Improved health and lifestyle from quitting drinking

dont get me started…

he went to the ER once and the Dr there actually said to him "you drink, you smoke, you dont exercise or eat right. what are you doing in my ER?’

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give that doctor an award

What I’ve found helpful when my mind idly thinks about drinking is to complete the thought.

The idle thought tends to be about the first drink. Completing that through to feeling hungover the next day I’ve found useful. Also knowing however strong that thought feels now, it will only get stronger if I actually do drink.

+1

Works for many drugs that I’ve quit.

The hardest drugs to quit are those that don’t really have any withdrawal effects

similar for smoking. I found that most of the time I dont want a cigarette, I just want to light it and take the first drag. I dont want to breathe smoke for 10 min and smell like shit for the next 2 hours.

and spot on for drinking. I just want to get that first few drinks in me and reach that 20 min of fun level of drunk before I go off the rails.

just chasing the ‘fix’

made it! 3 years.

but holy shit, what a week. I feel like If I could survive that without relapse I could handle anything.

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:party:

One year. didn’t really think I’d make it this far when I started it last year.

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I gotta a little too close to falling off the wagon around new years. Stress pulls me down. Makes it OK to drink… because I have so many problems, whats 1 more.

made it through. back to normal now.

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10 days. The longest I’ve been sober in maybe 11 years. I mean I smoke a bit of weed every evening, legitimately medically but also it’s fun and a crutch. But no alcohol. Had 1 sip of a mead that was just gifted to me by somebody who didn’t know better, then I gave it (large bottle) to my partner and the rest of the party we were having to pour a round for all.

I crave alcohol frequently, but I’ve been in 4 situations already with others drinking and I haven’t. This weekend presents a big stumbling block because in-laws are visiting, and MIL is just a piece of work who we nearly cut out of our lives, but my partner chose to keep them in for now. MIL knows I’m not drinking but will pressure me to drink so she feels better about her over-indulgence. Not happening. I’m getting to my 2 weeks. Started Naltrexone yesterday and might be going to therapy soon.

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Good luck this weekend.

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Hang in there, and tell yourself: MIL will be leaving after this visit, but I will remain.

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The cravings get better over time.

Your brain’s “baseline” resets over 90 days, that makes a big difference for mood.

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I found that “firsts” were somewhat difficult.
first week
first month
First dinner out
First gather with family or friends
First softball game
Those kind of things.
Once I got by them, I found it easier.

I still want to drink and they sure look nice, I just don’t trust myself to have one so I just pass.

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It’s easy to distract yourself with other drugs. Weed works for a lot of people. But there are other alternatives too. Whatever it is, it’s always a good idea to quit alcohol, since it’s one of the worst drugs for your health.

I agree with this.

I’ve also gotten to the point (more than 3 years now) where what I stand to lose by drinking is easier to remember and far greater than what I would stand to gain. I’m proud of not drinking for that long, and if I had that glass of wine (which would definitely turn into the whole bottle, and given my lack of drinking, would get me blackout shitfaced), I would be losing all of that history. And for what? Two days of misery and a ton of regret. I’m good.

It was certainly much harder when I was only a month or two in. Really, really hard. Thankfully my husband and most of my friends were super supportive, couldn’t have done it without that.

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Yeah I think it was your post andI’m paraphrasing that said something like.”Sober me says I’ll have one drink, but it don’t trust buzzed me to keep that promise.” As something I could really relate to.

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Yeah, lower inhibitions feed on itself.

Some folks aren’t looking to replace one addiction with another but if it works for you, great.

not all drugs are addictive. and even those that are addictive can be a lot less harmful than alcohol.

Coffee for example.