hors controle,

That’s great that you have a quit day planned.  It also sounds like you learned from the past and plan to use strategies you know work for you.  I wish you the best of luck. I’ll be here supporting you!

Lynn

The holiday season is nearing an end and the new year is just around the corner.  Many have plans to quit or modify their drinking in the coming days. Many that are reading this know they need to change their drinking, or want to change their drinking, but have no idea where to start.  Coming here is a great first step. Reading through the various posts lets you see that others have a similar struggle. You are not alone.

Long before I actually gave up alcohol I wanted to stop drinking, but kept telling myself that I liked to drink.  Now I realize that I didn’t necessarily like to drink, I just really enjoyed the first few drinks of the day. The many, many others that followed were not enjoyable.  They lead to drunkenness, forgetfulness, and passing out. There was not one positive, memorable event that occurred in those moments that I was drunk. Not one.  

If you are one with a desire to change in the new year but are without a plan, I would like to offer a suggestion for the coming days.  Examine what it is that you enjoy about alcohol. Is it your friend? I thought it was mine, but a true friend doesn’t let you down. Alcohol does nothing to help you.  It will lift you up, only to allow you to crash down. Do you wonder what you will do to occupy your time? I did. There is absolutely nothing you can’t do when you’re sober.  The list is long of the things that can’t be done when you’re drinking.  

I would love to be able to enjoy a few drinks, but that's not possible for me.  I used to think it was unfair. So many others can have just a few drinks and be just fine.  Why can’t I? Because life just isn’t fair sometimes, or so it seems. Millions of people are affected by a vast array of things on a daily basis.  Diseases and disorders cause people not to be able to do the things they once enjoyed. It just so happens the thing that I cannot enjoy is alcohol.  Petty when compared to what some others have to give up.  

I wish everyone luck in their journey!

Thank you Ashley, I’ve enjoyed posting my thoughts here.  

hors controle,

I’m not sure what happened to my last post, but my gathering was good, thanks for asking.  I am able to enjoy alcohol gatherings now and find myself mingling with people I would have never thought about speaking with before.  I allowed drinking to isolate me to my own home, I allowed it to isolate me to the type of people I communicated with too.  

As I often do when I’m around people drinking, I watched people enjoy their drinks, knowing my drinking habits clearly different from theirs.  It would be nice to enjoy one or two drinks, but I know that is not possible. I remember what that first drink of the day is like and I would love to experience it again.  It’s the others that would inevitably follow that are the problem, the ones that I thought I enjoyed, the ones that keep me from drinking today.  

Lynn

This site was instrumental in helping me give up alcohol but after I stopped drinking my visits here slowly tapered off.  I haven’t had any alcohol in over four years but that doesn’t mean the struggle is over for me. The urge to drink is still there, not as strong as it was before, but it’s there.  I think of having a drink, telling myself that I would just stop at one. The thought is so enticing that I begin to rationalize in my mind that it would be ok. Then I remember what I have read in this forum and know that I cannot take that chance.  I cannot, and will not, drink again.  

I started this discussion because I had a thought that day and wanted to share.  I’m going to continue to post my thoughts because it helps me, and I hope that it can help someone else.