Day one and the pain of having to start all over agin

It’s so hard going weeks being clean then sliping any suggestions

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Welcome glad your here. Glad that we can go through this together I hear a lot of people say get a plan. AA meetings changing places and people you hang out with getting rid of DOC out of your house being honest with yourself. I’ve tried them all and I’m 18 days now. One thing I fo is stay busy stay focused. Know why your quit and knowing we all need help. You have to ask for help. Welcome

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I appreciate u reaching out I don’t understand why I keep slipping it pops in my head I fight it till it makes me physically sick I drive my self crazy and everyone who’s trying to help me says I don’t talk I bottle it up which is verry true

Welcome
Keep trying.

Have a good read around here. This place has been a great place for me to get support in my sobriety. Addiction is too tough to go it alone. We are stronger in numbers. And we are all worth it.

:pray:t2::heart:

Here are two good threads to start:

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35 months in and I still focus on sobriety and make it a point of emphasis. I check in here multiple times a day, I chat with the wife constantly about it, I’ll have conversations with my mom about it once a week or so.

When I drank, I thought about it all the time. I made plans with friends or wifey, talked about drinking or different beers and crap.

Simply put, I had to put the same effort into sobriety as I did into being a drunk. I couldn’t just not drink and ignore it. Drinking was a focal point of my life and now sobriety has become a focal point. All the good thats happened, all the normalcy I’ve experienced in the last 3 years I absolutely owe to sobriety. I have been an “adult” for 18 years and made soooooooo much more progress in every aspect of life during these 3 years.

My suggestion, chase sobriety as hard as you chased that drink or that plug. I went to AA, IOP, therapy, meditated, walked so many miles and practiced mindfulness, prayed, found this place and was here a hell of a lot… whatever was suggested, I did because I needed, wanted and was dying to be sober and happy.

You can be sober, any of us can. Welcome to talking sober, hope to see you around for real

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Agreed! 100%
So very well articulated @CaptAZ, thank you :blush: I too work hard on my sobriety each day. I do whatever it takes. I used to revolve my life around drinking and partying thinking I was having “fun”. Well, if I’m honest, my life in those days had some fun moments… but truthfully they were more predominantly filled with pain and regret, directly caused by drinking and smoking. Now, just as you’ve said, my life is SO much better! It truly is FUN now, because I am not drunk or hungover and hating myself.
Sober life = best life. No doubt.

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My advice is to get angry about being psychologically manipulated by an addictive poison. That’s what finally worked for me. When I was shown the truth, that alcohol was using my.own.voice in my head to convince me that I couldn’t function without it, I was so mad! All that time I thought I was the one who wanted to drink, but it was actually alcohol that wanted to drink. 495 alcohol-free days later I’m still angry about being fooled for so long. : ) Best wishes!

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Don’t slip again.

Have you read any books on it?

I’m currently reading “the unexpected joy of being Sober” it’s a great read and it gives advice on the method of how to go about quitting and what to expect. I have more books in the que for when that one is finished.

I think reading/educating yourself is important, because if you’re new to sobriety, or new to the cycle which seems to trap a lot of us, it’s not like you’re just going to magically know how to cope or over come hurdles, it even what the hurdles may be.

I know I entered my first few attempts thinking I could either moderate or that if I stopped for a couple of weeks then I’d magically never want it again!!

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Use this app every day.
Read stories of others, what worked for them and

can help you too.
Share your story, ask for help when needed and if one way didn’t help: try another!
If you can’t do it alone: accept help!
Focus on the present: today! Overcome today sober and do it again tomorrow.

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I can’t tell you how many times that I have been in your shoes. Because it really is way too many to count over the years. I know that voice in your head all too well. I would literally tell myself I wasn’t drinking after work, and on the drive home I would have almost an entire conversation in my head trying to convince myself. Hey it was a shit day, I haven’t drank in a few days it’s ok, I will only have a couple, my kid isn’t home…& on & on, until I put on my turn signal and got on the off ramp to the store & it was over. And never a couple.
This time instead of just trying to quit, I had to commit myself. So for the first time I started buying books on addiction, learned meditation, found other ways to stay busy during the time of day I usually drank, started skipping events/people that I knew would trigger me or offer me drinks, & found this forum. This forum has been so beneficial to my recovery & I hope you find it helps you too. One thing I make sure I do every morning before I even step out of bed is pull up this app & read for at least 10 mins. I think what that has helped me with is that instead of just trying not to think about drinking (which never worked) I made it a point that the first thing I do is read here & get in the mindset that I am not drinking today. I have noticed by doing this, that those little voices don’t bother me as bad anymore, bc I consciously stop them before they ever have a chance to start. I will definitely send some prayers :pray: your way, & just know that you can do this. You have to believe in yourself & always know that we support you in your journey. There are a lot of wise people on this site with great advice & because of those special people, I am currently sober for the longest time since I was 15. God bless & keep fighting :heart:

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For me it was deciding to stop making excuses. I half ass tried for years to get sober. Ii could talk about it and think about it till the day I die but until I decide each day not to drink I’m just wasting time. You can do this!

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I been sober for 3 months and a half then I sarted drinking again and it was fine until two weekes ago:( episode of binge drinking , happened 3 times i could not remember megetting to bed … so I drank last night and Im ready to quit now , Im sick of this …Does anybody knows why does it get so damn hard after the third month? I been sober 4 months also but for some reasons , it kind of get unbearable after 3 months and over… any tricks ? :frowning:

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Ya I get a week or 2 in and I end up talking my self into it instead of out

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I used to picture cravings as those word bubbles above comic strip characters and then pop them with my imaginary gun. : ) I don’t use that strategy anymore, although I did one just for old time’s sake before I typed this. Nowadays I actively ridicule any cravings. I literally embarrass them. I say things like, “Oh, it’s you again! You’re pathetic! You don’t stand a chance against my power! You’re nothing to me! Is that all you got? That’s it? Hahahahaha! See ya next time, fool!” Sometimes I actually walk down the alcohol aisle at the grocery store and pick out my old favorites and then I embarrass them in public. I don’t advise doing that until you’re six or seven months into your quit. ’ ) My favorite weapon to head cravings off before they even appear is to check in here at TS a couple times a day for a strength boost. I also occasionally skim my favorite quit book, Allen Carr’s ‘Quit Drinking Without Willpower’. I’ve read dozens of quit books and that one is the one that really opened my eyes. It’s slow reading and repetitious but if you plod through it you’ll be surprised by the end of the book at how different you’ll feel about the pathetic addictive poison called alcohol. Keep your quit! Best wishes!

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