Haven't touched a drop in...

tinpib

What are your plans for the day/night Drydub?

drydub

tinpib wrote: »

What are your plans for the day/night Drydub?

Gonna stay under the radar. Have one or two things to do during the day work wise but intend on watching the hurling at home, then olympics on the telly.
Flirting with the idea of going out for a cycle but no intentions of leaving the house and certainly not for the pub and have no drink at home.

Tonight im going to take it handy and make a dint into all this fizzy water i bought

drydub

Sure enough the texts came. 730 just as i was bedding in for the night, the offer to go to the local. That was tough too.

marienbad

drydub wrote: »

Sure enough the texts came. 730 just as i was bedding in for the night, the offer to go to the local. That was tough too.

Hang in there , it will be worth it .

drydub

A small bit restless if I'm honest.
I think it's more of the fear of missing all the craic. I'm not thirsty for beer at home, maybe it's just the level of Saturday-night--staying-in-not-having-a-great-time anxiety.

tinpib

It can be hard to break the routine of an adult lifetime. Stick with it. Post here in the morning, you will be very glad to have a fresh, regret free head.

leinsterdude

drydub wrote: »

A small bit restless if I'm honest.
I think it's more of the fear of missing all the craic. I'm not thirsty for beer at home, maybe it's just the level of Saturday-night--staying-in-not-having-a-great-time anxiety.

Very hard the "power of habit" is huge.....

Glen_Quagmire

Failed again. In a heap today.

Back to the drawing board for next weekend.

drydub

Woke up fresh at 830am , then went for a run for an hour. Really have let myself get out of shape but as i always say to others, its the first few yards are the hardest. Buzzing from the endorphin release still and feeling good

The flying mouse

Glen_Quagmire wrote: »

Failed again. In a heap today.

Back to the drawing board for next weekend.

Hi Glen it's tough trying to break this addiction. If you really serious in trying to stop you need to pt a plan any plan in place for when the witching hours come.and they always come as drydub said above..we think we missing out on something when the reality is that for most times it's the sameo,sameo.

Learn what your triggers were this time and remember failing to plan is planing to fail...good luck keep us posted..

marienbad

Glen_Quagmire wrote: »

Failed again. In a heap today.

Back to the drawing board for next weekend.

Make a plan and do what ever it takes to stick with it , it is so worth it in the end .

We are here for you

Glen_Quagmire

I was all prepared to stay off it this weekend but there was a function on Friday and I was going to go and not drink but I didn't have the will power. Ended up drinking all day yesterday too to cure the hangover.

Next weekend will be different I am adamant!!

marienbad

Glen_Quagmire wrote: »

I was all prepared to stay off it this weekend but there was a function on Friday and I was going to go and not drink but I didn't have the will power. Ended up drinking all day yesterday too to cure the hangover.

Next weekend will be different I am adamant!!

Willpower alone won't cut it , none of us would have done it with willpower alone . Use every resource that you can find .

drydub

Today done and dusted. Happy to have the weekend behind me. Now to concentrate on the week ahead.

drydub

Popping to a friend's house tonight, kind of a house warming situation. Have text ahead to say no beer for me. Driving and driving home

Tuesday or Wednesday were always my "reward" nights. Come home and want to go out to have some food and a couple pints.
Plan to go out on my bike one of the evenings to break that routine.

On a personal note. It's only a week and I'm shocked at how much the bloat I had is gone. Clothes are no longer 'snug' and back fitting.

Glen_Quagmire

That's it now, I've a pain in me b*ll*x with drink it has to stop. I barely slept a wink last night with the "fear" and was in bits today in work from it.

I forced myself to go to the gym after work and feel a bit better now. I was thinking to myself during the workout that I am bursting my balls in the gym 3-4 times a week and all I'm doing is maintaining the weight I'm at. Imagine of I wasn't just burning off the 4000 - 6000 calories from drink and take aways each weekend, I reckon I'd be in good shape and feel great too.

