My new planned quit date - 1st February
 

Currently I am not feeling particularly confident.

Why the planned date? That just allows you more time to feed the addiction.

I think the prime determinant should be willingness to change and work hard - not confidence.

Honestly If I waited til I felt confident I might still be drinking
Start today man.

D

A few days in the context of drinking for decades isn't going to matter very much.

I had a bunch of those planned dates, but it never happened. I would just get there and say 'nope, can't do it today, maybe next week'.

Not saying it won't work, but didn't work for me. I just had to go home from work one day and not stop for beer, knowing that there was none in my house. Then the next day came and I didn't go for beer again. And same thing the next day.

I wasn't confident either, just determined.

You can definitely do it.

Nothing will serve you and your life better than quitting. Problem with quitting tomorrow (or 8 days from now) is that tomorrow never comes.

Well, I wish you success on the first. Regardless of when you decide to go AF...it requires commitment and effort. Let us know how you're doing.

I never had a planned start date but have had tons of days that I woke up in the morning and said no more, only to be right back at it sometimes even the same day.

I'm only at two weeks, but the only way I managed to make it this far was to spill my guts out and let go of the stress, anxiety, and guilt that was keeping me down. SR provided a venue for doing that.

Nice. Well said. Congratulations on the 2 weeks.

you say that but you don't know where another week of drinking will take you, or what the withdrawal after will be like.

Kindling means things get worse - 20 years of safe detoxing is no longer a given.

Sure the odds are you'll be ok, but no one can really expect catastrophe.

DUIs and other car accidents, injuries to yourself or other people, seizures, heart attacks, aneurysms, strokes...sometimes even death..

I know people from this very website who took that dice roll and lost.

D

Take the flip side, a few days in the context of remaining sober for decades isn't going to matter very much so move the date up 8 days. I don't know about you, but I couldn't work myself up to quitting. That was just a delusional pipe dream for me. I couldn't quit in the future. I could only quit in the present. I could only quit now.

You don't know that. :rolleyes:

The problem of drinking for 'just a few more days' is that you don't know what might happen during those drinking sessions. As Dee said, you could have an accident or seizure, or worse. :( Why put it off? Start now and avoid the possibilities of something bad happening.

Maybe think of it this way...If you quit now, you will be over the worst withdrawal symptoms by February first. You will already be past what you would be going through if you wait. Just a thought.

I can give you the non catastrophic version too, or maybe the no apparent catastrophe version..

In 2004, trying to stay sober, I thought I'd go to my high school reunion and drink a little, get right back in the horse the next day, right?

It was 2007 before I stopped drinking again, and I drank each and every day of that period, sun up to bedtime unless I was too poor or too sick too.

That was an outcome I didn't see coming on that Saturday night - but I started living it on the Sunday.

D

I'm not sure what confidence has to do with this, but if you are posting now you should do it now.

The best day to quit is today! That date I would have tried to stop never came until I took action then and now. Good luck!

Without a doubt! Quit dates never worked for me.
This time I said I would quit once I ran out of beer, again. Got tired of it and dumped the last 7 out and haven't looked back.

Respectfully, I disagree. It's about when we quit, not how long we've been drinking - each day matters. Like many, I quit on the completely random day I'd decided I'd had enough. Today's your best day.

If I had known that was gonna be my last drink I woulda had another one!

I went to a meeting on my lawyer's advice and I didn't drink that night. I didn't really know what I was going to do in the long term. I didn't drink the night after that or the night after that and so forth. I was going to 6 meetings a week and within a few weeks it was more of a habbit not to drink.