nightswimming50

Today is day one, again. I didn't drink on Weds and Thurs but caved on Fri, Sat, and Sunday nights. I started feeling better and was glad not to get physically ill after taking 2 days off. In hindsight, it's hard to analyze why I started drinking again Friday night. I don't fully understand why I drink. My wife says I use it as an escape and that makes some sense.

Right now it feels easy to not be drinking but tomorrow my brain (or AV) might switch it's mind. Why is that? I quit cigarettes last year without much problem but alcohol seems harder than I expected. Does anyone know why?

secretchord

This is way harder than quitting smoking for me just because smoking doesn't allow me to completely escape reality. Can you have a solid plan for the weekend? I keep myself very busy on the weekends so I don't get agitated/cave.

BixBees505

Welcome Nightswimming! Looks like you just joined SR very recently. I am pretty new here...joined in September and quit in late October. This place is FULL of information and supportive people. I hope you will stick around, post anywhere you like, find a thread or two that you want to follow. These forums are where I found people I really related to, who could tell me how they quit and why, and how to build a plan for myself to stay sober. Here are people who demonstrate every day how to stay stopped and fill their lives with good things.

You can stop.

keeppushing

I've read lots of posts where people found stopping smoking much easier than stopping alcohol and plenty of other posts with folks having the opposite experience.

I'd say don't worry about it, get a plan together (see the stickies if Dee doesn't get on here and be an angle) follow the plan, if it doesn't work, review it and tweek it, repeat until success.

KP

FLCamper

How did you quit smoking? Maybe some of those same tactics will help you with drinking.
I used visualization, changing routines that triggered my habit and picked up new interests when I quit both - although smoking ended 30+ years ago while in college.

LadyinBC

Agree with KP you need to come up with a plan. To quit drinking is one thing, to stay sober is something else.

Congrats on day 1!

Verte

My life and alcohol were surprisingly wrapped up together and intertwined in ways that I had never recognized until I stopped drinking. There was not drinking...and then what? Living without the intention of drinking was completely new and I had to go about my day pretty thoughtfully and deliberately to remove old habits and patterns.

Does your wife drink alcohol? Is there alcohol in the house? A good start for many is to remove all forms of alcohol and avoid places that you may be tempted to buy or drink. The weekender thread here on SR is also great support.

Dee74

acute angle, naturally LOL

This is a great link nightswimming

https://store.samhsa.gov/shin/conten...0/SMA-3720.pdf

I don't know why alcohol was so hard to quit, especially when I could put the cigs down at will.

Maybe some of our members with a scientific bent can help answer that one.

D

teatreeoil007

Worked with a gal who had been addicted to alc.,cigs, even crack and meth...& she said for her the hardest one to kick was the cigs... As each persons brain ( wiring ) differs so does it vary on how sobriety will go, including which drug is easier to abstain from...

teatreeoil007

Another thing I just thought of::each addict has a drug of choice... Maybe because of how their particular brain responds to the chemical substance... Some enjoy the loosened inhibitions of alcohol while others would rather experience the euphoria from opiates.... While even others prefer drugs that are stimulants, such as Coke... This maybe illustrates how each persons brain is different...

Soberwolf

Welcome Nightswimming

OpenTuning

I'm not medical at all, so maybe there are some scientific reasons, but I might suggest something simpler.

There can't be a smoker today who isn't aware that smoking is a bad habit that is harmful to their health. And there can't be many smokers who don't feel that they ought to quit, even if they can't imagine actually doing that. Every year governments take further steps to reduce smoking. Banning it in bars, restaurants and offices. Hiking taxes on it. Banning advertising. Introducing standard packaging, with larger health messages. Huge resources put into Stop Smoking programmes.

Alcohol, on the other hand, is actively encouraged by society. All of us who have quit, or tried to, on here have probably found ourselves having to justify to other people why we've stopped taking what is literally a poison that is harmful to our health and well being. We are bombarded by advertising for alcohol. Every social event is considered incomplete without it. In the UK only around 20% of adults smoke, but at least 90% drink. The idea that alcohol is a good thing is probably the most successful mass brainwashing experiment ever undertaken.

So it doesn't surprise me that it's harder to quit drinking. But you've already taken the biggest step and seen past the brainwashing to identify the problem that you have with alcohol. The path to sobriety won't necessarily be easy, but I'm sure you can do this if you want it enough. Good luck on your journey.