Drink is a flippin curse, I've had some enjoyable times drinking I can't deny that but the hangovers are effecting me too much lately and I don't like where it's heading!

Sorry about the rant but I'm a bit annoyed with myself for putting myself through this same ordeal every single weekend!!

marienbad

Glen_Quagmire wrote: »

That's it now, I've a pain in me b*ll*x with drink it has to stop. I barely slept a wink last night with the "fear" and was in bits today in work from it.

I forced myself to go to the gym after work and feel a bit better now. I was thinking to myself during the workout that I am bursting my balls in the gym 3-4 times a week and all I'm doing is maintaining the weight I'm at. Imagine of I wasn't just burning off the 4000 - 6000 calories from drink and take aways each weekend, I reckon I'd be in good shape and feel great too.

Drink is a flippin curse, I've had some enjoyable times drinking I can't deny that but the hangovers are effecting me too much lately and I don't like where it's heading!

Sorry about the rant but I'm a bit annoyed with myself for putting myself through this same ordeal every single weekend!!

Rant away my friend .

tinpib

marienbad wrote: »

Rant away my friend .

Keep at it Glen and drydub. And rant away. Via reddit I know I am 228 days sober. Honestly this time has been a breeze compared to the other 3 times I gave up permanently and stayed it off it for 4.5 months.

Just keep going, even if you 'fail', slip etc you will learn from it and hopefully the next time will be easier and better.

As Marienbad says there are a huge number of resources out there now, from books, support groups, videos, websites etc.

Try lots of them and see what works for you. You have the determination, next you need the tools and the know-how.

Glen_Quagmire

Thanks guys. Part of me feels like I'm giving up a huge "pleasure" in my life but when I feel the way I felt yesterday and this morning it really is awful.

I've tried cutting down on weekends but that doesn't work. Looks like the only solution is quit for good which I intend to do!

Feel free to offer some of those websites and books etc that have helped others.. Thanks

tinpib

Glen_Quagmire wrote: »

Thanks guys. Part of me feels like I'm giving up a huge "pleasure" in my life but when I feel the way I felt yesterday and this morning it really is awful.

I've tried cutting down on weekends but that doesn't work. Looks like the only solution is quit for good which I intend to do!

Feel free to offer some of those websites and books etc that have helped others.. Thanks

At the moment without doubt the best for me is the stopdrinking subreddit.

https://www.reddit.com/r/stopdrinking/

Bookwise: The Naked Mind gets huge praise but I've not read it. The other 'classics' are Jason Vale's and Allen Carr's ones, but there have been dozens of them released on kindle in the last couple of years as the self publishing industry explodes. So again by browsing on Amazon you will find them.


Video wise there are harrowing but brilliant ones on youtube. Search 'alcoholism', a great one is 'rain in my heart' also there is ' drugged high on alcohol'. Louis Theroux's recent one was excellent but you might have to put on your thinking cap to find it on the web, if you know what I mean. It's called 'drinking to oblivion'.

I also got great comfort from the US series 'Intervention". I scrolled through the list of episodes on wiki and concentrated on finding the ones on booze rather than on on other drugs/vices. Some are on Youtube but I think I used Kodi to watch them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intervention_episodes

Some of these links were posted already on the non drinkers forum, scroll back to January this year or so and here is one thread for example:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057548514

Along with many other things on my to-do list is to put togetther a list of links as a sticky for this forum!

edit: I'm going to start on that list of links now!

Glen_Quagmire

Thanks mate!

marienbad

Glen_Quagmire wrote: »

Thanks mate!

I go to A.A myself

ASoberThought

105 days for me today.

How wonderful it is to live life without alcohol and drugs. I didn't think such inner peace was possible.

Amazingfun

Glen_Quagmire wrote: »

Thanks guys. Part of me feels like I'm giving up a huge "pleasure" in my life but when I feel the way I felt yesterday and this morning it really is awful.

