doggonecarl

For a long time I thought drinking was a choice. A bad one, but a choice. Until I decided to quit...and couldn't. I needed to drink.

That when I REALLY decided to quit. Threw myself into recovery. Been without a drink for over four years. Sober is way better than drinking--except you have to be sober to realize it.

Quit drinking now, the benefits will reveal themselves.

DefconOne

The bottom? Nothing left. You hit zero and can't get smaller. For me it was desperation and a near death experience; I decided to live a longer more spiritual life and die a natural death. Drinking provides nothing but more physical pain and misery. Its a deary existence being a drunk. Just awful.

Applekat

Some powerful shares here. Thanks all. Luc I hope something sticks for you. You surely have your health to lose. If you don't have your health, you've really got nothing.

Nonsensical

Fear of sobriety is irrational. It's also extremely common among people addicted to alcohol. I had it by the boatload.

You don't have to live in fear. There is a better way.

You can do this.

GracieLou

The drinking feels less bad because you are drinking. Once the alcohol hits your system there is no going back. It is the first drink. Not the second or the tenth, it is the first.

For me, it was not that is was a bad sign, it was my moment when I realized, with no more doubts or denial, that I was an alcoholic. I can't fix the fact that I am an alcoholic. That can't be fixed.

What I have done and what you an do too, is to learn how live with that fact. To accept it and move on to recovery. I have learned to handle life on life's terms. I have learned to have more peace and serenity then I ever had drinking. Drinking is a cure for the night. Peace and serenity is a cure for a lifetime.

I have learned this by going to AA and working the steps of the AA program but there are other ways to get this, but that is how I did it.

I drank a long time and today I have no desire to. There is no reason to. The obsession to drink, that craving you speak of, is gone.

I had to learn how to do it because I had no clue how to do it alone. That craving, that little voice, that urge, temptation, what ever you call it would not go away by using will power.

If you want to stop, you can, whether it be AA or other recovery options. The first step is to ask for help and then stick with it. Even if you relapse, go back. Even if you don't know what to do, ask. Even when you are not sure, hang on, one day at a time.

anattaboy

The best I ever heard is hokey but true. "Don't drink even if your ass falls off. If it does, pick it up, put it in a bag, and take it to a meeting." The gist of this is: It will get better and most of the effed-up thinking is the AV producing chaos to get what it wants---all of you. It will pass.

Fiona630

Wow, this is a good thread! Some great advice here.

Don't feel hopeless. That is the alcohol doing what it does best, bring you down and make you dependent on it. We have an addiction and its hard to stop an addiction. We dont have an on/off switch. So its a day by day fight for our sobriety. Keep quitting until you can quit for good. Dont let this disease fool you into thinking you can control it. You can't except to quit. As everyone has said with experience, myself included, it wont get better. Drinking gets worse and worse. I still have my home and family and job but my health is getting bad and Im only 42 feel like Im going on 82. My body and pancreas are a wreck. Its time I take responsibility and end my relationship with alcohol before it ends me. You can do this. Take a deep breath and try it. Hugs to you!