Domichou

I have been drinking every day a bottle of chardonnay for the last 25 years. The good think is that I do not drink more and I can control it. I drink before dinner just to relax. Believe it or not I am in a great shape, fit and I kook healthily. I work out and run four to five times a week. I just cannot stop this daily drinking. I have decided to stop drinking one or two days a week. I was able not to drink two days a week for 6 weeks, which is a progress for me. But every week, I have to struggle to do those no drinking day! Is my approach a good one? Thanks for all your help and personal achievement

Raider

Maybe for you. That approach does not work for me. Good luck!

Domichou

What is your approach?

Dee74

Hi and welcome

For me the only approach that worked was not drinking alcohol at all.
Then again I consider myself an alcoholic

do you consider yourself an alcoholic Domichou?

D

gardendiva

What is your ultimate goal?

Raider

I'm with Dee. I'm all in or all out. Right now, I'm all out. Zero alcohol. I can't just do a few, I wish I could. But I'm not built that way.

phoebe64

I can manage to do that, usually, but that sort of drinking still damaged my health permanently. 5 bottles of wine each week is still a lot of drinking.

Try18

Bit of a contradiction in terms, there. Doesn't sound like you're in control to me.

What are you trying to achieve with your approach? If you have a problem with your drinking, chances are your moderation won't last long. If you read around the site, many of us have tried and failed in that 'approach'.

For me, it's all of nothing. I'm drinking or I'm not. Today I choose to be sober.

I wish you well.

Domichou

I control my drinking in the sense that I my daily consumption has never increased through all those years. Generally you drink more and more years after years.
Yes, I consider myself an alcoholic since I cannot't stop drinking for a month for instance.
My ultimate goal would be to enjoy a few glasses of wine several days a week for instance.

Dee74

I wish you well but I honestly think those two sentences are incompatible.

D

Domichou

How long have you been sober?

Anna

Alcoholics cannot, by definition, control their drinking.

I know that most of us, if not all, have determined to make that work and it doesn't.

Dee74

me? 7 years and some change.

The problem is, as an alcoholic, we can't control our drinking...so to expect that we will somehow be able to in the future is kinda futile.

D

Domichou

Congratulations! I guess everything is easier for you now.
While I truly respect and admire people who stopped for ever, It seems to me that if I try to do so, my life will become sad and depressing. I am from Europe and it is difficult to envisage the rest of my life sober. It is why I would like to try to reduce my consumption as much as I can while enjoying some days with several drinks. I am aware it is difficult in the long run but enjoying life is also part of "life".

LDT

....."enjoying life is also a part of life"..... That's exactly why I got sober. I wanted to enjoy my life again.

joyfullysober

I used to drink a lot every day and tried to do moderation. Moderation for me is 1-2 wine glasses a day, 5 days a week tops. It worked sometimes, it didn't most weekends. The thing is that you are always negotiating in your head when and how much you'll drink. Its exhausting! Since I decided to eliminate alcohol altogether, the decision is much easier. The process is not easy, but mentally you know were you stand.

Hope it helps.

Dee74

I haven't forgotten what it was like for me as a drinker Domichou

Sobriety was hard for me to imagine too. My self identity was bound up tightly in my drinking.

Even tho my drinking was killing me I was terrified to stop.

Drinking was no longer about enjoyment for me, it was about functioning.

I'm glad I stopped - I rediscovered a me I'd forgotten about, and a me I could proud of again.

I found a life I wanted to live - I enjoy life now in a way I never could as a drinker..

My life as a drinker was sad and depressing - my life in recovery is not

I hope you'll face the fear and decide to give it a go one day.

D

Raider

While I truly respect and admire people who stopped for ever, It seems to me that if I try to do so, my life will become sad and depressing. I am from Europe and it is difficult to envisage the rest of my life sober. It is why I would like to try to reduce my consumption as much as I can while enjoying some days with several drinks. I am aware it is difficult in the long run but enjoying life is also part of "life".


I understand. It is difficult to envision my life sober so I don't. I envision this day to be sober. I'll worry about tomorrow.......well, tomorrow.

thenewguy

Well, we didn't quit drinking to make everything easier. We quit drinking because everything was much, much harder with alcohol.

The sober life is not a perfect life, it's just a normal life, uncomplicated by the inevitable chaos that alcohol and drug use brings with it.

Doesn't posting here give an indicator that you believe alcohol is much more harmful than something to make life a little more fun? I think we all reached that point where we realize the harm of drinking outweighs the fleeting benefits.

Best of luck and wishing you well..

doggonecarl

Try sobriety a while before you write it off. Most of the people who come here can't envision their lives sober. They also can't continue the unmanageability of their drinking. Quite the conundrum. If I just stopped drinking, I'd probably be miserable too. Lucky for me the people here pointed out that learning to live life sober was the key. The difference between abstinence and recovery.

I get the feeling no one here is going to convince you to change your mind. But at least read around the site. Say a couple hundred posts. I think you will find many folks whose initial posts read like yours. Many figure out that sobriety is indeed the easier path.