I've tried cutting down on weekends but that doesn't work. Looks like the only solution is quit for good which I intend to do!

Feel free to offer some of those websites and books etc that have helped others.. Thanks

Great selection of AA speakers here, some of these folks helped me recover after years of slipping. Been sober and free now for almost 15 years
This guy is a gifted one imo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvP5E_-Ju9s&list=PLuSJRom1_4kDm2Rga13qROhKyYEvuEmSo

AA meetings are a good start, but they were not enough as I drank after doing just meetings. Everything changed for me when I started actually doing the AA program of recovery.

http://www.alcoholicsanonymous.ie/Information-on-AA/Find-a-Meeting

Best of luck!

Glen_Quagmire

The thoughts of going to an AA meeting is overwhelming to be honest.

What actually defines an alcoholic? Would I be considered an alcoholic for example, a person who drinks Friday and Saturdays and the odd Sunday and very rarely drink Sunday to Thursday? Is it the grip alcohol has on a person rather than the frequency they drink or a mixture of a number of things?

What could I expect to see in an AA meeting?

realdanbreen

Glen_Quagmire wrote: »

The thoughts of going to an AA meeting is overwhelming to be honest.

What actually defines an alcoholic? Would I be considered an alcoholic for example, a person who drinks Friday and Saturdays and the odd Sunday and very rarely drink Sunday to Thursday? Is it the grip alcohol has on a person rather than the frequency they drink or a mixture of a number of things?

What could I expect to see in an AA meeting?

I can only give you my own experience. Personally I wouldn't get hung up on the word 'alcoholic'. All I know is that drink was everything in my life and when I went to my first AA meeting the prospects of not having a drink again almost stopped me from going. I met people at AA meetings of all age groups and backgrounds. Some had pretty horriffic times and experiences others on the face of it not too bad but all had realised that drink was having a bad effect on their lives. I loved my drink and I loved the feeling skipping down the street on a Friday night all dolled up, plenty of cash in the pocket and loads of drink to be had. However I hated the after effects, the tossing and turning and sweating in bed, peeping out the window in the morning to see if the car was in one piece, meeting the postman at the end of the street to intercept the bills, sitting in near empty pubs on a lovely summers day listening to some other gobshyte like myself talking nonsense.
I would say go to a meeting and listen away at your own pace, there is no obligation on anyone to say or do anything. Best of luck.

Bongalongherb

4 weeks off the drink now. I did get the cravings for a beer a few days ago but had to just deal with it, not easy at all. I never realised how damn hard it would be until now. Being feeling jittery/nervous lately as well.

tinpib

Yep, I have problem with the word alcoholic too, although I have been thinking more about that recently.

Was drink ruining my life? Absolutely not. Well, not yet.

Was I ever arrested? No, not even close. Not yet.

Was I ruining relationships? No, not yet.

But for me it was stopping me from being happy, from fulfilling my potential.

On holiday last Christmas as I looked back over the year the only positive achievement I had was I started running regularly. I was also sober from Feb-June 2015.

I was achieving NOTHING while drinking. I'd start on Thursday and go out 'socialising' doing the same sh1t every single week. Then I nursed my way back to normality Friday and Saturday, sometimes going out again. I had a rule, which I rarely broke, of not drinking on a Sunday. Then just get through Monday and possibly Tuesday. Feel positive, refreshed, clear headed on a Wednesday and Thursday until 6pm to repeat the process.

Wednesday and Thursday until 6pm were the only times I ever felt like going food shopping, cooking, getting anything done. The rest of the time it was "ugggh, I'll get my haircut tomorrow", "ugghh, I'll iron my clothes tomorrow", "ugggh, I'll do that tomorrow".

All I was doing was hoping the day would be over so that I would feel half normal or fully normal the next day.

What a huge waste of time.

