Alcoholism Support Group
Alcoholism is the continued consumption of alcoholic beverages, even when it is negatively affecting your health, work, relationships and life. If you think alcohol is causing you to lose control, it's time to seek help. Our group is a safe place to vent, check in, get back up if you fall, and reach sobriety.
There are several of us here that have had years of sobriety. Why are we here posting? We have different paths. Some when to AA. Some found other ways to sober up. The commonality is we are here to show you that it can be done. I needed to know that it could be done.
Just don’t take that first drink. Scientists have shown that in the alcoholic’s brain compulsion is hard wired. Compulsion kicks in when you take the first drink. I cannot tell you how many times I thought I would just have one then without thinking I had another and another. Will power come into play by not taking that first drink. After the first drink willpower is powerless. You could be as smart as Einstein and be powerless after that first drink. First sobered up. I never sat and observed my emotions. I always drank to get rid of those feelings. After the withdrawal period where the body craved alcohol, I was not out of the woods. My emotions were overwhelming. I said to myself. “How to normies deal with this.” It was almost unbearable. I wanted to drink to quell these emotions. I kept reminding myself that the first drink would only lead to compulsion. Here is what I learned. Each time I was faced with an emotion it was less than the last time. Over the months they became less powerful until eventually, fear for example, was no longer overwhelming. It was a smidgin just warning me to be careful.
Support groups can be of great help to get through this process. You can do it alone or you can go to a therapist. I recommend that if you chose a therapist and alcohol therapist would be great in the beginning, but you should switch over to a regular therapist once you are feeling secure about not drinking.
These are just my thoughts, there are others who think differently, and they are not wrong. There are 97 genes involved in alcoholism and we don’t have all 97. We have different mixes. And that is why something works for one person but not for another. Find what works for you and follow your path. You cannot pick and choose paths. You must follow your path.
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I invited Bill to have dinner with me last Sunday. He wasn't willing to drive 7 hours to mid Michigan and teased me with his beautiful ribs!!! So, of course I ate alone and had cedar salmon
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check out that smoke ring. It tasted really good. I smothered it with Maulls BBQ sauce which is Local to St. Louis and one of the best I ever had.....
agree or disagree sobriety is not boring what gets more boring is the constant consequences of continuing to drink.....
Then over time I needed more and more to feel the same “relief”
I was drinking 20 drinks over the course of a day and my liver basically was not able to keep up filtering out the alcohol and I went into a death spiral of more and more until one Sunday I couldn’t keep up the shenanigan any more
But then the real issue became apparent, I couldn’t stop
For an alcoholic, there is never going to be just one or even two.
I found that I needed to learn how to cope with fear and anxiety, this took years of just listening how other ppl did it. I found a set of rules for life in AA. It also was how I learned that it was a disease and is going to be there for the rest of my life.
That sucks but the truth is drinking sucked. I would do the same routine of sit at the bar and drink and buy some more on the way home and then sit in the basement and drink until I passed out, then repeat. Why did I think that was fun?
Today I wake up clear headed and sure it is tough when there is booze all around at the pool or a party, but I can deal with a little anxiety today because I don’t want to go back to daily drinking my life away.