By doing this you are setting yourself up to see alcohol as a treat, it as something to look forward to like a reward.
I can only speak for myself but until I reprogrammed my thinking away from it being a treat/reward there is no way I would ever get off the stuff.
To me alcohol is poison, it’s addictive, highly taxed, cancer inducing poison with zero benefits. Not a reward or a treat.
If you treat yourself with drinking it only goes one way, the inevitable slide back down to rock bottom. The slide could be so slow that your barely notice it until you’re just pissed all the time with a crap life.
It’s heartening to know you are reading these responses. Know that you are also doing me a service, by reminding me of what I used to do and how hard it was to break that cycle. Reminding me how I started permanent sobriety in a holding cell, witnessing the casual violence that occurs in jail. Reminding me of where I came from and reminding me that same situation is exactly what I can expect should I choose to pick up a drink. Reminding me to be profoundly grateful to have been visited by a moment of grace. Reminding me to stay humble, that is right-sized, about how I got sober and how I stay sober - in the happy company of other recovered drunks. Reminding me that today I am still an alcoholic who can be sober and serene by taking some simple actions, like reading your messages
This is offically a month of my plan working. Im dealing with the hardest problem of my entire life currently. I havent failed yet. You all telling me im going to fail made me just want to give up tonight at work and yet i still talked myself out of it. Now im going to go to sleep cause ive been working all night. Ive ate and showered. Time for sleep so i can do another 11 hours of work tomorrow.
Because of the withdrawals, and if you have been a seriously heavy drinker, cold turkey can be dangerous, even lethal. In those cases medically supervised detox is the better option. Unfortunately not everyone has the option to. I think cutting down day by day but being serious AND diligent about it can work for some. But only if you’re serious and not just making excuses.
My original attempts to stop drinking/drugging are littered with attempts to control my usage. I was as serious as I could be but seriousness does not get anyone sober. Working a program of recovery, without substances being in your body, will work. Program can mean many things that are recovery related. There’s more options than I can count on this site. For me that meant a steady dose of daily AA. As I approach my 7 year anniversary I still make sure my recovery is a factor in my daily life.
My approach is the cultivation of compassion for yourself…the knowing that you are worth being kinder to yourself on a daily basis by not poisoning yourself with alcohol and working on yourself each day to achieve that goal however you may see fit…i personally do believe that moderation is more difficult than cold turkey because the alcohol then still holds its importance in your life…for me one drop of alcohol doesnt equal me taking care of my body and soul to the best of my ability but i know one size does not fit all…i wish you well friend and send you the strength to quit the poison and live the fullfilling life you can acheive xx
100% genuine. If I only listen to people who have no trouble with staying sober, I get to thinking that maybe I’m making too big a deal of it. “Keeping it green” is how it’s phrased in meetings around here. It’s the same reason I took AA meetings into the prison for a good long while - to let the guys inside know that it was possible to change, and to remind myself that I could just as easily change back.
Thank you. Appreciate the kind words. With each month im going to cut back even more and to reach 0. The plan is absolutely 100 percent no alcohol. In the last month i havent been black out. I havent missed any work. My sleep has improved. Cold sweats in my sleep has stopped. Cause im no longer drinking 3-4 nights a week. Im proud of my progress ive made.
Thank you. Ill keep hanging around here. Ill be honest. Yesterday i was looking for the delete account option on here. Then found out there isnt one. But, im going to keep pushing on being better.
People mean well here friend but youl always come up with differences in opinion where moderation is concerned because many of us myself included have tried many times to control what is uncontrolable for people like us…at some point we all have to draw that line in the sand and give it up completely…but the getting to that line differs for some of us…because your approach differs does not mean that u are not a very valuable and welcome member of this community xx
