Tetrax

I had a day sober after 25 days straight drinking but went right back to it at the end of what was supposedly Day 2.

Dee74

Yeah it’s hard to stop…but I’d try try and try again Tetrax…you don’t want to be still be drinking in July.
what have you tried in the past that helped?

D

Kaily

No matter what it takes the only way out is to climb. Each and every step you take sober is one step closer to escape.

Hunker down and sober up, I know it's hard. The only one that can do it is you.

Good Luck Tetrax

BullDog777

The hardest day to get back is day 2. I've had thousands of day 1's, but not near as many day 2's.

I make it a point to tell anyone I'm sponsoring that this is not going to be easy. Uncomplicated, yes. Easy-nope. I tell them that suffering is a part of the recipe for early sobriety. If it wasn't more people would make it past the first few months. Not a lot do.

I know not everyone is like me or responds to the way I put things but it helped me to look at early sobriety as kind of a battle of attrition. I grinded out early sobriety. You do it inch by inch, day by day. Show up even when you don't want to.Go to therapy-AA meetings-get a physical-become proactive in saving your own life. This is the path that worked for me.

Then one day, you realize things don't suck nearly as bad.

An then I tell those same guys I sponsor when they ask me if it's worth all the pain.
I tell them all the same thing. You don't hear a lot of people saying they ever regretted staying sober.

My life is so good nowadays. 6 years ago, I was completely hopeless. My family was on the verge of leaving and I was dying from withdrawal. It's amazing what can happen when we start taking an active part in our recovery.

Best of luck to you.

Tetrax

Thanks guys. Yeah I'm beginning to realise AA is gonna have to be my next port of call. I used to go to meetings at least and got 14 months sober. I've got a couple of numbers still; I might actually ring them this time, because for one thing there aren't so many meetings as there used to be in this pandemic world we all now live in.

Khorhey

There are meetings on zoom all day and night.

https://aa-intergroup.org/meetings

Triggered

keep it going Tetrax.... and keep posting your progress...it helps to make yourself accountable

MythOfSisyphus

I know it's discouraging but hang in there, @Tetrax. You can do this!

Tetrax

Yeah cheers; I can't do Zoom though. Face to face only for me tbh.

EDIT: Maybe I'm being rash; I just don't like that kind of tech but yeah maybe I should give it a go?

DriGuy

Alcoholism is addiction, and this thread is a good example of what it is like. There is a way out, but you may not like what it requires. You don't have to like it. No one really likes it, because it's hard, physically hard and emotionally exhausting. No one ever asks to be an alcoholic.

Some of us are thrilled to be alive without alcohol making us miserable all the time. But the "cure" was horrible, and that's a big reason I never went back to the bottle. I don't want to take the "cure" again. It's no fun, no fun at all.

BullDog is spot on: "suffering is a part of the recipe for early sobriety." OMG how true. But once I made up my mind that drinking was out off my life forever, and that my fate was to never take another drink, things changed really fast. Before that time, I was caught in a push pull of indecision wishing that I could drink without consequences like other people, or that I could drink once a year on a special occasion, or that I could take just one drink once a year to celebrate something worthwhile. That attitude was the death of sobriety for me. Hoping for what was impossible as an alcoholic led to nowhere. It was a case where hope was not a good thing.

I went to AA. I'm still not sure what saved me. Was it AA or was it my desperation? I don't know. I only know that I had to do what I didn't want to do. And it sucked, at least until it didn't suck anymore, and then the light came on.

Hodd

Can’t comment on AA, Tetrax, but don’t let the Zoom/techy stuff be a barrier. I teach online, and I do all the techy stuff so the kids don’t have to. Whoever facilitates these online meetings will know about the techy stuff and will expect teething problems. All you have to do is click on a link. You don’t even have to turn the camera on if you don’t want. Give it a go.

doggonecarl

Find a meeting, find a sponsor, work the steps.

Free2bme888

Do something different, for sure. I’m not big on AA, but I do get out of it what I like, and before I just turned my head.

I really want this in my life, and I’m willing to get beyond my comfort level. You can too, if you so desire….

Please choose life. It’s good!🤓❤️😍

VikingGF

Yeah, it's a slog in the beginning, because you are fighting with your own brain, but the more time you can get sober and make the right choices and realize that sobriety is a gift and alcohol is death, the easier it gets. Not right away, but eventually. Also, as your body feels better, the rewards are easier to see. Get some support, change up your routine COMPLETELY and find ways to stay busy other than with what you used to do. We have all been where you are, you are not alone. Take it one day, one hour, one minute at a time, whatever works, just don't drink. And then keep not drinking. Post here, read here, use whatever resources you can find, but do believe one thing. You are in the fight for your life... and you can WIN.

We are here for you.

novips

I could not stay sober till I fully committed to the recovery program of Alcoholics Anonymous. As it says in A.A.'s Big Book:

"Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves."

For me, that journey of recovery began with the following 5 commitments:

1. Attend at least 1 A.A. meeting every day for 90 days.
2. Get a home group and a service commitment.
3. Get a sponsor who has been through the 12 Steps as set forth in the Big Book and who is willing to guide me through that process. Call them every day.
4. Get on my knees in the morning and ask my Higher Power (as I don't understand Him/Her/It) to keep me sober that day; get on my knees at night and thank Him/Her/It for keeping me sober that day.
5. Read the first 164 pages of the Big Book, highlighting everything that I can identify with (i.e., I felt like that, thought that, or acted like that).

Obladi

Yes, you are being rash and yes you should give it a go.
You know one of the questions they ask in the fellowship is, "What lengths are you willing to take?" Getting on a Zoom meeting isn't much of a stretch. Contempt prior to investigation and all that rot. That "can't do" stuff is what will keep you stuck - it did me, anyway.

Glad you're back. This can be done, but it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with what a person 'likes' to do.

Sasha4

Give it a go.
Please give it a go.
Since I started working online full time and doing Zoom meetings, I now struggle with telephone calls and not being face to face.
I love Zoom now.
I actually don't care if my screen freezes and all you can see is up my nostrils.

Have you got a list of UK Zoom meetings?
I could try send you one if you need me to?

One thing I like is that if it's a so so meeting, it does not matter.
Before, If I had planned my journey, driven to a meeting, parked up, arrived on time etc etc and the meeting was not so good, I could feel disappointed and question if AA was for me.
However with Zoom, if it is not brilliant, then it didn't take much effort and I can just move on and find a better meeting.

Find yourself a comfy corner at home and make yourself a cuppa and give it a go.

Hevyn

I'm so glad you posted, Tetrax - you're not going back out for years like I did. You're saving yourself from so much misery.

Dee74

How did you go Tetrax

D

Steely

Depends on how much you consumed Tetrax, but 25 days straight is a long binge. Maybe you need to see doctor to help with withdrawal and take it from there, one day at a time.

You can get sober Tetrax. Believe in yourself.