I’m looking for help cause I think drinking is destroying my life n family. I once went 4months now barely can hit a week. I’m on 22hrs now but would like to know how you keep your days going with out thinking of drinking. Thank you so much to this group I’m a newbie and need help.
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I gave up the notion I could ever drink normally, attended a bunch of meetings and asked my Higher Power to remove my obsession.
Since doing those things I don’t think about constantly. Most times I think about booze is when I check in here.
Gratitude lists of life things that are enhanced by not drinking can be awfully helpful too.
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AA has helped me tremendously, I now have 10 months sober. Meetings along with the 12 steps are the reason for my continued success.
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I distract myself. TV, cook. read, run, drink tea. Anything but not alcohol. I cleaned three closets today. I am exhausted but sober.
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Starting out, i really didn’t. I came here daily and read a ton when I’d normally drink.
Then I got to writing out a list of the consequences of my drinking and the benefits of staying sober, the things I really wanted from life.
That helped tremendously to change the way I thought of alcohol when it did pop to mind.
Now I’m in a program of recovery. Today I have no desire to drink and all the desire, tools and support I can find to get better at getting better, every day.
Also I got an electric tea kettle. It’s pretty boss. 
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i think about drinking often, more so in the first few months of quitting. Thinking about it is not a problem, the problem is opening the bottle and slugging it down.
I think about many things, robbing a bank, bedding so and so, resigning and sitting under a coconut tree. They are generally not wise thoughts.
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I’m 6 months sobre this week with 10.5 months this last 12.
When I came out of Rehab at Christmas 17 I was sobre but not in recovery. The difference is massive.
Acceptance that it controls you when you take just one drink is key.
No mater how painful life gets don’t give in to the excuses the disease will give you to start again.
It only gets worse if you do. Physically and mentally it dosent take long. It’s not days it’s hours
Just remember the pain
Get a copy of the Smart Recovery workbook. It’s pretty great for staying motivated to not drink, use or whatever.
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It’s good to have a list somewhere in your sight that has advantages of not drinking listed.
I usually do something that consumes me - I play games, talk on the phone with my mum, go for a walk. The thing is, I’m so used to spending evening in front of my laptop and doing nothing but drinking, so I need to think of kinda changing the setting that will not remind me of booze. I take my laptop to bed, where it’s not comfortable enough to drink. If I feel really weird not drinking anything in the evening, I just make some tea or noodles.
It’s quite difficult and a lot depends on your strong will. As someone before said, thinking is one thing, actually buying drinks and downing them is another. I have these ideas of staying away from alcohol, but strong will is the key.
Stay strong bud! 
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Keep super busy with productive or enjoyable activities - play games, do crafts, drive around, work out, volunteer somewhere. And keep fizzy drinks like LaCroix around! I was chugging that stuff from a coozy for about 2 months.
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I found it necessary to think specifically about my drinking to help dispel the obsessive romancing about it. What I mean is I attended lots of AA and other recovery meetings, I read AA and other recovery literature, I kept a journal based on a step study guide. I would journal first thing in the morning for 15 minutes or more.
My alcoholism will never go away and stop bothering me. A cornerstone of my sobriety is the practice of doing something every day about my alcoholism, because I believe that if I don’t, it will do something about me.
And one day, I promise you, you will be pleased and shocked to find that you have not had an obsessive thought about the booze in some time.
Blessings on your house 
.
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My drinking got to a scary point… I knew I was going to kill myself eventually and leave behind an incredibly kind and heartbroken family that deserved way better. Those are my reasons that I hold on to tightly. I stayed on this forum quiet a bit, stayed home the first two weeks and only left the house to workout, pickup my kids from school or go to work. My mom is a great support system. I’m only day 24, but this is what has helped me so far. I plan on visiting an AA meeting for the first time this week.
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Keep busy as much as possible.
Went to a meeting. I can usually hit one a day. Add in prayer and I haven’t thought about picking up in a long time.
I got tired of being exhausted. It was exhausting when I drank, not just physically but so much emotionally. I’m a little over an hour away from 15 days and it feels great. I just take it day by day
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Usually when i wake up my first thoughts are, shit!! I hit snooze too many times. I gotta get ready for work!
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I slept… always forget what little to no sleep does to my mood/attitude and coping abilities.
I can say this: The only time that drinking is the topic of my thinking, is when I am here on TS. The rest of the time, I’m out there getting after my life.
Keep getting better at getting better, each and every day.
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Focused on all the positive things and people in my life that wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t for my sobriety!
I think about how crap I’ll feel the next day when I wake up with a hangover.