I had an idea for a Kindle book last Christmas and it would take me 40 years to do it if I just did it on Wednesday evenings. Boredom was always my downfall when I gave it up before. So I had my epiphany of giving up booze again but throwing myself into writing the book.

It worked. I absolutely bust my ass on it and from Jan-April, drinking only really entered my head twice.

Since then I've found it hard to find a project to get my teeth into, I've spent far too much time recently staring at my laptop, watching/betting on soccer. That's a whole other post, but I'm on day 2 of not betting. Another colossal waste of time/money that usually ends up making me feel like sh1t.

It is difficult at first, keep reading, try things out as suggested here, take it one day at a time You are breaking the habit of a lifetime, it can be tough. If you slip, or go back drinking fully committed like I have done in the past, then simply stop again.

I got a lot better at sobriety over the years.

edit: oh ya, once I start drinking I can't stop! I've known it for years, have no difficulty in admitting it. That is often used as the definition of alcoholism. But I still have problems with the word.

tinpib

Just to add. I went to AA the first time I gave up in 2010. I found it good. What I liked most was just listening to other people. I'm abroad now and AA isn't an option. But I get the same benefit from reading the stopdrinking subreddit I linked to earlier.

Wasn't too into the steps/higher power part of it.

You don't need to say anything. Take a read through this thread. I've read it the whole way through on earlier attempts at giving up permanently.

Amazingfun

Glen_Quagmire wrote: »

The thoughts of going to an AA meeting is overwhelming to be honest.

What actually defines an alcoholic? Would I be considered an alcoholic for example, a person who drinks Friday and Saturdays and the odd Sunday and very rarely drink Sunday to Thursday? Is it the grip alcohol has on a person rather than the frequency they drink or a mixture of a number of things?

What could I expect to see in an AA meeting?

AA's Big Book, our "basic text" says this:

In the preceding chapters you have learned something of alcoholism. We hope we have made clear the distinction between the alcoholic and the nonalcoholic. If, when you honestly want to, you find you cannot quit entirely, or if when drinking, you have little control over the amount you take, you are probably alcoholic.

http://anonpress.org/bb/Page_44.htm

I did not want to "go to" AA and I wanted to "go back" to AA after having drank again even less, lol. I really don't know any recovered alcoholic who was ever like "wow, that AA club looks fantastic, I can't wait to join"! :pac:
Nah, most people, like myself, just found ourselves out of options. Meaning we had tried it ALL, and yet found ourselves just as bottomed out as ever.
Desperation is what drove me back I suppose, but now, years later, I am so grateful I tried it again, because I nearly missed out on the best years of my life.

Some aren't aware of this, but lots of people have recovered by just using the program, as they were in places where there were no meetings. This was especially true in pre-internet time, the group was called "LONERS" and many of them enjoyed a full life of happy sober usefulness having never regularly attended meetings. I met such a man on the early 2000's, amazing fellow who had a hand in starting AA in China in fact (what a story-such craic, lol) I was really impressed by him.

But those of us who live in places with lots of different meetings are rich in blessings really, for not only can we go to meetings day or night, we can go to different groups until we find one we feel we really "fit" in. I love my group, and the people in it, many have become good friends and much of our happiness now comes from the fact so many of us were so low and hopeless at one time. Now we share in the freedom of a life where we have been spared a sad and pathetic alcoholic end.

I know this thread is filled with all kinds of drinkers, and not everyone has hit the kinds of low level experiences some of us have. But I am an alcoholic of "the hopeless variety" as its termed, and the only thing that ever worked for me was AA. So this message is all I can pass on. But I do not think AA is for everyone, nor would I expect it to be!

The link I gave you has speakers (all free) where you can listen to recovered alkies in your own home. So if you can't work up the will to attend a meeting in person quite yet, maybe start there and see if there is anything in what they share that catches your interest. The internet has really opened new windows for learning about AA, I know more than a few who came in through online resources of one variety or another.

No matter what road anyone chooses, best of luck to all