It is hard...but you did it. Congrats on another day!

I have had the same problem with wine. Great job leaving it there.

Yup it's shocking that first time. I used to have to go there every day and now I go maybe once a week. It gets easier and life gets better
1is2many

Excellent - you are on your way. Keep up the great work.

Wow do I relate. In early sobriety everything from billboards for beer to trips the grocery store were exhausting. I'd get to the end of the day so exhausted as I had to fight and fight against taking that first drink. It was like dodging bullets. Felt so intense.
I don't have to live like that today. The cravings are gone. A stupid "hey a drink now" though will pop into my mind at odd times, but its not that talking of myself off a cliff feeling I'd had in the beginning.
So hang in there. It gets easier and easier until I forgot to fight and surrendered. then I didnt have to struggle all day long.

I have vivid memories of similar thoughts and emotions and it is hard to get through.

Personally I had to get to a place where the passion to be sober - and happier consequences resulting from that - took away any thought or need for alcohol in general. I had a route that worked for me with lots of face to face support from others who had experienced the same and, most importantly, a programme of recovery. For me that was the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and there are other programmes too. No need to suffer unnecessarily, so I hope you experience similar soon!

Congrats on being strong and enduring the temptation! It does get easier the longer you're sober, so stick it out. You're on the right track my friend!

Where I live you most grocery stores don't sell wine or beer, so I did not have the challenge you are dealing with. You have to go to liquor stores here to buy alcohol. And I did. I knew where every liquor store was within a 10 mile radius. I would try not to go to the same store to buy a handle of vodka more than once a week. I didn't want to seem like an alcoholic.... (HA)
When I first quit it was difficult for a while to drive past these stores. But that went away pretty quickly.

You've proven to yourself that you CAN walk by the beer. That's a perfect small goal -- "I have to go to the store and i walk by the beer without stopping or dwelling on it."

5 days is great! It gets easier -- stay with it!

It is really hard in the beginning. Once the physical dependence wears off it gets easier to resist.

Don't ever go down the alcohol aisle.

If you're a man, it's akin to skipping the feminine products aisle. It's an afterthought, right?

You would never go down aisle 13 for tampons. Or if you don't have pets, you never go down the pet aisle. You have to try to approach alcohol the same.

Now obviously at major stores, alcohol is end capped on many aisles.

It isn't easy.

Congrats on 5 days. It's a difficult physical addiction to break and then your alcoholic mind plays tricks on you.

Treat it like a bad breakup, because that's what it is. Don't look at old photos, don't remember the good times, and don't romanticize the "what ifs" of a change here and there making the outcome different.


Most importantly, if going to the store is tough, send someone else to the store for the break and essentials.

Early sober is almost always fragile. Stay strong. You are doing well.

I also live in an area where most grocery stores don't sell alcohol. The day before the 'quit date' that I had set for myself I stopped into a grocery store that I don't usually shop at to pick up a few things. To my surprise they had an aisle full of beer and wine. I walked down it, toying with the idea..I did have one night left after all. I picked one up.

When I got to the checkout, the man behind me in line was arguing with his wife on his cell phone because, apparently, she had called asking him to pick up a six pack of beer. Loudly, he was saying 'another one? you go through a six pack every night (like me and the bottle of wine I thought).

Once she had rung up my things, the cashier asked me for an ID (I'm 49 : ) I had only brought in my credit card. Realizing that it was just store policy, I didn't give her a hard time and left the wine behind.
Sure did leave me thinking that someone was watching over me...

What a great story.... I had a cab driver ask me if I needed a lift once at such a crucial moment I accepted the help offered hehe!! Sounds to me like you had 2 heightened v oices working in that line with you!! They used to say their are no coincidences just moments about to happen pay attention:))
Billy

I have to say the early days are rough, and it does get easier. There is a temptation at every turn.

But I have to admit that after 25 years of sobriety, I sometimes struggle at the grocery store. I pass the wine section every time I go shopping because it is at the end of the dairy aisle. I think to myself, maybe I'll buy some wine to cook with, they say the alcohol cooks away. But I know that this kind of thinking is just my way of trying to rationalize buying a bottle of wine.

My cooking is fine without buying a bottle of wine. Period.

Congrats on the days of sobriety.

The alcohol isle is a huge trigger. Stay away from it! You are still at a very fragile state in your sobriety where you must avoid your triggers at all costs.

Hang in there

@Marion thanks for sharing that. Yep, my alcoholic thinking is like that too. I will sit next to someone at a dinner and think my food would taste better with that wine. Which I know rationally is bullshit and that what I'd do is drink the bottle and not taste a bite after the first sip. Its a great reminder of how sneaky alcoholism is in that its not "I'm going to get drunk" usually its "I need to cook" or "eat." Which is bullshit and like you said cooking is great without the wine.