welcome small wonder. Did you take the 12 steps with a sponsor? Congrats on Day1.

I've never met anyone around here that could successfully moderate when it came to alcohol. My twin is desperately trying to control her drinking right now too, to no avail.

I hope you stick around and keep reading. Lots of really good, sober people here. We'd be more than happy to welcome you to the fold!
And BTW, only a few short hours until Day 2 (maybe about 8 hours from where you are). If you want to be and get sober, you've come to the right place. Hugs, Dianna

Your story sounds a lot like mine. Me telling me that I will only drink on weekend just wine, oh except Friday then I can have two hard drinks but nothing during the weekday unless I am hung over on Monday then I can have one to take he edge off. Or I can drink everyday if I see the face in the Moon two days out of he month. You get the picture. It always ended up with to much and right back to every day. I am 9 weeks out. I made it a year Before and a month here and there knowing I would just give my liver break and would ease back into the wine only on weekends UNLESS. It just doesn't work and feels so much better not going through the head games and just stopping all together. Good luck. Hang in there and stick around there is a lot of good advice and people all going through the same thing you and I are. Alcoholism.

One day at a time is the best you can do. You've made a start - you should feel good about yourself for that first step.

As for moderation, I know for me it won't work. You can talk yourself into doing a lot of stupid things "just this one time".

The people here have been great. Most have been through all of this before.

If you get an urge to take that first drink, write a journal entry and talk through it... Each day you make it will make the next day a little easier.

Stay strong, and concentrate on one day at a time.

Hello smallwonder,

You have taken an important step in the right direction by recognising that you have a problem and now you can look for a solution that will work for you.

I am not entirely convinced about the accuracy of those addiction tests, although in my own case, I answered positively to about 18 or 19 questions out of 20 for the alcoholism test so I could not argue with that. I like the test that is described in the Big Book (Alcoholics Anonymous), Chapter 4, page 42: If, when you honestly want to, you find you cannot quit entirely, or if when drinking, you have little control over the amount you take, you are probably alcoholic.

If you have made a decision to quit drinking or if you cannot control how much or how often you drink then your only option may be to quit completely. Drinking only at weekends should not be a problem if you are a so-called normal drinker but for an alcoholic, such an approach will only work for a short time and even then, it will be a constant struggle. There are two reasons for this and if you understand those reasons you may have a better idea about what to do next.

The first reason why it is so difficult (or impossible) for an alcoholic to control his or her drinking is that they will have developed an obsession of the mind where alcohol is concerned and this obsession is constantly sending out the message that they need alcohol. The second reason is that once a drink is taken, a craving develops in the body for more alcohol and that craving can become so strong that it overcomes everything else, including willpower.

Only you will know how much of a problem you have but if you cannot achieve your goal of not drinking for ten days then you may need some help. Sometimes it is easier to set yourself a goal of not drinking for today rather than setting a more difficult target; stay sober for today and deal with tomorrow when it comes.

I am glad that you are looking at the steps that you are going to take to succeed. There are many ways to get sober so try whatever works for you but if you keep an open mind on all options you will have a greater chance of success.

HI, and welcome to the site. By now, you should be on day 2. I think you are right when you say you'd probably get back to daily drinking, if you tried to limit it to the weekends. That's how it is for me - I only want to drink one way, and that's to get drunk daily.
One or two drinks would be torture!
I hope you give AA another go, or Smart Recovery or whatever way you can get support for yourself.
Never mind using willpower to fight the cravings - practice surrender to something greater than yourself. In and of yourself, on your own power, you are powerless over alcohol. Same as me. I found that when I surrendered to my alcoholism (I doubted it for a long time) - there was a giving in, and then freedom from the obsession.
good luck.

Thank you so much for the support. Made it thru Day 1!

Until you are done, you will never be free.

"I know I have a problem drinking too much alcohol. ... However, in the last 5 months, it has become too much again. When I do tests about addiction, I am on the boarder, but I know I have a problem, and I don't want to continue like this. My main challenge right now is that I would like to cut down my drinking and only drink on the weekends rather than stopping altogether "

Re read that. does that sound sane to you? Sounds like active alcoholism to me. If you are alcoholic, whether you are physically addicted or not, you can't drink in moderation. Until you accept that to the core of your being, you will not stop drinking and stay stopped.

Hi smallwonder. I'm going to aim for 10 days as well. Starting today 12/6/13.

Hey Wonder, sorry it took a while to say 'Hello' was all over the place yesterday, but peeps on here got me back on track, including yourself thankyou.

Sure we'll speak soon, just don't get too close.. scared of horses ;)

Arrr theres another (PJ54), you too will get on fine ;)

God bless,

English.

Hop on the sober bus and hold on!!!