alcohol is an addictive substance... if it was just a habit then people wouldn't get physically addicted, and even if you don't think you are, it is probably true on some level. Then there are the psychological reasons like running away from issues and self medicating anxiety...

But like you said, a lot of this is tied in with habitual behaviour. I had to have red wine with my pasta too. So many of my cravings early on were connected to a conditional response and it took a while to break all of them. I am sure I spent the first god knows how many months walking around thinking 'this is the first time I have done this sober'!

Well done on 32 days x

doggonecarl

A habit is buckling your seat belt before you start the car. A bad habit might be that second or third helping of a favorite treat.

Always drinking red wine with my pasta...That's just the context of your drinking. I bet you have all kinds of situations where you drink. Drinkers always drink! That's addiction.

ScottFromWI

I'm glad your method is working for you. Congrats getting a whole month under your belt.

I think the only danger in viewing addiction in that light is that you can open that crack in the armor to assume that you are somehow "changed" after a period of sobriety. Habits can be changed, addiction can not. I've learned the hard way too many times that once you have a problem with drinking, you always will.

serious

i think most of start off with "habit"... but because of the evil natural of alcohol, for many of us it turned into addiction.

i too find that adding positive habits, such as exercise, eating healthy going for walks spending time with good/positive people tend to remove desires for sticking to old ways of thinking.

we can relatively easily go from a habit to addiction, but not the other way around.