I don't have to drink today
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2019
Posts: 38
I don't have to drink today
Day 12. I want to drink today, but I don't have to. The myth in my head is that alcohol is giving me something- confidence, happiness, relaxation, a sense of humor.
In reality....it's taking AWAY.
How do I combat these myths? I don't have to drink today. I really don't have to, but I want to.
In reality....it's taking AWAY.
How do I combat these myths? I don't have to drink today. I really don't have to, but I want to.
Canine Welfare Advocate
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Norfolk, VA
Posts: 10,962
Originally Posted by SkyBird 
How do I combat these myths?
Any thoughts of drinking is your addiction. Addiction = Insanity.
You don't combat the myths, you ignore them. The babblings of a madman.
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,445
I really used all the support I could muster on those days.
Sometimes it's just elbow grease and determination. All we need to do is get through the day sober - it need not always be graceful
Why not consider joining the Class of January or February support threads and posting not just today but through the month and beyond??
Every time you go to be sober, despite wanting to drink - you win - & things tend to get a little easier next time.
D
Sometimes it's just elbow grease and determination. All we need to do is get through the day sober - it need not always be graceful
Why not consider joining the Class of January or February support threads and posting not just today but through the month and beyond??
Every time you go to be sober, despite wanting to drink - you win - & things tend to get a little easier next time.
D
Member
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 2,872
Hello and welcome.
It's called a craving. I really wanted a cigarette tonight, but didn't go get any.
I worked out instead.
I've been sober ten years now, and I don't want a drink.
I understand the myths. Alcohol is cunning, baffling and powerful.
Without help I never could have quit for this long. I say this long because I don't know if I'll ever drink again.
I'm not going to tonight, although your post brought back memories of the things alcohol does.
But when you hit the lows I did, all the happiness, relaxation and sense of humor were long gone.
Replaced with fear, anxiety and self-loathing.
That's what alcohol did for me.
I can want a drink all I care to. I'm not going to have one tonight. Because one led to twenty and then the horrors.
Save yourself some misery. Don't have that drink. I never woke up the next day thinking, 'Gee I'm glad I drank last night.'
Best to you.
It's called a craving. I really wanted a cigarette tonight, but didn't go get any.
I worked out instead.
I've been sober ten years now, and I don't want a drink.
I understand the myths. Alcohol is cunning, baffling and powerful.
Without help I never could have quit for this long. I say this long because I don't know if I'll ever drink again.
I'm not going to tonight, although your post brought back memories of the things alcohol does.
But when you hit the lows I did, all the happiness, relaxation and sense of humor were long gone.
Replaced with fear, anxiety and self-loathing.
That's what alcohol did for me.
I can want a drink all I care to. I'm not going to have one tonight. Because one led to twenty and then the horrors.
Save yourself some misery. Don't have that drink. I never woke up the next day thinking, 'Gee I'm glad I drank last night.'
Best to you.
bona fido dog-lover
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: SF Bay area, CA
Posts: 99,784
Carl is right - ignore the desire to drink. Or talk back to it and tell it NO. With more sober time it gets easier, and one day you'll find that you rarely think of drinking anymore.
Another thing I did to help my sobriety was to practice gratitude every day.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/22/o...pier.html?_r=0
Another thing I did to help my sobriety was to practice gratitude every day.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/22/o...pier.html?_r=0
Member
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: Right here, right now
Posts: 3,975
Congrats on 12 days! The way I combatted these myths in the beginning is by lots of reading about alcohol. I read recovery story after recovery story. I read Allen Carr’s book, The easy Way to Control Alcohol, and Clean by David Scheff. Lots of folks have talked about The Naked Mind being good. I haven’t read the book yet but have done the author’s 30 day challenge. All of this education has exposed alcohol for what it really is.
Drinking starts out fun, then it’s fun with problems, then it’s just problems. Once it’s a problem, it never goes back to being fun.
What also helped me was to find replacement behaviors for the triggers that made me want to drink. I started meditating, doing yoga, running. Therapy helped a lot. Practicing gratitude also.
Drinking starts out fun, then it’s fun with problems, then it’s just problems. Once it’s a problem, it never goes back to being fun.
What also helped me was to find replacement behaviors for the triggers that made me want to drink. I started meditating, doing yoga, running. Therapy helped a lot. Practicing gratitude also.
Member
Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 125
I’m at 87 days and it’s typically the weekends when I crave. One of the tricks I’ve added to my arsenal when I get that Friday night or Saturday night craving is to focus on how many hours are left in the night before I should go to bed. So if it’s 630pm and we are going out for dinner and I’m waiting for a table which used to be prime time for a cocktail or ten, I think about how few hours I have until I should be in bed (10pm). I then think about what a horrible waste it would be to drink for a mere three hours, how it would be over so quickly and therefore not even worth it. Not to mention how angry I would be at myself later for ruining all of this hardnwork just for a mere three hours of something that I think is fun or will make me feel good. Then I tell myself, a few hours isn’t worth ruining a lifetime of happiness. It seems to work for me.
Member
Join Date: Sep 2018
Posts: 177
Break the day up , ie focus on getting to lunchtime, when lunchtime comes EAT lots. Treat yourself to your favourite dessert , try watching a box set. Go for supper time then etc etc. You v hard earned sober time achieved, hold on to them and add another day , best of luck to you.
Member
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: Free
Posts: 902
Hey, Day 12!
Alcohol literally ‘tricks’ your brain into thinking a drink would be great. It sends you an enhanced message that drinking makes you feel better than it actually does.
I feel for you. I remember one afternoon literally sitting on my own hands on the couch to stop myself from pushing myself up out of the seat to go buy alcohol.
Ive never regretted a day I stayed sober. I have regretted many days I drank though, so the statistics don’t lie.
Alcohol literally ‘tricks’ your brain into thinking a drink would be great. It sends you an enhanced message that drinking makes you feel better than it actually does.
I feel for you. I remember one afternoon literally sitting on my own hands on the couch to stop myself from pushing myself up out of the seat to go buy alcohol.
Ive never regretted a day I stayed sober. I have regretted many days I drank though, so the statistics don’t lie.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 2,409
Make sure you stay sober at all costs. But the ultimate answer to staying stopped and bring grateful for that and having the obsession of alcohol to leave me was gaining a spiritual experience through working a recovery program. This is my experience. By spiritual experience I mean basically a profound personality change so I thought about life, the world, myself, others in a completely different way. I had to learn to react to life differently in order to keep growing spiritually. I could get sober and stay stopped probably on a non-spiritual basis but it wouldn’t have given me the peace and acceptance that I have with my sobriety on a spiritual basis. The most important thing is honesty, open-mindedness, and willingness. Those three things are essential to recover imo but if you’ve got them then anybody can recover in my experience.
I’m grateful to be an alcoholic as it allowed me to get this way of life that I would never have found if I’d have not been an alcoholic.
I’m grateful to be an alcoholic as it allowed me to get this way of life that I would never have found if I’d have not been an alcoholic.
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