Urges
 

Please help me by posting how you deal with the urge to drink. I am successful with not drinking for about a week, but then give in to the urge to drink. That bad experience then is enough to resist for another week...repeat endlessly

Hi, I am day 12 and not feeling great today, I have put a movie on to try and distract the AV, perhaps do something ie walk bath anything to distract you, good luck

I have a tea. Or I tend to some housework that needs to be done. Sometimes I'll just nap.

Here is a compilation of our ideas:

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...at-we-did.html

Hi, as Dee says, a plan is a good idea. I know I will get cravings so I need a plan to deal with it. they are just thoughts and will pass though it doesn't seem like it at the time. Urge surfing is good, distraction, eating, keeping well hydrated, exercise, watch a movie, read, walk, anything to take your mind off it.

They are only thoughts and will pass- you don't have to act on them. fundamentally for me it comes down to how much I want to be sober more than I want a drink.

I've found it helps to actually time the urge, and note the time of day. It's surprising how brief they actually are. You can get through 5 minutes, or whatever it is.

Realize that it's a chemical reaction, an addictive impulse, not anything "real".

When you break it down, it loses its power, like a balloon deflating.

(Chocolate helps too!)

AA Meetings. For the first few months, if I was not at work, or sleeping, I was at a meeting because I knew I would be safe there. I suggest getting a sponsor as well. Once you get past the first months the urge gets much much less. Now, at over 2 years, I cannot remember the last time I wanted to drink. It is very hard, and there is no easy way. It's white knuckling it early on. It's what we have to do. You can get through it. I believe in you. Just don't drink today. Eat something good. Get to a meeting. Talk to someone. Take a walk. Cook a meal. Eat a gallon of ice cream. Just. Don't. Drink.

Over time you can develop your own techniques or borrow ideas from others like the ones Anna posted. Resisting cravings and urges is THE KEY to staying sober. If we constantly give in to our urges, we simply will never get sober. That week long cycle is a vicious one. I'm all too familiar.

by thinkin' 'bout the consequences

all the associated loss/ tragedy

its the 1st drink that gets us drunk not the 20th

the 1st drink always leads to a drunk

:tyou

Urge Surfing worked for me

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...e-surfing.html

Check out the link Anna gave you too - there's a thread in there called CarolD's tips for cravings :)

Once I learned that I could get through a craving, not drink, and have everything still be ok, it was a game changer for me :)

D

I just play the tape forward. One drink, then I know I will have another and then say what the heck, and have "another" till I pass out. I am tired of that, it is easier to not have that first one.

Think of it as something random that passes through your field of vision -- a feather, a blip -- and acknowledge it. There were times earlier on where I would say aloud "That's an urge." (Or maybe just in my head if I wasn't alone :) )

Then, reject it. Play the tape forward, think of what you'd have to lose, remember a gnarly hangover, whatever. Don't elevate your anxiety over it, it's just an urge, doing what an urge is going to do. Then you do what you're going to do -- tell it no.

Being idle was one of my major triggers. If my hands weren't busy, I'd soon find them gripping a bottle. I found that doing anything, anything at all that was active kept me away from the bottle. Take up a new hobby, post on message boards, socialize...basically do anything that engages your mind and isn't related to drinking.