HALT.
Hungry Angry Lonely Tired....usually causes cravings...evaluate those things next time and take care of them as soon as you can.

Usually eating something when I have a craving makes it pass easier.

Giday T135, in my understanding this is the stinking thinking.

For me this is what lead me to the first drink. As the obsession came on me my thinking lead me to have a drink and remove the obsession. The more the obsession came on, my thinking came more intense which eventually lead me to my solution which was 'have a drink'. No matter what I did my solution was have a drink. Win a game of footy - have a drink, lose a game of footy - have a drink. No matter what the issue was my thinking lead me to my solution - have a drink.

So whenever I had a problem that I thought about guess where my solution was. I could not trust my thinking.

I had to break that link think - drink. I had to change the drink part. I did with the the help of AA. Others suggest sweet things ie think - lolly. Think - water, think - prayer, whatever if I could change the drink bit I had a chance of not drinking.

This for me also had to run in conjunction with doing something about myself, I had to deal with all my stuff and this is where for me the 12 steps came in. I honestly believe if I did not do something about this I would have remained an angry person with a high chance of picking up again. I now believe I could still pick up but I have decreased the chance.

Wish you well G8

Hello trout135,

The questions you have posed go right to the heart of the alcohol problem and if you can grasp the answers you will be on your way to happy sobriety.

Different things will work for different people, at least up to a point. For instance you will read about all sorts of strategies from exercise to yoga, eating certain foods, not eating certain foods, avoiding places and people, journaling and a host of other things that help people to avoid drinking. Some people will decide that they have had enough of drinking and they will just quit, with some finding it easy and others struggling. However, if the answer to the alcohol problem was so simple there would be little need for alcohol forums, treatment centres and AA meetings. For many alcoholics something else is required if they are to regain their freedom from alcohol.

I have the greatest of admiration for alcoholics who quit drinking without outside help by whatever method but I am addressing this to those who cannot do it on their own. For many alcoholics the obsession for alcohol becomes so deeply entrenched that they seem to be beyond human aid. An example of this was a wealthy New York businessman called Roland Hazzard who was a chronic alcoholic who tried every treatment that money could buy. See:
www.barefootsworld.net/aathe_chain.html

The Swiss psychiatrist, Dr. Carl Jung who treated Roland H believed that it was possible for chronic alcoholics to recover from alcoholism if they were to experience what he called a vital spiritual experience but he conceded that such an occurrence was a rare outcome and difficult to bring about, even for one of the best psychiatrists in the world at the time. Dr. Jungs theory about a means of recovery eventually reached another hopeless alcoholic called Bill Wilson and Bill W had such a spiritual experience as he lay in a bed in the Towns Hospital off Central Park in NYC for what would be his last detoxification.

Bill W and other once hopeless alcoholics who went on to recover from the alcoholic condition by spiritual means went on to develop a set of guidelines that others could follow. This set of suggestions became known as The Twelve Steps and they were published in the book Alcoholics Anonymous, commonly known as the Big Book.

The suggested programme of recovery in the Big Book is designed to bring about a slow and gradual change of thinking or a spiritual awakening as opposed to the flashing lights that a rare few people tend to experience. Many of those who developed these principles were atheists or agnostics so they were careful to develop a spiritual rather than a religious programme and as such it works for people of all religions and none.

The strategy that is used in the Twelve Steps is to find a way to establish and grow a contact with the spirit that lies within every human being. Certain action is required in order to do this and it is something that would be difficult or maybe impossible to do without help. The outcome is that the obsession for alcohol is removed and there is no longer a need to fight the urge to drink. Not only is the alcohol problem resolved but all sorts of other positive things happen so that life has a new meaning. The void within or that missing something that so many alcoholics experience becomes filled with new thinking and life improves in many ways.

