jmd003

I've decided to leave this forum for now. Alcohol has been on my mind too much lately and I feel that the constant reminder of it on this forum has the opposite effect it has for most people. I need to get away from all of it.

So I've decided on a few things. One of which being a dedication to being 120 sober before I see if I'll rejoin. So goodbye for now and if after being 120 days sober I feel I need this forum, I'll be back.

Thanks to you all!

jaynie04

Just a thought before you go. I found I had a very similar reaction when I first joined, for me visiting forums like Alcoholism or 12 Steps helped me focus on a different life versus talking about drinking. This is not a plug, I am not a member of any specific recovery group, but there are a lot of posters on those forums who talk about what they needed to add into their lives to stay sober.

I found that if I focused on what I was gaining versus what I was giving up…it was a no brainer. Our alcoholic brain wants to drag us back to what we know, what is familiar. It might be crappy familiar but part of what keeps us stuck is how anxiety provoking doing something differently can be.

I have found since I got sober that if I put major requirements on things I end up avoiding them. I try not to focus on the results and instead have focused on initiating new behavior: return a phone call sooner rather than later, clean the trash out of my car every day, sort the mail immediately. It sounds trivial in light of what I used to complete in a day, but I tend to get paralyzed when I set too big a goal and define a result. Defining my behavior and deciding that I will do xyz has helped me a lot.

120 days is a long time. I would just encourage you to not set that up as an all or none equation for finding support. Maybe you have face to face support? You will find that we as a group tend to be "go big or go home", I've seen evidence of it here. Unraveling that thought process has helped me a lot. I wish you the very best in whatever you decide to do and Happy New Year!

dwtbd

I'm not really a big "recovery" guy, by that I mean I don't want to be in recovery mode for the rest of my life, with that said I do see from my own experience of late that there may be stages or a period, all be it perhaps brief, where/when support can be helpful and should not be pushed away. The first few days or even weeks after detox is a very precarious time. This site and finding out about RR(Rational Recovery) and their AVR technique helped me tremendously, and I highly recomend researching those terms, and others from what I read in your posts perhaps thinking about addiction ambivalence would be helpful also.
I do know what you mean about being active on a forum like this and the negative feelings that it can bring about, but it may be in the processing and not necessarily be the cause.
wish you well and hope you find tools you can use, you can do this if you want

Thepatman

Good luck with your sobriety!

We will be here if you decide to come back.

ScottFromWI

Good luck, hope you find something that works for you.

Leana

jmd- I understand. I have thought more about drinking, alcohol, addictions, etc since I joined in September than I have during my past 5 sober years. Having that much sobriety under my belt I can handle it but I have often wondered how the newly sober do it. I guess its just a difference in how each person recovers. Good luck to you- hope to see you in 120 days!!

IOAA2

Good luck. I needed to remember that alcohol is cunning, baffling and insidious. That being said I find most people without some form of recovery plan and action are prone to fail and then it is often too late.

BE WELL

robgt350

good luck, hoep to see you back