J-Petrucci

Hello everyone

I have been viewing this site for awhile, very interesting.

I think I regitered here a few years ago but never posted.

I have been driking for about 10 years, first 7 years I drank once a week, 8 beers/

last 3 years every second day. For the last 2 years I have been trying to quit. i get a couple days and then i just go back to it. I understand the disease from the imformation. what I can't understand is how the heck can you stop. Its driving me crazy. I really want to quit.

Sugah

I knew I was alcoholic long before I got sober. I exhausted religious, medical, and psychiatric means, and was still drunk and/or high. I couldn't stop on my own because the problem went far deeper for me than having issues with a substance in a bottle or a pill.

I use the twelve steps of recovery to (a) keep me from picking up again and (b) to help me live a life that I want to live, not blot out by drinking and getting high.

Need hotline numbers? Meeting lists? They're available, regardless of where you live.

Peace & Love,
Sugah

aloneagainor

It's quite remarkable, how this works. The more you keep reading, and the more you keep writing, and honestly thinking about your use, the less able you'll be to keep drinking. If you're really WILLING keep your mind OPEN to what you read here and what you hear from others who understand what you're trying to do, and you're HONEST about your use and intent to stop, you can quit. But it does take active effort. I'd been waiting to "grow out of" my addiction for many years but it doesn't go away on it's own. If you really want to quit, you can. The answers will be revealed to you if you're open to them, and seek them out. Best to you...

jmhs002

Here is how I quit
1) Got brutally honest with myself about my drinking and my life
2) Decided that I wanted to be sober more than I wanted to continue to drink
3) I took action - I went to AA. I participate, I volunteer, I got a sponsor, I worked the steps
4) I ask God everyday to help me not drink alcohol today
5) I constantly remind myself of the positive changes that have taken place in my life since I stopped drinking.

If I can quit, you can too. Are you ready??
JMHS

CarolD

Welcome....

AA is the way I stopped drinking and learned how to live and enjoy a sober life.
This can be true for you too.

J-Petrucci

thanks everyone one, well I am on day 2

CarolD

Super!! Keep in focus and move forward!...

earlybird

Well,....the common trait I hear constantly from people who fail at sobriety is this:

They say that all they did was 'try to not drink'. But their lives stayed exactly the same otherwise. Same friends. Same places. Same entertainment. Basically,..their lifestyle remained the same. They pushed the alcohol away, and tried to continue the same lifestyle while just 'white knuckling it". You cannot do that for long, because you will always finally throw your hands up and give in. Its like putting you hand over an open flame,...just a few inches above. You can take the heat for a little while,...but soon you will always yank your hand away. Addiction is the same. You try to do all the same things you used to do, just without that key ingredient. That same key ingredient that was the cause of you developing that certain lifestyle to begin with. I didnt hang out with the type of people I hung out with in the midst of my addiction BEFORE I started drinking. The drinking led me TO those people AND that life. Take that away and the lifestyle wins everytime. The idea is to change that lifestyle as well.

BSPGirl

Well I got clean of cocaine all by myself but since March 31st 2005 but then I decided in May I needed some more help, 12 steps wasn't for me, I ran across a link to SMART Recovery on this site and that's been proven helpful for me.

J-Petrucci

95 percent of my drinking is on my own, after work I come home and start drinking

Anna

Well, congratulations on Day 2!

I drank alone too and my life got smaller and smaller as time went by. I gave up everything I liked doing. When I stopped drinking I had to plan to be doing something specific at the time when I would have been drinking. I would play with my cat, go for a long walk, watch a movie, call someone - basically anything. Changing my routine helped enormously for me.

Hope

Life is much better sober. Keep taking those steps forward. You can do it.

aloneagainor

99.9% of my use has been alone, by design. So no-one knew, so no-one could stop me. It leads one down a very narrow, isolated path. If you keep on this direction you'll find yourself increasingly disconnected from everyone and disintegrated from within. Which I thought was fine by me, people are a lot of work, I'm most content alone. But get too far down that path and you'll find yourself completely out of touch with reality itself. It starts looking pretty dark and lonely and unnecessarily complicated....perhaps you're seeing this now yourself.

It's warm and bright and inviting, to connect with other people, and to delight in the functioning of your own mind when not sedated. It hurts at first, and the mind spins out of control for awhile, and all those unpleasantries. But people tell me that it does get better...and I'm trusting them, believing it, because I can see it in them, hear it in their words. There is the promise of a happier, healthier, integrated life after drugs/ alcohol. Consider it an exercise in faith. But we can only know if it's true if we stop using and give that option a chance. Helps a lot to read and write here, doesn't it. Support, encourgament, all the best to you.

earlybird

Thats exactly what I did in the ending years of my drinking. I started out partying with friends,...going to bars,....etc... My drinking became too much for even them to take,....I started keeping alot of booze at home in my apartment and started in on it the minute I got home from work. Drinking alone. Your drinking alone too. Id be willing to bet it didnt start out that way. Be honest, though,...have you had attendance problems at work,...call ins OR lates, due to your drinking? Even if you say no, whether you realized it or not, your performance at work is compromised. I did what you are doing as far as the seclusion drinking goes and lost my job because of it. Along with the seclusion drinking comes depression soon enough. Im glad that you are wanting to quit. You can do it if you just change your lifestyle. Easier said than done, I know, but it can be done. Get a hobby if you dont have one already. Find a NEW hobby. Art, drawing, painting, vollyball, weight lifting, indoor soccer, take a class, join a book club, go to the zoo, maybe even look into a different job just to get a different life started.

2dayzmuse

I couldn't stop drinking on my own. I needed help and found the help I needed in AA. Good luck and welcome.

J-Petrucci

I have missed alot of days of work, alot of mornings would just feel like crap.

I feel pretty good on day 2, I know its going to get harder, I actually went out to visit a friend of mine tonight so it was nice to get out,

I do agree, even less showers , less doing things . and just drinking really starts to take over, I think I am really noticing it. now I have said I was going to stop many times, but this time feels like I can do it, thanks for all your support here, and I am taking the advice

I have also been diagnosed with ADD in the past so I get bored really easy, so i think its extra important to find things to do, And hang out with the right people

J-Petrucci

one things that scares me is the intense craving or feeling like you wanna drink. you can go all day and then its like your mind gives in, you rationalize it being ok somehow, and advice on that

earlybird

Well,...the job is usually pretty quick to go at around this phase. Do you have confidential counseling benefit through your health care at work? Some do. Some jobs,..if you go TO them and admit a problem, they have to let you deal with it and hold your job for you. Some jobs even pay for it. Do you maybe know anyone at work you could go to and confide in? Because doing it on your own AND holding a job is a real gamble. If you dont succeed, you could end up losing your job. If you go to them and say something, they cannot fire you, by law.

ASH

HI J, Welcome, if you want to stop drinking SR is a good start.
Keep reading there are lots of stories of success.
Hope to see more of you here

2dayzmuse

Find support when the intense cravings hit. You need something positive to do until the cravings pass. They will pass and you can get through this. I really suggest you find a support group of sorts.