Well I just hit my first week of no alcohol. I’m 30 and for the past 10 years or so I’ve had a problem with drinking while gaming online with friends. I used to never think it was a big deal until around 26 when I realized I was drinking to excess probably 5 times out of the week every week but really only at night while I played games.
I knew this was a problem because I couldn’t quit doing it. Last year I went 3 months without drinking which I felt was quite the accomplishment but sure enough i slowly started doing it again.
Anyways, lately l’ve toned it way down to just a couple drinks a few days a week but last Saturday night I went way too hard and felt like I was about to go down the rabbit hole again. Thought it would be a good idea to take a break, probably not forever but at least go back to a long period of being sober minded.
I think about alcohol more often now and have to stop myself from going down that thought process of convincing myself to have a whiskey or beer when I play cod or madden with the boys.
You may need to stop playing the games. If it’s that heavily associated with drinking.
Also, you need to know that drinking is usually just masking underlying issues that would need to be looked at if you want to stay sober.
This site is geared towards people who have realised that we have a serious problem with substance’s and won’t to sort it out forever.
I would say spend some time reading around on here. If you have anything you want to know try searching it up using the magnifying glass above.
I can pretty much guarantee that you will find what you are looking for.
There are other gamers on here, unfortunately I never saw the attraction, but then each to his own. All I know is certain things in my life had to cahnge, at least for a bit, until I was comfortable with my sobriety.
I agree with this. I don’t know how much you’re gaming and if it’s problematic or not, but gaming can be very dangerous. I’ve been on 60 hour binge after 60 hour binge ruining my life.
If you ever have questions about gaming addiction, hit me up
Generally I game everyday after work for a couple hours or more. If I have a day off the next day thats when the drinking and staying up till 1am will come into play. I stopped drinking when I have work the next day so that limits me down to 3 nights a week when I decide to do it. Really what I’ve noticed lately is my weight going up and my inability to bounce back the next day like I could when I was younger after a night of drinking.Thats is the main motivator for me wanting to stop, the fogginess, weight gain and overall hungover feeling.
I’m in a weird place because I’ve never lost anything important in my life due to drinking. I’ve never lost a job, money, gotten a dwi, or my marriage because of drinking. I just feel like its a bad habit and one that I’ve attempted to break before but it’s been difficult to keep broken, thats what concerns me the most.
What you describe was my experience also, and many others if you read around. It started with giving away more and more time to drinking and distraction. I was avoiding something. Anything that made me uncomfortable.
I needed help and realized I hadn’t completely lost anything yet, but hearing what others went through and being honest with myself, saw the only logical outcome was it would get worse if I didn’t get better. And though life was good, I had to admit I felt pretty miserable. Like something was missing.
So I decided to give this recovery thing a go, cuz why not? And man, life’s a hell of a lot better now and only feeling better.
Nope I didn’t either. I’ve built stuff that is still standing. I’ve never been stopped DD. Still have a house, family, job.
If you’re having thoughts now, and have found it difficult to actually stop drinking. With cravings and urges, remember that “normal” drinkers won’t have this, then perhaps it’s better to look at it now than in the future when the gods forbid, you do end up right at the bottom.
I was in the same place years ago. I knew my drinking was an issue and excessive, but I’d yet to reap the “real” repercussions from it. I hadn’t lost a job, relationship, been arrested, or any of that kind of stuff. Fast forward past years of drinking and I’ve checked all those boxes. If it’s a problem, it doesn’t get better if we continue to drink. It usually doesn’t even stay the same. It typically gets worse. That was my experience anyway.
It seems to me that if you’re recognizing it’s an issue and then reaching out for avenues of help or support, like this forum, then it’s most likely a real problem that will only really get better by complete abstinence. Normal drinkers don’t find themselves questioning their drinking or joining sobriety forums. It’s not even on their radar. Hope this doesn’t sound like a lecture. I’m just relaying what I went through.
