I personally think the biggest mistake i made in the past was expecting my life to go on as it always did but just without alcohol… And that was my great down fall a couple of times everytime i got into that familiar situation it was not the same without alcohol… But then i realized you cant just decide hey i am loosing the alcohol and bam now i am free of my addiction… Its so much more you have to change nearly everything… 1. When we went to a restaurant i had to change the habbit of treating myself to a glass if wine 2.at a wedding they only had alcoholic champagne so i cheered with my coke 3. This cold winters i really enjoyed my sherry i changed that to hot coffee or milo. 4. When its so hot i used to enjoy a cold beer yep you guessed it i changed that to coke zero with crused ice. 5.date night we use to have 2-3 bottles of wine now i drink a milkshake 6. My drinking buddies are no longer my buddies they left with the drinking part. 7. Some days it seems as if my temper left as well i just dont have patience with drunk people anymore 8.i had to learn how to communicate with people again without courage juice. 9.i learned to take deep breaths when troubles come because i just always poured no more worry juice and everything was fine after the 3rd glass… Its not a addiction problem that will change when you stop drinking its a whole lifestyle change and disciplining your mind and letting go of the comfort of habbits.
Let’s make this a sticky.
That first line, is so profoundly true. We can’t just remove alcohol and it’s all going to be the same.
Great share. Thank you.
In fact, it seems to be the exact opposite…our lives change dramatically when we remove the alcohol. Relationships change…with friends and family and with our selves. How we socialize changes, our routines change, our health changes, our mind changes…literally, our brain rewires itself…our emotions and how we respond to them change.
There isn’t much that stays the same…unless we fail to address the underlying causes of our drinking…then our addictive nature lays in wait to show itself again. That is why recovery is so important when we stop drinking. It isn’t simply the absence of alcohol that heals us, it is doing the work to make our selves whole again.
Great topic @Lorrie!!! 
Agree sassy it was a slow emotional draining, heartbreaking and frustrating journey for me but hey i am still standing and stronger