Welcome back. Congratulations on 7 days! You will be feeling better in no time. You aren't living until you live a life without being drunk and hungover all of the time! Glad you got it out of your system and know that you are better off not drinking at all.

Welcome back! And congrats on 7 days.

I took was in denial for a long time about my drinking. Although I was on this website and told people here and in "real" life that I wanted to stop drinking I really felt I could moderate it. However, I could not. It wasn't until this most recent attempt to stop that I admitted to everyone that I could NOT moderate my drinking and that I needed to stop completely.

I last had a drink on January 27th so I"m five weeks into it now. I replaced wine with ginger ale. Prior to this the longest I had gone without a drink was 11 days. And even when I thought I could moderate I never succeeded in doing that. If I had one drink I would always end up getting drunk.

This of course put a strain on my marriage and fortunately for me my wife continued to give me chance after chance. This time I'm finally making the most of the multiple chances she has given me.

And the amazing thing is how good I feel every day. Even when I had stopped for a few days here and there I never fully "recovered" from the toll the alcohol had taken on my body.

It took a little over two weeks for me to start noticing it but now I wake up without a headache or feeling jittery and I feel more rested.

And of course not having feelings of guilt about my behavior and having just a better relationship with my wife is a great relief as well.

Good luck on your path!

Rich

Let me explain something scientific about alcoholism. I thought that i was too intelligent to be an alcoholic. I also thought that I could control drinking with will power. Science has shown that once we get to a certain point in our drinking, the compulsion gets hard wired in the brain. Compulsion is what happens, after we take the first drink. The brain says that it wants more. This is not part of the brain, where intelligence lies. It cannot be overridden with will power. Obsession to drink is something that we can control with will power. That is what we use not to take that first drink. I had been sober for months and took that first drink. The compulsion took over. It was a hard lesson to learn. Today I am on guard, when the obsession appears. I don't give into it. I worked on my problems, rather than run away from them with booze. It was very difficult at first, but as time went on, I had success.

Thanks for all the kind replies. I definitely relate to each of you. I am finally at the point where I just don't want to fight with alcohol anymore. My brother says rock bottom is different for everyone, and while I'm not homeless and drunk in the streets, I certainly feel the emotional toll. Even after 8 days (yay, now 8 days!) I feel better. I'm using my free time at night to self reflect and do positive things rather than drink. I wake up feeling great. No shame or guilt.

Thanks again, I'll keep you all posted!

Happy to hear from you icoi -- I love what Impermanence said. I fell into that same trap -- I was "too smart" to be an alcoholic or become one. I finally had to face the fact that it firmly had me in its grasp and that I was now an alcoholic and no amount of thinking was going to prevent me stopping after taking that first drink. My last drink was Sept 29th and my last substance was Dec 23rd and I know that I need to work on my "stuff" to keep me walking in the light. That part of my journey is just starting. Yours in a happy, sober, life of service, PG

Willpower is the power to will yourself to do something, right? Willpower is a skill that has to be trained and it takes every bit of intelligence to consciously be aware of your "now".

Brilliant posts as always.
icoi - you certainly will have support here - you have mine as well as all the other great guys.

Best thing I did coming on here and gelling with several people.
I like what you said about reasoning yourself out of sobriety - think that is where I am at and will take this on board.

As you guys say, it can be done.
G.