pattyj

I was watching a show recently, Scandal. The main characters were having a drink and I had an intense craving for a drink. I am over a year sober and this rarely happens any more. They were showing that they needed a drink after a rough day. I am a teacher and I have many rough days but I don't use alcohol to cope anymore.
I usually try to ignore the craving and it goes away. But this time I thought it through.
The first shot would be amazing and relaxing. So would the second and third shot. Relaxing, giddy, fantastic feeling. I would then continue the shots until I had maybe 5 or 6 in the first hour. While I would think it was amazing, I would soon start to feel stupid drunk, that lazy/heavy feeling in my head and body. I would do something stupid, mean and embarrassing. I would then black out, probably finish whatever size bottle I was taking drinks out of and possibly do something unforgettable. I would pass out, wherever that may be, take shots during the night and the next morning to curb the hangover. I would drink for another day or two to forget what I did and to curb the feeling of death, if I didn't already die from an overdose. I would eat gross food, smell like death and put on the 25 pounds that I lost over this last year and look and feel like as*. Then I would have to go through withdrawls again, if I was actually able to quit drinking and that would be like going through he** again.
So that first shot or two is not worth the amazing and relaxing feeling that I think I want. That 30 min of relaxation will truly only be 30 minutes, maybe. I used to want to get out of my head and forget things that are going on around me. I still do at times, but they aren't as bad as they used to be and I have the ability to cope with them.
If you ever want a drink, think it through. Remember that awesome feeling that drinking gave you; but then remember the hours, days, weeks and years of complete misery that come along with it.
I hope this helps someone...

Thepatman

Great thread! Something to remember next time I have a craving!

Jupiters

it absolutely does!
play the tape til the end. and it was never a fairy tale ending, rather a gory, awful nightmarish tale.

Dee74

It worked for me too - great thread pattyj

D

Carlygirl

Thanks. When I started drinking again after a few months off, I noticed smaller unpleasant things that happen when I drink-they had become routine and the spell away from it brought them to my attention. Crumpled clothes on floor beside the bed in the morning; red wine encrusted lips in the morning-yuck; the spacey walk to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

What astonished me though was how unrelaxing drinking is. As soon as I start, my thoughts turn to- how much is there? How much can I have? when is the next one? God I'm drinking too fast. God they're serving too slow.

Relaxing? Not one bit.

Jupiters

ugh - my lips and tongue would be stained. I switched to white wine after that!
but yah, not relaxing with those crazy thoughts. Looking at the clock and thinking "I still have time to grab one more bottle before they close"

gettingbetter64

Thank you so much for posting this I've been craving drinking tonight. Alcohol only relaxed me for about a half an hour also then it was all downhill from there. I just have to always remind myself of that. It was never relaxing when I was near the end of my beers and hoping I could find more in the house or if I was able to get more that night. :/

reducedquality

This is great. The temporary initial high that I crave is not worth the wasted days that may follow.

neferkamichael

Pattyj, FANTASTIC, rootin for ya.

Dollyangel17

Great post Patty! I am just over a year sober, and I too hardly ever get cravings anymore, but I also had a rare longing just this past Saturday. I was at a graduation party and later when it was dusk and chilly, we were sitting around the firepit and a friend was drinking a glass if red (my drink of choice), and I thought how nice it would be to be sipping that warm and cozy wine by the fire.

I thankfully brushed it off and after making a cup if coffee, it passed. My way of thinking the drink through is to realize that over a year ago I would not even have been sitting at that fire, because I would have made my exit much earlier so I could go home and drink in solitude. So instead of a relaxing glass of wine by the fire, it would really be me at home drinking cheap wine from a coffee cup kept stashed on the fridge so my daughter wouldn't see:-(

So yes...the AV likes to dangle it's bait, but it's just a mirage to the real truth...the whole miserable package that booze brings us.

Great hub on thinking it through!

upandup

Absolutely brilliant Patty, thank you for sharing

EJ43

Perfecto!!! I go right to the next morning.....sick to my stomach, crap all over my clothes....that I also slept in. dYING of thirst and those damn wine lips!!!!! Now that I don't have them I do have to laugh!!! Soooooo nasty! Hahahahahahaha! Dry heaving in the shower, hiding the red chin with concealer and trying to open puffy eyes with mascara. Thank god for Listerine spray....off to work to sweat, get lightheaded and feel nauseus only to chow on something gross. Did I mention the diarrhea? The shame? Totally forgetting the night before? Making excuses to my kids cuz I can't remember what to write in the note or what plans we made? My husbands disappointment? Ohhhhhhhhh, even better that at 4pm I thought it was a good idea to repeat alllllllll of this goodness!!!!! I needed that reminder today.

Jupiters

the diarrhea - ugh how could I forget that part days of it.

gvrecovery

I like to look at it like a movie, and when the urge strikes, play the tape through to the end....it's ugly, and the urge usually subsides after a short time.