Guys… I have a question. What do you do when you have obsessive ideas and when you can’t stop visualizing yourself doing what you want to stop. I explain. Almost everyday when I’m at work, I can’t stop visualizing myself going to the store, buying alcohol/food/drug/whatever, going home, and destroying myself all evening long. I don’t even know if I WANT to do this, but it has becime such a strong habit that my brain spend all day processing my evening rituals. Which obviously ends with me actually doing it. And I start to think that maybe if I stop visualizing this habit in my head I’ll stop doing it in “zombie mode”. Or maybe if I should start visualizing another habit… I don’t know if I was clear… Hope you guys understand what I’m saying. And if you do, do you have any tips to stop doing that? I don’t why my brain can’t stop do and redo the movie of my evenings every f*ing minutes. 
Thank you for your kind help. Have a great day everyone! 
The mind is a powerful thing.
So multiple conversation topics here, but to focus on your obsession and habitual caring out of the obsession…
You have had the same routine previously for so long, youy wil actually need to reprogram your way of reacting.
Distraction is an option. Hobbies, family or friends, studying, even chores. Keeping your mind occupied will definitely help. Three thought starts creeping in, push it out with plans of reading instead, going to a park or gym, house work that needs to be done, the next craft, art work, or book you want to try.
It can take time, but maybe you could actually reprogram your thoughts relieving the obsessive craving that stimulates the impulse
Thank you very much I have to find a way to stop thinking about it…
Lmao, girl, I just reread what I replied and damn autocorrect put me so many typos I didn’t catch.
Looks like a late night drunken text…
Lord, I am glad I can find humor in little things
Don’t worry I understood almost everything and I also re-read my message and saw so many typing mistakes
First off, kudos to you for being self-aware about this. Seriously - take time to give yourself a pat on the back, for naming the problem (obsession): that’s the first step to change.
We all have obsession during our addiction and for a time after we start our recovery. (As someone wiser than me once said, if drinking is getting in the way of your life, you have a problem; if life is getting in the way of your drinking, you’re an alcoholic.) Our addiction builds our whole lives around one activity (the addiction). It’s understandable that our minds - full of routines and habits - would protest when we try to change. (And in the case of alcohol, the problem is amplified because your brain has adjusted its chemistry to anticipate the depressive effects of alcohol on the body; it’s anticipating that chemical intake every day.)
You’re learning how to live present and sober in your life. It will take time, but the good news is you are 100% capable of doing this.
A lot of people find it helpful to join a meeting. It replaces time that would otherwise be spent getting drunk (it also saves money that would otherwise be wasted on booze! 
) You can go to as many meetings as you want; some people do 3-4 a day, to power through hard times - and with virtual meetings it’s not hard to find one:
Online meeting resources
Another trick is power walks while listening to audiobooks or music. Eric (Dazercat), in his early recovery, would spend hours walking with hard rock music blasting in his earphones.
Personally I find it soothing to listen to guided meditations (I also do meetings and walks; the meditations help me understand my thoughts & process them). This one is called “Healing through letting go” & for me it helped me understand my obsession & let go of my attachment to it; I was clinging to escape that wasn’t helping me, but I clung to it desperately because it was familiar & I was scared and felt helpless to be anything different:
https://insighttimer.com/sarahblondin/guided-meditations/healing-through-letting-go
Take care & never give up. Never give up. Search for sobriety the same way you search for water in the desert. It’s the most important thing in the world to you; you will find it. 
The edit pencil is my friend! Soooooo many typos. I have to fix them. A tad obsessive, eh? 
Thank you so so so much for this answer… First af all I feel relieved that I did a first good step.
I really do find a lot of things in your answer that might help me and it gives me hope… which is, I guess, the most important. Hope that I can make it through this.
I’m still afraid to go to meetings. I’ll think about it though but I think I need time to have the courage to go. But understanding how my brain has adjusted around addictions is really helpful and I’ll try to create new habits, like walking, which sounds like a very nice idea. Meditation is also something I should try. Thank you so much for understanding, helping and supporting me.
And I love your last sentence 
I will search for water 
I had to fill those times with a lot of distractions. My mind obsessed for the first few weeks, so I crammed my time with other stuff.
Cooking, exercising, house projects I put off, walking the dog, drawing, even video games.
Anything to take up that time that I used to drink after work. I got a ton done & felt way more accomplished then if I’d wasted the time drinking.
Just keep pushing through- it becomes less obsessive… just takes a little time for your body to purge the cravings and settle back to normal. All those toxins are addictive and take control- they want to replenish, hence the urge & obsession. But it does fade.
You got this.
