I’m 6 days sober now and I’ve been repeating the same quote to myself over and over when the need to drink and smoke gets to a 7 or above out of 10…“Its simply not an option anymore” Sometimes the voice is sad, sometimes its forthright and sometimes its ok and or happy. I can see one of me with his head down in his hands craving, needing and upset and another me standing over him with his hand on his shoulder saying that sentence!
When I hear that sentence its quite calming most of the time. Helps me except my not only sobriety but my alcoholism! I am an alcoholic, I want and NEED to stay sober for ME and so alchol “its simply not an option anymore” I feel sad and angry with myself for taking that option away from myself for the rest of my life but i have to except that. I also now have to except that i need to say “no” when offered a drink from a friend or acquaintance that doesn’t know im in recovery.
I know have to accept that im going to meet people that will push the issue of buying me a drink and if a coke is not good enough then I will tell them (my choice to tell them) why I don’t want a beer which could follow on to an “im sorry i had no idea” on their part or awkward silence or acceptance and a “no worries”
I know I have to accept that certain friends will be uncomfortable or wont be able to accept that I’m an alcoholic in recovery because it reminds them of their own addictions or they’ve always seen me in a different way/light. In which case they will try and play down my addiction by telling me “youre ok mate, just cut down”
I had a good nights sleep. My breathing is getting better, my body is starting to heal slowly and I mentally feel alittle better today. 4 hours from 7 days sober! Lots of love everyone.
Take your time to grieve Galen. Alcohol was our friend, even when it was a lying cheating one, intended on keeping us for itself and ultimately killing us.
I promise you that the grieve will become less and less. Just as long as you keep your sobriety, and as long as you work your sobriety too. In whatever way is helpful to you. One thing that goes for everybody is to stay in touch with our fellows. We need our addicted peers, if only to counter the voices that say we should have just one, who say we’re not addicted, we’re being boring farts for not indulging with them, and all the other lame reasons and excuses people come up with why we should drink.
These coaxing voices will shut up by the way, and they were less prevalent and present than I thought they would be when I quit. Most folks were supportive, whether they had problems with drinking or not.
Sobriety IS building a new life without alcohol. It’s not a small taks. But it certainly is a work of love. For ourselves in the first place and from that follows out of love for everyone. It’s bloody worth the work Galen. Wishing you all success.
I told/tell myself its not an option all the time especially in the beginning…the sentence then evolved into …‘its not an option anymore, i have to find another way’ explore all those other ways as much as you can, thankfully they are plentiful, i love all the questions your throwing out there on your threads and how your reaching out
It really helped me to visualise that each time I refused alcohol I was helping to retrain my brain to think a different way. There is the metaphor that if you take a drink after a craving many times it is like a path through jungle. The more you do it the deeper and clearer the path. Refusing a drink is like walking a different way. But it is through plants and vines etc, so it is hard work. But each time you take the new path, you beat back the plants, tread down the vines, and it gets easier and easier. And the previous path starts to get overgrown.
