DefconOne

When I was in treatment they made us fill out a sober living schedule of daily activities. The idea was to develop new habits and activities that had nothing to do with drinking. They told us to refresh it and keep it up to date each week. I use a simple paper calendar for ad hoc events and have a daily routine. The big challenge is having a plan for handling the urge to drink, a series of mental steps you do to stop the drinking habits from taking over. I found it most useful to talk about old drinking experiences with other recovering alcoholics (how much, what, when, how I hid it, etc..) and the insanity of it all. That helps stop urges. I learned a lot of techniques in treatment including meditation and thinking of the negative consequences. I really recommend formal treatment and becoming an AA member - because that is where you meet other alcoholics looking to help YOU!

TiredEnough

I moved 12 hours away from my dope suppliers with no chance of saving myself from wds. I got through those, started taking exercise and diet seriously and told myself I would die before I put myself in that hell again. 8 years of benzos, 5 years of opiates. Dead stop. For 486 days it has worked like a charm