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.
I am into day 5 of my second quest to stop drinking alcohol after 45 years of nearly constant daily drinking at a moderate to heavy level. So far I have immersed myself into a variety of alcohol related information, including this wonderful discussion group. The book I am reading now (Empowering Your Sober Self) has provided the the advice I have found most useful thus far. While I don't agree with every aspect of the LifeRing approach, I do feel like the approach fits me better than the AA program. This does not mean to say I have not found value in my attending AA meetings, but the value has been in the association and insight I have gained from hearing (first hand) the alcohol related experiences of others. I am convinced at this point that I need to be the designer and leader of my own personal program for stopping the ingestion of alcohol with the intent of feeling "better".
One thing that I have decided upon is that I will no longer label myself as an alcoholic. There are simply too many negative connotations associated with this label and I am concerned that accepting this label causes me (and others) to consider myself as somehow abnormal and diseased. The fact is, I now believe I am a quite normal and reasonably healthy individual who simply got into the habit of using alcohol for the purpose of "feeling better" on a long term basis. This habit has lasted nearly 45 years and has become solidly ingrained into my routine, both on a physical and mental basis.
It is looking more and more like the answer for me lies in simply recognizing the fact that the ingestion of alcohol in any amount is harmful to anyone's physical and mental well being and therefore I must eliminate it from my diet. Keeping it simple is good for me.
One thing that I have decided upon is that I will no longer label myself as an alcoholic. There are simply too many negative connotations associated with this label and I am concerned that accepting this label causes me (and others) to consider myself as somehow abnormal and diseased. The fact is, I now believe I am a quite normal and reasonably healthy individual who simply got into the habit of using alcohol for the purpose of "feeling better" on a long term basis. This habit has lasted nearly 45 years and has become solidly ingrained into my routine, both on a physical and mental basis.
It is looking more and more like the answer for me lies in simply recognizing the fact that the ingestion of alcohol in any amount is harmful to anyone's physical and mental well being and therefore I must eliminate it from my diet. Keeping it simple is good for me.
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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.....
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I was recently separated from my wife of 33 years and it's complicated. Anyway I rented a room about 15 minutes away and I see my kids about once a week. I see the people who own the house I live in once in a while but other than that I stay in my room where I do my cooking, wash dishes in the shower, read, color, and sleep. I get out at least once a day. I grocery shop and I attend 2 meetings...
I mean look at the DS list of conditions...there is a label for everything....I don't mind being labeled...anymore..cause it seems everyone, everywhere has a label.
So....I'm person with a bad habit..sounds good to me....good luck in breaking the bad habit
I love it! Thank you. You have me something to think about. I would say that with certainty about myself as well.
Alcoholic just sounds 'ewww' to me. "We" can get stereotyped by our behavior, BUT...
Your right, keep it simple: it is bad for you (I can't even picture 45 years of drinking), it is a waste of money IMO, it AGES U. Nothing good.
Folks think that 'oh I am gonna have a drink because blah, blah, blah'. For good or bad times.
Really? Why? For what logical reason?
I also struggled with this "Label" of being an alcoholic but when I identify myself at meetings, I call myself, a "Greatful, Recovering Alcoholic".
I think having that alcoholic label can, in itself, be a trigger. With labels, people tend to live up to our expectations of them so with the alcoholic label, we expect them to drink. That's one view of it so I like the Recovering alcoholic label much better.
Good luck on your road to recovery and keep us posted. The path you take may help someone else. Alot of people read these but never post.
God Bless!
I tried to just "stop drinking" and I was plagued by anger , and frustration, and lots of fear. I'm a strong willed guy but Eventually, the pain of not drinking was so painful that I HAD to drink. After 2 years of dryness it was getting worse not better.
Now, this time, I know the name of my foe and can get better. I don't care what other ppl think or say. I am very close to the vest with my disease but I NEED to say it, because I will be back on the bottle , drinking alcohol icily in a blink of an eye if I don't I don't have any desire to go back to the chains of booze. This time after 3 yrs it's getting better not worse.
I'm glad I'm an alcoholic, because for 30 years I had no idea what the heck was wrong with me and now I know.
1is2many
AS the Beatles Say I am the Walrus... goo gooo ga jook
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwSSEKzDn1Q
FYI - another book you might want to check out is "The Easy Way to Stop Drinking" by Allen Carr. I found it helpful -- you might too.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Easy-Way-Stop-Drinking/dp/1402736479
1 when i drink i cannot moderate the total amt i drink, I just drink till its gone
2 when I was not drinking I was thinking about the next time i would be
From an early age, I remember the first time me and friends went to the next town sports bar. we were maybe 18. I ordered a Long Island Iced tea. and my buddies ordered beers. Then I ordered another...
O was i so drunk. they tried to take me to waffle house to sober up but the police ended up calling my dad.
Then another time, the first whisky time... we as high schoolers got a bottle of JD. I had heard that you could mix it with gatorade and it would get in you faster... well you know the rest.. I was blasted at my friends sleepover, wet the bed, and then , because his mom yelled at me blamed everybody but myself.
See when I drink i drink alcoholiclly. that makes me an alcoholic. I remember the first time I quit I would bitch to my wife that i was a fing alcholic... she would say no youre a recovering alcoholic. It would infuriate me. I didnt like to be different. Alcohol had made me feel in/ accepted and now I couldnt handle it.
This time around I just acknowlege it and move along with living
I misspoke in an earlier post. I am glad that i* know *im an alcoholic. Im not happy that im and alcoholic, but at least i can call it out and kick its ass down the street.
1is2many
Its so much more than the drink, its working on the feelings that made me drink, the inadequateness , the less than. Today I dont get those as often b/c I just work on a few things and chat to some friends.
1-2
I do like the idea of a non drinker around normal ppl thats what i let on not advertising im inable to drink normall.
my favorite
No thanks I dont drink *normally*... that works at a bar or when somebody asks.
If envisioning alcoholic beverages as a "rattler" or "demon" works for you and allows you to live a more natural and healthy life, then by all means use that approach. I simply do not want to live the rest of my life worrying about some demon (alcohol) that is waiting in the darkness to destroy me if I become weak. For me, the demon is simply a destructive habit of using alcohol to feel "happier" that I developed and reinforced over many years. Anyone could do the same and I am not genetically different or diseased because I let it happen to me.
I am 52 and like you many of my years were spend "using" alcohol. In my case, abusing alcohol. I had to admit that I was an alcoholic when nothing else worked for me. For me AA was my saving grace and my HP and letting go of control.
In the end, it is all about not drinking whether you take it a day at a time, by the minute, or whatever works for you.
I agree with most of what you say above. I could accept the label "alcoholic" if I had a clear idea of what the specific criteria was for being one so that I could accurately compare myself to those criteria. I definitely do not believe I have a genetic pre-disposition to alcohol abuse any more than I have a genetic pre-disposition to cocaine abuse. They both make me feel better and I like that feeling. Most people like that feeling and it becomes a hard-to-break habit when they become conditioned to using it, and the body is expecting it, on a regular basis.