One beer, one drink, its over.
Left the bottle behind 4/16/2015
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: NC
Posts: 1,416
I may be able to stop when I planned to once, possibly even manage to do that for about a week. But then once I see that I am capable of stopping, it still takes a lot of effort and that effort takes all the enjoyment out of it. So, I can either continue suffering through the strain of stopping when I'm really not ready to, or I can stop altogether, or, since I've already opened the lion's cage, I can just go back to drinking as much as I want, whenever I want. If I drink once, every single time I've allowed myself that first drink, it ended up like that last option.
Take what you said about coke and apply it to alcohol. Addictive behavior is addictive behavior. There were lots of young guys in rehab who could not understand how addiction to alcohol could be as intense as drug addiction. Some didn't even believe you could become addicted to alcohol, simply because it's legal! By the time they left, they were all surprised. None of them knew how deadly it is either.
Take what you said about coke and apply it to alcohol. Addictive behavior is addictive behavior. There were lots of young guys in rehab who could not understand how addiction to alcohol could be as intense as drug addiction. Some didn't even believe you could become addicted to alcohol, simply because it's legal! By the time they left, they were all surprised. None of them knew how deadly it is either.
Member
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: MA
Posts: 23
Originally Posted by INgal 
My son says if it wasn't a controlled situation (out to dinner with gf's parents for example) then he just wouldn't stop. Which really means he didn't want to stop or no one he wanted to impress would be around him. He definitely drank more "with the guys" or alone.
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: MN
Posts: 8,704
Originally Posted by doggonecarl
Wilma Girl. She'd gone now. She was the sweetest dog ever.
Take care. Jeff
Member
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: New England
Posts: 4,422
I can stop drinking, but I just don't know if I WILL. On many, many occasions, I put down the glass and it was not a big deal. The problem for me is, I can't rely on that happening every time I need it to. The first drink makes me far too unreliable, and while I have proven that I can function, there were so many episodes of me not stopping and the next day being baffled about what happened. Any instance of being out of control of my own actions is too much. Since it was happening more and more, it was evident that I could no longer know what would happen after one drink. Scary.
Member
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: TN
Posts: 365
Originally Posted by FreeOwl
for me, what it means isn't that I can't have one drink and stop. I can. I've done it hundreds of times.
and actually, that's the problem.... because I have that EVIDENCE that I'm able to stop.... I used it as evidence I don't have "a problem" for many years.
My REAL issue is this; I cannot consistently predict where that first drink will lead. Taken over time, if I allow even ONE drink, my history demonstrates it will eventually lead to an increasing pattern of intake - until I'm right back to binge drinking or daily drinking in secret. Each time a bit worse than the last.
I think for some it is literal; if they have a drink - they will be off to the races on a binge. Every. Time. It was never that way for me. But just like the stock market has skyrocketing highs and devastating crashes - yet over time grows at a constant rate; My drinking too had its "highs" of reasonable use and it's tragic lows of binge drinking, yet over time grew more and more negative in its impact to my life.
and actually, that's the problem.... because I have that EVIDENCE that I'm able to stop.... I used it as evidence I don't have "a problem" for many years.
My REAL issue is this; I cannot consistently predict where that first drink will lead. Taken over time, if I allow even ONE drink, my history demonstrates it will eventually lead to an increasing pattern of intake - until I'm right back to binge drinking or daily drinking in secret. Each time a bit worse than the last.
I think for some it is literal; if they have a drink - they will be off to the races on a binge. Every. Time. It was never that way for me. But just like the stock market has skyrocketing highs and devastating crashes - yet over time grows at a constant rate; My drinking too had its "highs" of reasonable use and it's tragic lows of binge drinking, yet over time grew more and more negative in its impact to my life.
Spot on for me!
Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: California
Posts: 2,693
There's no logic with addiction. If we didn't do it to excess we would not be addicts and if we weren't addicts we wouldn't do it to excess.otherwise, addicts would just start using or drinking less.
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