Hi Fish98, just remember people stop drinking abruptly for all kinds of reasons as well as having a problem with alcohol. You are not alone in this. It's great that you are making a good determined start and have an AA meeting planned.

Just think how much better you will feel in the morning!

Well done you, I'm ok saying 'No, I'm good' the first time, but ask me again and ...

stay strong Irish ;)

English.

Thanks English, normally I'd have had a few already by now. But I can relate to the ask me again. Stay strong.

I had to change a few things to stay sober.... some playplaces and play mates... they are still my buddies but I dont see them everyday at 4,,, thank the lord. I used to drink everyday, lots. now i dont. . Go to aa you will find some ppl that have been right where you are. I have faith you will prevail

Things I say when offered a drink...

Thanks any way I dont drink normally...

I will get one in a few mins...

i need a coke to start out i want some caffine

Order at bar...

Double Club in a glass with lime...

I never passed a chance to be with friends at a bar or party - I just drank iced tea or a coke. No one ever challenged me. The Holidays are here, and I am out and about with those who love their wine - and, I bounce around with my coke! Your friends will have a lot of respect for you. Happy Holidays!

From one Irishman to another - May the wind be ever at your back :)

I find it helps to always have a drink of some kind in my hand. It makes it harder to pick up a can or shot. And I take a drink if I see someone take a shot or whatever, it's kind of a mind game...

But it's true you should probably not go somewhere where drinking will be all there is to do

I have to work until 10 PM on Fridays, but then I have the weekend off. Needless to say, my habit has been starting at 10 on Friday, getting up on Saturday, doing whatever and drinking all the while, getting up on Sunday and having a few, going to church, going to a cabin in the woods and drinking more, sometimes shooting guns or hiking in the woods, getting up Monday morning and having a few more and then going in to work at 2 PM. I used to go to a Sunday evening AA meeting and then quit. Here I am again. For me, if I start on Friday evening, it simply will not end until Monday. I had to stop too, but I am having cravings. It won't be an easy weekend for me.

Hi Fish,

Ill introduce myself. Im of Irish descent. I grew-up in what the Irish call the 33rd county of Ireland, which is South Boston (Southie) Massachusetts. Southie is where organized crime money came from to support the IRA. The book Black Mass and the movie The Departed although fictionalized, depicted the Winter Hill Gangs James J. Whitey Bulger and hitman Stephen Flemmi. My father being a high ranking Boston cop knew these men. These men were brutal, as the town it self tended to be brutal. Being a cops son, I wasnt popular and I was afraid to go to school, until I got big and very strong through wrestling.

I had my first drink and first drunk in Southie along with two guys, they JUST got drunk. What happened to me was different than what happened to them. They just got drunk, with me, my depression was relieved, depression I didnt know I was suffering. Relief of my depression was why the booze felt so good and I wanted more when my depression returned. Depression is why I became addicted to booze and smocking tobacco.

Ive known 100s of alcoholics over the past 40+ years Ive been attending AA and I have never known one that didnt suffer from depression some where on the depression spectrum.

This is just the first of many! It gets easier with time..There will be more firsts too as you work at it!

I'll toast my watta to that:
A man takes a drink; the drink takes a drink; the drink takes the man!

No more...Hang in there Irish! Thirsty!

Icon, nice to meet you. What an interesting background. I'm on the opposite side of the states, have always been a big Sox fan. Feels good to wake up fresh today . One day at a time.

Congrats Fish98 on your first day. Glad your here. This is my first week, and I'm finding the people in this group have been extremely helpful for me in the start of my recovery. Good luck and have a great weekend!

I dont live on the East Coast, havent for years, Fish98. I lived 25 years in the greater Los Angeles Area, Malibu where I got sober. I now live in a very small rural town outside Seattle.

Fish98 writes have always been a big Sox fan. Feels good to wake up fresh today . One day at a time.

When I was a boy, I saw the greatest hitter of all time, Ted Williams. Outside Fenway Park theres a statue of Ted Williams placing a baseball cap on a childs head. Every time I think of it, or see it, I get a lump in my throat and my eye tear-up with joy.

Im an old man now and my years are numbered. So as you wrote, one day at a time. This even means more to me today than when I was recovering from my addictions. Im grateful for each day, I dont have bad days anymore, I just have moments where I get caught-up in the results with expectations and get temporarily disappointed. I just have to remind myself, to do the footwork and stay out of the results. That whatever the results are, if I accept them as is, then Im OK. If I resist them, Im not. For as Dr. Paul O. Says, His serenity is directly proportional to his level of acceptance.

For some reason I thought you lived in Germany for while, Iconoclast.

ExJerseyGirl writes...For some reason I thought you lived in Germany for while, Iconoclast.

The only post about Europe was to Antonia re: England and France. Although I have visited Germany, I lived in London and Nice, France in the early 60s. Im a performing artist and Ive done a lot of traveling.