Welcome you've come to the right place. Start by checking in here every day. I'm on day 13 of no alcohol and it really helps me reading the forums and going over some of the tools here every night before I sleep. Also, you might find it helpful using the 5 Rs that Dave posted in another thread. I've found it useful especially the part of realizing that urge to drink is just a thought and not a command then transforming it.
Have to agree with Foxman on this (well it applies to me anyway). Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic. I always think 'this time will be OK, I'm on top of it.' And that might work for a week, a month, a few months. But, I always end up broke and back to square one. Sobriety is the only healthy way forward for me.
Only you can decide this and I'm definitely not telling you what to do, but ask yourself, why are your drinking? Do you need to? What are the costs vs. benefits of continuing drinking (even in moderation)?
I found this article from a local online newspaper. I'm a New Zealander and I found it interesting to read 10% of us are now considered alcoholic. That seems rather high. I know it's ingrained in our culture that heavy drinking is acceptable from teenage years. We really have a binge drinking culture going in New Zealand and it's doing a lot of damage to people and society in general. Yet, most New Zealanders would say they don't have a problem.
"If,
when you honestly want to, you find you cannot quit entirely, and if
when drinking, you have little control over the amount you take, you are
probably alcoholic."
Be wary of what advice drinking friends give you. Especially in the first few months of sobriety. Make sure you work out your goals early on what you want both short and long term. It helps when you have "friends" giving "advice".
So true about the puppet quote. I was reflecting on this statement this afternoon as I was walking around a neighborhood that I only have associations with drinking in bars. It was fantastic to be sober and in control and not being in some drunken state aimlessly being "pulled" along.
Good question! It's going to take a long time to change things. Has to come from governments, food and drink industries, families, the entertainment industry, communities, healthcare system, schools and of course the individual. Everyone has their part to play.
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