I have this problem with smoking meth. Never had it with weed/xanax/smoking. I can get rid of it by distracting myself with a task which requires my full focus. Problem is when I am either trying to sleep or I am trying to do something creative where my mind needs to wander. I find meditation really hard when i’m obsessing though, I know it works for others but for me I just end up obsessing more. Deffo distraction though, manual work & exercise both work for me. All the best
Thank you very much for your answer. It’s reassuring because I feel the same about meditation. I think I should give it another try but till now, it only ended with more obsessive idea. So yeah I think I should follow your piece of advice and do something that need my whole focus. Thank you very very much. It’s so helpful and I feel less lonely
Keep trying with the meditation though, when it works it’s great. One thing about meditation is it isn’t easy but the reward is worth it when it works. It often doesn’t work for me and if I start obsessing I just cut it short and try again another day 
Yes you’re right. I’ll give it a try 
Key words right there for me… everything about using for ME was a ritual. So I have made everything about NOT using one too, right up to the way I make coffee. I got myself a special little French press and a bunch of different coffee canisters with different ground coffee. The boiling of the water, pouring, stirring, waiting, pressing… it all feeds that very strong need I have inside me for rituals. Bedtime routine feeds that need too… shower before bed, same show, etc etc. There are ways you can turn your mind to a new healthy “obsession” for lack of a better word. I will not lie though when I go to bed I am really looking forward to that whole step by step process of making my coffee in morning and that inner peace it brings me. Maybe if you knew you had some type of healthy “ritual” type routine ahead of you when you got home from work your mind might not start playing this tricks on you?
I can list a few things that I have replaced old habits with…
- french pressed coffee
- bed making
- showering before bed nightly ( sometimes in the morning too but always before bed that is my bedtime routine)
- lighting incense and reading a book.
- art
-listening to vinyl (also feeds my need for ritual very well, taking album out of jacket, placing on turntable, cleaning, listening, repeat…) - strict specific time dog walking rain or shine
Reprogramming our brains takes time and patience. You will not get there over night, coming here to get some ideas of what to do instead of picking up is amazing!!! I hope something that someone has said jives and can help you get through some rough patches. They won’t be rough forever… you can do this.
Ho… You’re so right! Maybe my brain works like that too. Maybe I need to actually replace my rituals instead of trying to ged rid of everything. Maybe my brain still needs obsessive ideas so I might just obsess on something less self-destructive…
Thnk you so much for all that constructive ideas. I will definitely give it a try… Either way I have nothing to lose 
Again… Thank you so so much. I just can’t thank you enough. 
Yes, I was fighting those feelings at the begining as they were very strong with my “crystal wine glass and expensive wine”, or “how I did my drugs”… but it became an inner battle I was slowly losing. I decided to just go with it and I looked up nice alcohol free drinks last summer. I made my own simple syrups from lavender and rosebuds then mixed nice drinks with those in special glasses. It can be done… you can still be “rewarded”; alcohol and drugs are no reward we have just been tricked into thinking so.
This is where I feel stuck sometimes too, I feel you… Often it’s literally just boredom or loneliness which tempt me all over again, but the bright side is, after so long it’s reached a stage where I feel like I know better by now, and would feel silly to justify the old way now that I’ve thought it inside out and tried so much, surely one can’t CONSCIOUSLY continue a mistake forever…?! I finally feel on the verge of breakthrough even if I relapse cos I have a goal I know won’t let me down and it’s a matter of time before it slips into place somehow… My tip: try anything and everything different. What hasn’t worked must have some spare room for improvement or require change. …Meditate (if it didn’t work for u try again in a different environment, position, music, with a calm voice in the background etc), research what to do & how to improve (let me recommend: ‘Better Ideas’; ‘Sadhguru’ (just type any topic of interest beside his name); & ‘BKShivani’ (type english next to her name tho) on youtube) , go out into nature a bit if possible - it’ll slow your mind right down if you just breathe and observe what we’re part of (if that’s hard at first, rationalise why its not and try again ^^); do some exercise/training (sometimes this seemingly nudges me back into motivational mode when I feel indecisive); sleep a healthy amount (surprisingly big one actually); keep up hygiene and a clean room/house (this also keeps me on track for some reason); try reading something, learn something new for the sake of it (a language, instrument, cooking experimentally, some new license, anything really), it’s a better way of life we’re seeking in the end. I do believe what hasn’t killed us yet will 100% make us stronger, and is something which will gradually empower us to shine not just in those target areas but everywhere as we grow… The journey is the destination…
Ho you’re right! I should trick myself thank you
Thank you for your answer. You definitely made me realize something : now that I’m aware of that, I can’t keep going like that. And surely I won’t. Which is a hopeful thought.
Thank you for your suggestions regarding mediation. I’ll give it a try.
I’m on the way to be a better version of myself!
Call me maybe we can help each other