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Do you choose a "quit date" to stop drinking?

Old 11-14-2016, 05:32 AM
  # 21 (permalink)  
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Originally Posted by DeadAndBloated View Post
I'm scared. The whole idea freaks me out beyond belief. I better get some things in place. I prob need to find a meeting first.
The only thing you need to do is decide not to drink- today. That's it.

In AA, when chips are offered, the white chip is the first. The question is asked: "Does anyone want to try our way of life, just for one day? To not drink for this 24 hours?" Everything else can wait- it will wait. A meeting is a great idea- and you can just go.

Good luck- hope to see you around here.
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Old 11-14-2016, 05:53 AM
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My quit date chose me as well. Last December I was under extreme mental stress ( I have a life -long struggle with mental illness, schizoaffective disorder and autism, so drinking was a definite form of self-medication) and had a drink for the first time in two years. It ended with me wrecking my car in a suicide attempt and nearly dying from a brain injury. As I recovered something changed in me and I got serious with my sobriety and dealing with my psychiatric issues. I don't want to cause myself more pain and I don't want to hurt anyone else. It is very hard but I am proud of myself for not drinking today.
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Old 11-14-2016, 08:03 AM
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Many people will say that a person should stop drinking right away, I see no issue in setting a date. With one caveat, on that date, you need to stick to the plan. No excuses.
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Old 11-14-2016, 08:08 AM
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I chose the date. Then I chose it again, cuz there was this event I HAD to drink at. Then I chose another date. Then another. Then I gave up on dates. I think I'm ready to quit now. I'm sick of it and sick of wasting the money and risking my health.
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Old 11-14-2016, 08:44 AM
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My date chose me. I hadn't planned on quitting, but something happened that showed me how vital it was that I stop. I reached out for help immediately, got it, and have not regretted my decision to quit for even one second. If you do choose a date, make it sooner rather than later. You never know when alcohol will cause a catastrophe.
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Old 11-14-2016, 08:57 AM
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First time I quit, I had been planning it for a while but no real action. The day followed by ~2 years of sobriety was when I made a post here on SR, still drinking... and the responses I got gave me an extra boost of motivation. It was quite spontaneous, wasn't even after the worst drinking episode ever.

After a relapse early this year, I got into an ugly binge pattern. I went to rehab and stayed sober for about a month, but then drank again. That scared the *** out of me and I have been sober since.
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Old 11-14-2016, 09:49 AM
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I travelled and said on Monday - today is the day, and it wasn't, same with Tuesday and Wednesday.
Then I came home on Thursday and had this weird moment of thinking - if I get a takeaway tonight, I won't go in the shop and buy food and get some wine as well.

So I got takeaway and therefore was sober for one day. The next day I came here and posted rather than lurking and a switch had been flipped.
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Old 11-14-2016, 10:33 AM
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I chose a quit date for 6 years. End of the month, first of the month, Monday, before Christmas, after the holidays, January 1, December 31. You get the point. No time like the present. So many quit dates came and went.
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Old 11-14-2016, 10:36 AM
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Originally Posted by DeadAndBloated View Post

Do people choose a date? Looking at my calendar i see plenty of excuses to postpone quitting - a party, a winery visit, my bday party.

Ugh.... this is some tough s#@t
Time to get a new calendar !
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Old 11-14-2016, 11:37 AM
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Originally Posted by DeadAndBloated View Post
I'm scared. The whole idea freaks me out beyond belief. I better get some things in place. I prob need to find a meeting first.
This is because you are probably addicted to alcohol, and your thinking is clouded by that addiction. The cardinal rule of addiction is "never say never to the possible future use of alcohol and other drugs".

Towards that end, your addiction will have you do anything except the obvious, and it will try and defend itself whenever you entertain such ideas. It will try to organize your life around that cardinal rule, so that you will procrastinate and do anything but the obvious.

If you listen carefully, though, your addiction is also revealing exactly how to free yourself from its grip. The cardinal rule of addiction necessarily reveals the way out from addiction.

Think it over.
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Old 11-15-2016, 06:18 AM
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Wow - i just want to thank each and everyone of you for taking the time to reply and share your stories and insights. Every single reply was meaningful for me. I'm going to read them over and over and over today. I'm also going to find a meeting. Is today the day? I don't know yet. It might be.

I tried telling myself i could moderate - 1 drink per day. That worked about 2x a week. So i know that's no longer an option.

Xo
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Old 11-15-2016, 06:52 PM
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The thing that happened to really seal the deal was feeling good every day, I mean my heartburn and headaches, nausea and bad eating habits virtually disappeared. That's intoxicating.
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Old 11-15-2016, 10:25 PM
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I've chosen a quit day many times in the past. There was always a reason to put it off when the day came.
I think you just have to take a leap of faith and do it. Today.
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Old 11-15-2016, 11:09 PM
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Like many others have said, my quit date "chose" me, not the other way around.

I originally planned to enter detox on Thursday, 9/29 (because it was a convenient date for work schedule, etc.) On the evening of 9/25, my husband found me vomiting blood in our kitchen sink.

I entered detox the following day and have been sober since.

It's been my experience that the more time you spend picking a "quit date," the more time you spend creating/finding reasons to postpone the date. Best of luck to you!
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Old 11-15-2016, 11:20 PM
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I'm with the others , my date chose me. I was a 55 year old woman who had a big ass drinking "problem". After New Years Eve I'd go into Rehab ( 1st timer).

I ended up checking into Kaiser Detox for 3 days, then going directly into an all women's Rehab for 30 days. That was Monday, November 12, 2012. Just celebrated 4 years of recovery! You can do this, your life will never be the same .... whooty - whooo!!!
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Old 11-15-2016, 11:49 PM
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Like everyone else here, my date also chose me. And if it also the first time I have actually not gone back.

Had chosen many quit dates but never stuck to them. That's been going on for years. Now I'm at 103 days

It took ending up in the hospital with alcohol induced acute pancreatitis. Thought they would just give me something and send me on my way as most ER visits seem to go, but not this time. When they moved me up into a room and told me I would be there for at least 5 days and how ****** I felt, I knew that was it. Also I always had a huge fear of seizures and felt safe that I was in a hospital and was completely honest with them about how much I drank and stuff. Etc. Feeling much better these days!
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Old 11-16-2016, 03:56 AM
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I always chose 'tomorrow',...then tomorrow would come and I would be resolute.... then as the day or days progressed I would be consumed with thoughts of alcohol and having a drink!.
Sometimes I would get a little time sober and sometimes I would fail but I never gave up. Good luck.
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Old 11-16-2016, 04:01 AM
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Originally Posted by MidnightRider View Post
I did not chose the date.
The day chose me...
Same. I stopped one day 'cause of how bad I felt, no real intention on stopping despite the internal struggle's I was having trying to quit. Didn't drink the next two days and thought hmmm.... lets go for it. Joined SR on the 6th day, never looked back.
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