Fear works against people in many ways and yes for many it's a trigger, all sorts of fear. For me personally the thought of progress is not a fear that I would want to drink away, I would be concerned with slipping back to the hell I was in by drinking and not moving forward.

For me, there is nothing i fear more than being an active alcoholic and the solution tothat is not to drink - for me that is. everything else is a drop in the bucket - nothing can bring me that sorta fear.

Peace!

Fear is a definite trigger. Fear/anxiety are interconnected with my dependency. I have convinced myself that the only way I can relax is to numb- and then I like myself relaxed, and think I like myself more that way than sober- I'm too uptight and serious when sober. I'm taking a close look at what triggers the anxiety/fear- and looking at it sober makes me crazy- but I know I have to confront these issues and work on eliminating them if I am to be free and sober. Start of Day 4 (probably 4th time in the past year) for me. Hang in there MrOutacontrol!! Namaste!

It is one of my biggest triggers. I have come to see though, that 99.9999% of my fears are all in my head. Truly, there is nothing to fear, we are just so stuck in this imaginary world of dread (atleast I was, and continue to combat at times)...

One thing that helps me tremendously when I am facing crippling fear is this: is there any immediate physical danger? If yes, what can I do? If not-most likely my fear is irrational. It is true that when I do not have money or something, my bills will not get paid and I will perhaps end up without a home. OK. Is this something to fear? No. It is something to face-and proceed ahead with wisdom of how do deal with it. It is actually true too-that if I lose my house I still would most likely have nothing to fear really, as I would go stay somewhere safe. It is all the "what ifs" we put in our head that cause this fear-which really helps nothing in reality.

Also, the fear is worse than the actually facing of what I fear-for me this is always true.

MrO, what you're describing sounds alot like the fear I experienced. It happened alot when I was still drinking or in the quasi quitting stage. I'd have a great few days of sober productive living and I'd be gung ho on the future and what wonderful things were in store now that I was sober. Then I'd get scared and have a booze up.

I concluded that I wasn't afraid to try and fail- that's happened before and I survived. The real stickler seemed to be the threat of success. Part of me thought I didn't deserve it, so I'd sabotage my good efforts.

As I went longer without drinking I began to realize many things about myself including that I deserved to be successful. Face your fear and stare it down!!

Fear is a big factor because it is so easy to numb yourself and just forget about the world. You can't sit around wondering about the "woolda" "coulda" "shoulda's". That would make anyone want a drink! Know that God has a plan for you and that includes being sober. I could not make it thru the day sober without His help. And it is ok to tthrow a pity party, just a non-alcoholic pity party! If you have not gone to an AA meeting, you might just go check it out. The concepts helped me a lot when I first quit. And it always helps to have someome to talk to that has "been there, done that". God is good all the time and has a plan for you. There is someone here to listen to you all the time. When you get scared, let someome else know. It helps! Stay sober my friend!

Fear was why I drank. I did not want to face the reality of life. The problems disappeared when I numbed myself to oblivion. Great game plan huh? What I forgot was with the problems of life also came wonderful experiences that I was missing. Now I look at the problems as a challenge to overcome and with each problem I face and overcome I become a stronger, happier person and my desire to drink gets less and less.

Personally, I could make absolutely anything a trigger or excuse to drink ... gotta stay in the sober moment at all times. It's way worth it.