Fighting the good fight

[Madigansmom]

It's been just about a week since I decided to put an end to my drinking habit. I finally faced the fact that alcohol affects me differently than others. I am happy with my decision. I know it's for my health and well-being. But it's true; there's a feeling of mourning too. I am "sad" that I cannot go out and enjoy my favorite craft hard ciders. I'm sad to be "dry" during happy hour with friends. I used to be the life of the party - at my own expense. It was fun...but an evil choice. I will get through this. But it's definitely a change. I'm the type who can abstain for an extended time. I have been able, in the past, to enjoy only 1 drink on some occasions. But it remains a slippery slope and I always found myself back at "out of control.". It's time to take this stand. I just have to ride the positives right past the challenges. Amen to that!

[Jampacked]

I listen to Sober Stories on Spotify. The presenter interviews people who have adopted sobriety. We do mourn our old selves but it's fascinating to hear how happy people are further down the line and how certain they are that going backbisnt an option. There are tough times and cravings ahead but without any doubt good things and happy times ahead.

[Bokkie21]

admire you Madigansmom, similar to me, always think I’m in control but after years of trying it’s catching up. I’m fearful of drinking and fearful of not drinking it’s been such a big part of my life. Good luck x

[Madigansmom in reply to Bokkie21]

Good luck to you as well. It's not an easy realization nor a simple challenge. 1 "easy" day doesn't guarantee the problem is solved, for sure. I know that others have overcome this, and we can only count on "right now..." Godspeed. Don't stop trying.

[SoberDrunk1]

I encourage you to read the chapter more about alcoholism. If we have been through the wringer, we can relate to all the things the authers say about alcoholics. We have tried all the tricks out there in the world. We came to the rooms because nothing worked. The next step is to realize deep down within we belong to a unique set of folks who cant handle alcohol safely. Worse yet, if we dont take action, we will slip back to old ways of drinking:

All of us felt at times that we were regaining control, but such intervals—usually brief—were inevitably followed by still less control, which led in time to pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization.

I did the above. Tried to stay stopped on my own and then would moderate, fall flat and start again. We forget the pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization beginning of the next spree. Thats the key.

Once we accept this, the book talks about self-ishness and self-centeredness is the root of all problems. And our mind is wired to always go back to alcohol at low times.

Hence we start working on discarding old habits and bring in new attitude toward everything. We can quickly experience the promises laid out in the big book. I love the 10th step promises:

And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone— even alcohol. For by this time sanity will have returned. We will seldom be interested in liquor. If tempted, we recoil from it as from a hot flame. We react sanely and normally, and we will find that this has happened automatically. We will see that our new attitude toward liquor has been given us without any thought or effort on our part. It just comes!

[Madigansmom]

Thank you for the words and suggestions. Yes. True. Without the book and meetings I can see how easy it is to fall back into our old, harmful ways. A good book. And wonderful support. 🙂