How do you remind yourself that alcohol won't help.
Member
Join Date: Feb 2018
Posts: 513
Originally Posted by least 
The only thing I do is to know in my heart that I want to be sober more than I might want to drink. 
But also tend to remind myself of all the ways alcohol didn't help me in the past. That list is very long.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 774
Originally Posted by brighterday1234
Acceptance to your innermost core that you’re an alcoholic.
Member
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 1,643
I just commit to not drinking 24 hours at a time.
It doesnt matter what happens in those 24 hours - I won't drink.
This way I don't think myself into a drink - instead I use those 24 hours to think about other stuff.
It doesnt matter what happens in those 24 hours - I won't drink.
This way I don't think myself into a drink - instead I use those 24 hours to think about other stuff.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2018
Location: Nsw
Posts: 408
Thanks for your thoughts. Every morning I wake I am grateful that I made the choices not to drink the day before. The negative reasoning from the past gets weaker, but the positives of what tomorrow me bring keep getting stronger.
Giving up is NOT an option.
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Western Wisconsin
Posts: 7,808
I think the most successful (if you will) in recovery are the ones who can make the shift eventually from focusing on the negatives of the past and the negatives of what might happen if they drink again, to the positives of staying sober. I know I am still in the process of doing that, but I rarely dwell on the bad things that happened. I used to need to "play the tape" a lot - meaning, remembering a bad experience from the past, or imagining something bad that could happen if I drank. That strategy served me well in early days/months. I have gradually been able to replace the negative tapes with positive thoughts about what the sober future holds. It's a nicer way to be thinking and living.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 2,407
Originally Posted by MLD51
I think the most successful (if you will) in recovery are the ones who can make the shift eventually from focusing on the negatives of the past and the negatives of what might happen if they drink again, to the positives of staying sober. I know I am still in the process of doing that, but I rarely dwell on the bad things that happened. I used to need to "play the tape" a lot - meaning, remembering a bad experience from the past, or imagining something bad that could happen if I drank. That strategy served me well in early days/months. I have gradually been able to replace the negative tapes with positive thoughts about what the sober future holds. It's a nicer way to be thinking and living.
Guest
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 8,674
Originally Posted by sortofhomecomin
For me personally, I think that's probably my problem, I can say I'm an alkie at AA meetings and say it on here, but I'm not sure I've fully accepted it 'to my innermost core', as you aptly put it otherwise I would be making more efforts to stop.
But the freedom in that acceptance is the key to everything else.
Member
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 14,916
For the first few years of sobriety, I got my "alcoholic reminders" by attending AA meetings.
I don't attend AA much anymore, but I do get vivid reminders of why I don't want to drink anymore, by reading frequently on this website.
I don't attend AA much anymore, but I do get vivid reminders of why I don't want to drink anymore, by reading frequently on this website.
Member
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 2,426
I'm day 22, still very early days, and I am still so happy to just be alive that I have no temptations yet. Being truthful, I still have many moments during each day that I still feel really sick and unhealthy, so again, the decision is easy for me right now. But I think about your question all the time now. I'm feeling really great comparatively and what will be my plan when I can't remember being sick and nearly dead? I love doggonecarl's answer the best. I just don't drink anymore. Not complicated. VERY easy to remember.
Member
Join Date: Nov 2018
Posts: 771
Originally Posted by Lucinda2
If I hang onto anything it is the 3am self-loathing. No big dramas or rock bottom stories here but waking up with the 3am self-loathing was the pits and I am glad that I don't ever have to do that again. Sometimes it is more situational. Right now I am visiting family overseas. There have been moments when I have felt a little tempted and then I remind myself that last time I was in this situation I did drink, lost my off button for pretty much the duration and felt very ashamed of myself after.
Member
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Boulder, CO
Posts: 419
Good post! This has been a whopper of a year for me personally with many difficult times. I think one of the many things that keeps me sober is remembering my last drunk. I had been drinking for roughly 7 days and inside my cabin alone ordering a large amounts of liquor and beer. There was a charred tv dinner in the oven and bottles all over the cabin i lived in. I was looking at old pictures of friends and drinking straight out of a 1.75L Captain Morgan bottle. Yikes! That was over 34 months ago. I don't want to go back to that.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 2,407
The key to this question is that if you get recovered (as in what AA call recovered from the seemingly hopeless state of mind and body of alcoholism) then this question doesn’t really apply. This is because when you are spiritually fit then the concept of altering your mind with alcohol is simply something that seems as far removed as anything you’d want to do. Why close your mind when it’s fully open and in harmony with everything? That is my experience anyway; if spiritual fitness declines then it is always good to get a solid step 1 grounding again e.g. honesty as to what the reality of alcohol is. That’s why SR and AA meetings can be so useful for re-grounding.
Member
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 2,583
A solid Step 1. I am completely powerless over alcohol. When I put a drink in me, alcohol becomes my master and I have no idea where it will take me and (if I manage to stay alive) my whole life will become completely unmanageable.
Member
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 1,643
I work with a guy that frequently talks about alcohol and how much he drinks. He constantly looks depressed and sometimes sick in the face when he gets to work in the morning. That's how I used to feel every day.
I like this life better.
One day at a time.
I like this life better.
One day at a time.
Member
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 125
I just know that if I were to ever open the door even the tiniest bit to drinking again (only on the weekends, only with other people, etc etc), it would be all over. I'd be back to binge drinking and hating life and slowly killing myself in no time. It's that simple.
Member
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 87
I know I’m at my best when not drinking, and every day gets better. May not notice it at the time...
But it’s like compound interest. You work on a better life daily, without booze, and while you may not notice it at the time, a year later you look back and say “Wow”.
Drinking for me ruins all of that, and puts me 20 steps back, sabotages all my goals, puts me in danger, and quite frankly makes me a mess.
I’ve tried drinking “regularly” enough times to know that one drink isn’t an option for me any more. Maybe a blessing in disguise who knows.
Anyway - all of that on top of the memories coming off the “final bender”, shaking, no clue what happened... etc, and knowing every day I’ve gone back I’ve been knocked down harder
Is enough to say “no”.
But it’s like compound interest. You work on a better life daily, without booze, and while you may not notice it at the time, a year later you look back and say “Wow”.
Drinking for me ruins all of that, and puts me 20 steps back, sabotages all my goals, puts me in danger, and quite frankly makes me a mess.
I’ve tried drinking “regularly” enough times to know that one drink isn’t an option for me any more. Maybe a blessing in disguise who knows.
Anyway - all of that on top of the memories coming off the “final bender”, shaking, no clue what happened... etc, and knowing every day I’ve gone back I’ve been knocked down harder
Is enough to say “no”.
Member
Join Date: Jul 2019
Posts: 533
Originally Posted by daisy1
For me I tell myself what's the point? Because one drink/one binge to make myself feel 'better' or whatever is never enough, it would make any cravings a million times worse for a long time, IF I managed to ever stop...
Why bother, it never "works"
There is no positive in it for me. None.
Currently Active Users Viewing this Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
