tizzkins

Hi all i am only on day 4 and today when i finished work i was so so tempted to pick up a bottle of vodka but i didnt. Its hard also cos i work in a supermarket and sell the stuff all day long.

Can anyone please offer me some advice on how to get through this i am so weak and so tempted to throw the towel in already although i know its the wrong decision it is just so hard walking away from the vodka bottles. I know i must seem sad but vodka has been my friend (or so i thought) for so long now i just dont know how to get by without it.

Sorry for whinging. Hope everyone is doing better than me.

Nonsensical

That's what you need to learn. How to feel good without alcohol.

It'll be difficult for a while because chronic alcohol use screws up our brain chemistry and it takes a few months to get the right balance back.

For now just find something you enjoy doing without alcohol and focus on that. Keep busy. Find something.

You can do this!

PurpleKnight

The myth is vodka will make you feel better, it'll lift that anxiety, it'll make your day a happier one, right? . . . sure it will numb the day way, but it will all come crashing down with a hangover tomorrow morning!! . . . the reality is alcohol won't fix anything!!

You gotta plan things to do after you finish work, sitting at home doing nothing, thinking about alcohol is not a longterm solution, you need to fill that time with a new pattern of life, activities, interests, things to do!!

This is the new chapter of your life, but you need to write it, the pages can't be blank!!

IOAA2

Hi. When I first tried to get sober I needed to remind myself of the pain alcohol bought to me over my drinking years. I had a tendency to forget that and automatically thought of a few times it was enjoyable. I had difficulty getting honest with myself about MY drinking and ACCEPTING the fact that I could NOT drink anymore in safety.
We have a tendency to forget pain and tend to romanticize drinking which never gets better and will kill us in very nasty ways.

BE WELL

ElleDee

I'm also on Day 4. I think I've finally realized that I need to give it a couple or three months to see how I really feel OFF of alcohol like mentioned above. I haven't done that. Maybe you should try that too. I figure I have no idea how I'll feel because it's been so long since I've been sober longer than a couple of weeks that I might as well try and find out.

I say try to give it some time. You can always go back... but maybe you won't want to.

doggonecarl

Why don't you post us the reasons that brought you here? You mentioned your health in one reply, but there must be other reasons. Seeing in writing the impact of your drinking can help with your resolve.

What support are you getting besides SR?

Four days sober is a great achivement, but still very early and these urges have to be dealt with for the near future. But they do lessen.

airwick

I hope it is you that is doing better.

SoberHoopsFan

If vodka was really your friend, you probably wouldn't be on SR right now. That's your AV talking, it wants booze no matter what the cost is to your life. Urges pass. Might be time to think about another job (depending on if that is possible) if the temptation is too strong to be around it.

Notimetoloose

The cravings will come and go, in the early days they can be brutal...the cravings are not you.
The cravings are your addictive voice, the voice in your head that does not care if your lose everything that is important to you as long as you get what it wants. Alcohol.
Your addictive voice can not do anything without you, it needs you to get the alcohol, tell your addictive voice to shut up, that it is useless without you and you are not going to drink.

Ride out the cravings, keep busy and hydrated, eat something, have a bath/shower.

Luper

Congrats on day 4 and please hang in there!

Has to be hard working at a supermarket. I am on day 13, and still avoid it. They sell it everywhere. Have you thought about maybe looking for something else? Easier said than done sometimes, but I believe your health and sobriety are more important. I may be looking to do the same thing.

Please don't give up! It will just drag you down even further. PM me whenever you want. Let's do this together!!!

Taffy1

Come on, hold on please. There's several of us on day 4. Lets keep going together. lets kick this horrid bastard disease out of our lifes

KAD

Well, I'd say it's pretty obvious the reason you are here is because of all the hell vodka has put you through. So, why on earth would you wanna perpetuate that? You didn't come here because you love it and it makes you happy. You came here because it's ruining your life, and maybe your health, right? It is not your friend. Friends don't do that to each other. Think of that when you look at those bottles.

resolute50

As time goes by it gets easier and easier.
Keep yourself busy outside of work. Plan things so that you're thinking about that instead of the booze. Vodka is no friend,it kills you just as sure as poison does.
I know,it was killing me slowly.

ultradad

Congrats on Day 4 Tizzkins and everyone else!

For the longest time alcohol was my friend too. It made me a part of, helped me fit in and just plain feel normal. After a while though it turned on me and no longer worked. Like a bad friend it started stabing me in the back. It took some serious consequiencese for me to finally see the 'true' type of friend alcohol was. After accepting that I had to fight for my life to get this poison out of my life! Today, if even a thought of drinking comes through my mind I recall my last drunk and all the consequences and I NEVER wish to feel that way again!

My experience is that I had to make new friends to replace alcohol and I found those friends through the program of Alcoholics Anonymous. The program of AA has saved my life! I would suggest you Google a meeting schedule in your local area and go to a meeting right after work...if you know you're going to a meeting after work it may help you NOT to pick up that bottle and head home! Soon you'll have real, true friends and through working the program of AA those cravings will get better!

Pulling for you my friend! Keep in touch!

TimidTulip

Set yourself challenges to distract yourself - you can also then congratulate yourself when you win! Just daft stuff like finishing the washing up in under five minutes, invent a new sandwich filling - anything that you can achieve, will benefit your life or home and that you get to congratulate yourself for!

Before you know it, you will have challenged your evening away and you'll have made it to day 5.

Stay strong, the feeling of self loathing when you give in to temptation will NOT be washed away by the booze.

FreeOwl

one thing that helps me more than anything is seeking all the reasons I can find for being sober bringing me benefit.

Rather than focus on the challenge of it, the frustration or the craving or the struggle... actively LOOK for reasons to celebrate sobriety.

Notice how good you feel physically. Note how much you get done with your time. Pay attention to how present you can be in your relationships. Celebrate the things you're able to experience because you're not crawling into a bottle. Be aware of how much time in people's lives is spent tied to this thing - and be grateful you're on a path to free yourself from it...

Pay attention to it all, big and small. Write it down. Share it here. Tell a close friend.

We get more of what we give our attention to. WE can choose whether to be miserable or to celebrate.

ForgetfulKevin

Good job! That's a big part of how it's done.

Old habits are difficult to break but over time you can retrain yourself to do things differently.

That impulse or craving is not you. Just keep rejecting it.

NewFighter

Way to go on Day 4! Day 6 for me. I have been on Day 4 twice since getting serious about sobriety.It is always the hardest day for me for some reason. Hang in there and keep saying no, even say it outloud (yes like a lunatic) NO until it passes!

CAPTAINZING2000

Bump

helpless1023

hay Tizz just tell your self that if you still feel this way tomorrow I'm going to have a drink just get through today and tomorrow will take care of it self hang in there I'm on day 5