I’m from the same boat. Binge drinking and smoking 5 times a week and playing online, w friends or randoms. I admit there’s still a part of me that thinks I’d have more fun or play better when I’m trashed. I feel like my key inputs and understanding of gamesense and physics within the game engines just “flow” when the drinks are similarly flowing. I KNOW I play more instinctively when intoxicated and second guess my actions less as well. It may even be statistically true that I’m a better player drunk.
But, honestly, is that worth watching my physical and emotional health erode away? FUCK NO.
THIS! Yes I feel the same way. I play better buzzed than I do sober. I’ve been able to game for the past 9 days without drinking. At first it was hard but slowly got easier. I dunno, I only have a desire to drink when I sit down to play with friends at night. Never during the day and never when I’m gaming alone. During football season is another time I want to pound beers while watching games. For me it seems its a habitual thing over a necessity.
It may seem to be habitual rather than a neccesary and it may well be only you can know that but you have searched out and joined a sobriety forum so please keep that in mind also. Has it been easy,slightly difficult or even hard to not drink for the past 9 days,coming from someone who has never had an issue with alcohol I can tell you that its well over five years since I have consumed alcohol and in that time I havnt given it a single thought,now if only I could be the same with narcotics. well done on your 9 days buddy.
Its been pretty easy so far. I mean the times I desire doing it are at night when I fire up the pc for a gaming session.
In the past when I’ve stopped for a long period of time it was easy not to drink, but all it takes is one drink for me to get back into the habit. Like for instance I went over 100 days before and that wasn’t hard, what was hard was when I decided to drink again one night. The first night I had 2 beers, didn’t drink for a couple days then the 3rd day I got drunk then slowly every time i played with buddies i would have to get buzzed every time until i decided this was a problem. Then the cycle would continue.
I liken my drinking habits to the way the comedian bill burr describes it. I take breaks from drinking but when I decide the break is over I almost have no off button. I never get so drunk I vomit or blackout. I never drink a bottle or get so trashed that I can’t function the next day. I just enjoy being drunk I guess or just even being buzzed.
I have never used alcohol to deal with stress or anxiety. Never to disconnect from my problems in life, in fact the last thing I want to do when I’m unhappy is replace that unhappiness with alcohol. I just have this thing where deep inside me I feel like alcohol is going to always be a part of my life in some way.
Anyways over the last probably 6 months I’ve definitely lowered the frequency at which I drink. The real reason I’m here now is because I had a vacation a couple weeks ago and I literally had no plans to do anything or responsibilities to deal with so every night that week I drank. I didn’t even get drunk every night just had to have alcohol. Freaked me out because I kept thinking what if I didn’t have responsibilities or a job, would I just fall deeper and deeper into alcoholism?
That’s a good question to ask yourself and something to ponder on and be aware of moving forward. A lot of the things you have just said that you don’t do are some of the things people will tell themselves to justify carrying on drinking,I’m not saying that your doing that cos I don’t actually think you are but it’s something to keep in mind. Whatever you choose moving forward I sincerely hope it works out for you.
I totally understand where you’re coming from. It sounds like you’ve yet to make a determination whether or not to cut alcohol out completely. Just know that since you posted to a sobriety forum you’ll most certainly be advised to abstain, regardless of context or background. In fact it’s listed in the rules not to suggest moderation. So it’s really up to you to be honest with yourself and make a decision to better your life, whatever that means for you
Back to gaming - there are some people here who have identified gaming itself as their major addiction and are abstaining 100%. They are probably avoiding this thread so as not to be triggered. I understand and respect that completely. I personally have not done this because I don’t have that need. We’re all different man in fact, I used the money I’ve saved from not buying alcohol/weed and bought a GPU so I can game even harder.
Btw - it takes me a few more rounds to get into a game sober but when I’m in it I’m still having fun and lost in it.
in fact, I used the money I’ve saved from not buying alcohol/weed and bought a GPU so I can game even harder.