Quiet45

Oh, how I love the feeling of a good glass/bottles of wine.
Being shy and drinking took the shy right out if me. When drunk I'm bold, beautiful and blunt, everything I don't feel sober.
I wonder if I'll ever accept the real me.
I've been drinking since forteen... Liked it the first time, even though I was deathly ill. Both patents are alcoholics, three out of four grandparents too. My sister died after drinking a 12 pack and taking ambien, at the age of 38.
My daughter hit a tree, almost died a few weeks after turning 21, due to alcohol.
How can I break this vicious cycle!?!?

FeenixxRising

Welcome to SR Quiet. The answer is simple enough: quit drinking. But putting the solution into action can be difficult:

-Do you need to detox (i.e. are you physically addicted?)?
-Have you tried a free program like AA, SMART Recovery, LifeRing etc.?
-Have you talked with your Dr.?
-Have you tried just quitting on your own?

You have to start somewhere, and making the decision to stop forever is a good first step. But if you're physically addicted and need to detox, you should talk with your Dr. and consider a medical detox. If you've never done so, I also suggest attending one of the free support groups I mentioned above. Being with other sober people can be very comforting.

Whatever you do, stick around SR for support.

lovesymphony

Could you learn to be confident when you're sober? A lot of shy people do. People's opinions and feelings toward you will change all the time. You can work yourself into an unstable mess, when placing too much importance on how others currently perceive you.

But I totally relate with being super shy esp. when I was younger and thinking alcohol helped me in this area. Somehow I overlooked all the times I got too drunk to talk right, couldn't listen to others properly, said senseless things, annoyed people, and so on. I only remembered that I was more charming. Sure sometimes I was but who cares now? I would gladly go back in time and just read a book alone in my room instead of entertain people if I could un-do all my drinking

IOAA2

Again the answer is simple. We just don’t drink which probably won’t be easy.
Try the suggestions above by FeenixxRising. Try to be honest with the doctor because self honesty is not an alcoholics strong suite.
Re read your post and see where alcohol has taken you and those close to you and try to realize it’s not a health drink.
In order to get sober, and stay stopped I needed close people support on a daily basis who were my lifesaver along with millions others like me. I also needed to want to be sober not just think about it.

BE WELL

Soberwolf

I think your going to find out how to find the key to the lock on them chains pls keep on posting

You can do it

DefconOne

Alcohol is actually ethanol. Its only beneficial use is as an industrial solvent and as a fuel for cars. However it makes you 'feel', upon consumption it starts killing brain cells and does damage to your internal organs. If you did not have a liver to burn it away in your system, you would die from poisoning in short order. They even have to dilute it in gas formulations to keep it from dissolving and wrecking the engine in your car.

Consuming ethanol will KILL YOU! Please keep this in the foreground of your mind and thought process as you consume it in large quantities using the various cleverly designed delivery systems (beer, wine, fruity drinks laced with it).

Start thinking negatively about alcohol consumption. Its insane to drink it. Re-program your mind. Do this every day, one day at a time.

Notmyrealname

Stop thinking of alcohol in terms of momentary gratification and try to concentrate on thinking about the whole picture -- the first half hour is only the tip of the iceberg.

I don't think of drinking as having "a couple of drinks" because it's never just a couple of drinks. It's always two leading to ten and a two-day recovery period, usually with some ill-advised acts, actions or comments to go along for the ride.

In that light, there is little to love about drinking.

As long as you are romanticizing alcohol in your head, you will finding quitting and/or staying quit to be much more of a difficult proposition.

"Oh, but it makes me feel so warm inside!" .. you know what? Put on a sweater.

FreeOwl

Well your story is our story....

We broke the cycle by admitting to ourselves that the cycle wasn't working for us, and never would.

Then, we took ACTION, because our cycle had been created over the years and decades by our actions - we now had to take new actions to change.

We surrounded ourselves with support.

We made a plan.

We made it a priority. Every. Day.

And as we stuck to that path and we honored the true Self within us, we watched as our lives became better and better and we added more and more to the lives of others.

We finally came to learn that the shy, anxious ones we used to be and tried to bolster with booze were really just our true selves beginning to emerge.

We learned that shyness and fear and anxiety are all OK. All normal and human and that we could feel those things and learn and grow from them.... We learned we wouldn't feel those things always or forever and that along with FEELING those things also came feeling true JOY. And real pleasure. And Love. Above all; Love.

We learned that was more potent than any high could ever be. And we never had to go back to that black place again.

You can do it too.

PurpleKnight

I had to put aside the short term gains because it was having negative consequences on my life in the longterm, if you die young of alcohol, no one is going to say, "well she was bold, beautiful and blunt", we need to get past this line of thinking!!

The cycle can be broken, a good plan to revolutionise your lifestyle and routines will be needed, as well as a system of support to break those same thought processes that lead us to drink each day!!

You can do this, your life doesn't have to have an inevitable ending to it, instead YOU get to write the ending to your story, it's in your control!!