When the alcohol comes to your doorstep

I have been so worried about getting better, I have been sick with bad flu for the past 2 weeks and that kinda helped with the " no drinking" but I was scared that once I get better I am going to start wanting to drink again…this weekend my brother rocked up at my house after work with beers…it used to be our thing, he would come and chill at my place and catchup over a few beers together, i kept telling myself just try… lets see how long I can hold out…I ended up[ making myself coffee and catching up with him while he finished the beers right infront of me…i was so proud of myself. It was hard, the smelt was sooo good, the way his mood just got better after a few drinks, I started missing that feeling…but Kept telling myself just try abit longer, lets see how long I can go… before I knew it I sat through the whole catch up session with my coffee and I was soooo proud of myself… I just need to keep myself busy, and find new people that dont drink that I can chill with and do things with, cause I realize I dont really know what to do if I am not drinking especially weekends.

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Wow, that sounds like putting my hand on a stovetop and letting someone switch it on. Nothing I would want to try.

Good that you didn’t get burnt. :upside_down_face:

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It may be a good idea to ask your brother not to bring alchohol at your house anymore. It’s ok to set boundaries when you’re in recovery.

My husband still drinks, and when we’re out he’ll usually order beer. But it doesn’t bother me in the slightest. His beer doesn’t look good, it doesn’t smell good and I am not internally fighting any urges.

If he drank at home… that would be a trigger. So I asked him not to.

If he drank wine, that would trigger me. But he’s not a wine drinker.

If he got visibly drunk, that would also be a trigger. So he never does.

Point is, we talked about these things and we have healthy boundaries in place that mean I get the support I need to be sober.

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There’s a great deal of instant gratification in drinking. Your biochemistry changes within seconds and peaks after a matter of minutes. Watching someone drink is like watching them on a spending spree with a sort of happiness credit card. They wake up with a debt to pay and you’re in the black.

I’ve found myself drinking a lot more coffee since I cut out alcohol. A lot of our difficulties are mechanical, I think. I don’t believe they have much to do with booze at all, just the foreign feeling of an unfamiliar pattern. I hope you stick with it. It’s something to be proud of enduring a thing like that.

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