If you are at the point where you would really like to stop drinking as you have stated then you have a decision to make. You can struggle on with what you have been doing and add some of the weird and wonderful suggestions that are out there and then hope for the best. This could work for you until something happens and the obsession to drink overcomes your willpower. The alternative is to become willing to try something different that will lead to a spiritual awakening and the removal of the obsession. When I was faced with such a choice it was suggested that I should get a sponsor who had travelled the road before and who would show me the way I found such a man at AA meetings.

Hi,
I got sober in AA sooo I can only tell you what I heard and practiced as a newly sober person. The first thing when I woke was to ask for a little help during the Day if necessary. Then I read something a little inspirational (did a little quiet time) /later meditation. Then I went to work and did a fair days work for a fair days pay.

As the day went on I centered may day around what meeting I was going to go too(very Important as I needed to stay busy and out of my head) So that's what I did and became very involved in taking care of my well being inside and outside AA. Service to my Group and a lot of fellowship..

Then at the end of the Day I thanked whatever power it was be it inspiration or (from my resolve to stay sober for another Day)

The secret was to begin to understand and learn to change what my brain or body might be telling like I need a drink, or that it was a good idea to just have one.

That had to be replaced with a real need to understand why it was not a good idea.

That I got over time with AAs steps, therapy , reading a lot of AA and not AA literature, meditation and how I began to honor and learn to respect this the process of life I was at each given moment.

It really does work given the willingness to change and cooperate and stay hungry for my new found life through sooobriety:))))

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5Dx-CoDFnY&list=PL84DEF1AD1A335F82&index=32
Billy

Oh one mooore thing, Entertaining, glamorizing, rationalizing or thinking it will be different this time only spelllss danger DanGer Danger Will Robinson :))) Longevity in Sober time does not have to be repeated if your sincere about The Need to Not Drink and Get on with Your Life as I said Woot!!!!!

Sorry that you really would like to stop but you can't. I remember how hard it was for me. I hope that you keep trying and you'll find a solution for yourself. As for recognizing the obsession to drink - this is the easy part. But let it pass...that's more than a problem.

Everyone has different strategies. I've found mine in AA and with AA finding that my God's love removed my cravings. Just for today. But that's more than enough for me. I couldn't and I can't deal with alcohol alone, no matter what "strategies" I tried. If I think about it I didn't even have any real strategy. I wanted to stop and I just couldn't. Serious illness, voluntary confinement, doctors and medications, psychologists, psychiatrists - made me stop, yes. But the whole thing started again - sooner or later.
I know that this is not much help for you till you find your own way out of this misery. How?
H.O.W. Honesty, Open-mindedness, Willingness

I need the program of AA and all that it entails. I needed a sponsor, the 12 steps and a spiritual awakening in order to keep from giving in to that obsession. Before I did the step work and worked the program into my life, I constantly gave in to that obsession. However, since my first AA meeting I havent had that obsession the way I did before, until gradually it was gone. I don't obsess about booze anymore ever.

The longer you're away from it, the more distinct the disease's voice is from your own. Any justification for "having a drink" is your disease talking. It helps me to know that these are two very different voices. I tell myself, "That is your disease talking. Don't listen."
Start marking down when you get cravings--what you were doing when they hit, and how you were feeling at the time. You may notice a patter in time.

I tried hungreds of times to quit on my own, to cut back, quit cold turkey or just moderate but I failed every single time. I figured I had better try something different because I was going downhill fast!

I was introduced to the idea of support groups when I was in counseling for relapse prevention and this came after I finished an IOP.
The support I received from others going through similar problems with compulsive drinking, was tantamount to my success in early sobriety. That was 7 years ago.

The group counseling ended 3 months later but I continue to get additional support by attending AA meetings. I have several sponsers whom I can call anytime, for help with cravings or with any life struggles. In or outpatient treatment followed by addiction group counseling followed by AA is what worked for me. Not saying it will work for you but it worked for me!

Good luck and God Bless!

It's like in Star Wars you need to get enough distance from the Death Star so the tractor beam gets less and less. I had to have some help from friends in a room. Only way I was abler to get away enough

You can do it.

1is2