Starting all over

Old 04-22-2015, 06:47 AM
  # 21 (permalink)  
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Location: Toronto Canada
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The root cause of my drinking was buying alcohol, opening the bottle, lifting it to my lips, pouring and swallowing. There was other stuff around those events, too, of course. I was angry, frustrated, anxious, depressed, I had lost self-respect, I was depressed. Things had happened to me that I couldn't let go of. You know, the usual.

I came to realize that everyone drags baggage around with them, and most of them aren't addicted to alcohol. All that stuff was not a reason to drink, it was not a cause of my drinking. Solving this was going to be a divide and conquer. I was going to untangle the knot with the aid of a knife, chopping out and removing the addiction part, then dealing with the rest piece by piece.

What happened was that when the booze was removed, and removed permanently and unconditionally (nothing can ever make me drink again is what I mean by that), a lot of that baggage simply went *poof*. It disappeared. Quitting was a massive boost to the self esteem, and that set me up for accepting and fixing most of the other stuff.

I still have stuff to work on, but that now has nothing to do with drinking. It is just life, and I live it, like anyone else. I say yes now to new opportunities and challenges when I used to refuse because I was afraid.

Maybe I don't know anything about this stuff tho, this is just my experience, and I only ever quit drinking the once. Others have more experience with quitting than I do, I suppose, having done it dozens of times.

Accept your new sober future with its possiblities and opportunities, recognize the drinking thoughts for what they are, and separate them from you and who you are becoming. Then, keep saying yes. It will all work out.
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Old 04-23-2015, 10:58 AM
  # 22 (permalink)  
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Originally Posted by freshstart57 View Post
The root cause of my drinking was buying alcohol, opening the bottle, lifting it to my lips, pouring and swallowing. There was other stuff around those events, too, of course. I was angry, frustrated, anxious, depressed, I had lost self-respect, I was depressed. Things had happened to me that I couldn't let go of. You know, the usual.

I came to realize that everyone drags baggage around with them, and most of them aren't addicted to alcohol. All that stuff was not a reason to drink, it was not a cause of my drinking. Solving this was going to be a divide and conquer. I was going to untangle the knot with the aid of a knife, chopping out and removing the addiction part, then dealing with the rest piece by piece.

What happened was that when the booze was removed, and removed permanently and unconditionally (nothing can ever make me drink again is what I mean by that), a lot of that baggage simply went *poof*. It disappeared. Quitting was a massive boost to the self esteem, and that set me up for accepting and fixing most of the other stuff.

I still have stuff to work on, but that now has nothing to do with drinking. It is just life, and I live it, like anyone else. I say yes now to new opportunities and challenges when I used to refuse because I was afraid.

Maybe I don't know anything about this stuff tho, this is just my experience, and I only ever quit drinking the once. Others have more experience with quitting than I do, I suppose, having done it dozens of times.

Accept your new sober future with its possiblities and opportunities, recognize the drinking thoughts for what they are, and separate them from you and who you are becoming. Then, keep saying yes. It will all work out.
Thank you so much for this incredible reply. It was spot on.
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