Hi LN, in my early days in AA it was difficult being around drinkers and I did not trust myself. I avoided going out mostly until I was a good way into going through the 12 Steps with my sponsor.

I would say I only felt confident if I had an AA friend either with me or who knew I might call her if I found it difficult. Also my partner was on standby to leave early if I wanted to.

I went through the 12 Steps quickly - a matter of weeks - and by the time I got to Step 9 the desire to drink had left me completely and has never returned.

I think you are wise to be cautious, early sobriety is hard won and too precious to put at risk unnecessarily. Even after the time I have been sober I can remember and feel clearly how hard I found it early on.

Took me about 8 weeks, treatment and AA. AA still frowns upon it, especially in early recovery. But, I still hate what alcohol did to my life, but, being cooped up in the house sometimes feels more dangerous to me due to loneliness, claustrophobia, etc... If you don't feel comfortable, don't go, that's the bottom line. Go to a barbershop enough times, you will eventually get your hair cut.

Thanks guys! Honestly, the last thing I wanted to do tonight was go anywhere, drinking or not!! Fireplace on, Luther VanDross(?sp) playing and I am in my pajamas at 6:00p. And I am good with that :-)!!

Hello lostnursetoo,

Everyone is different and I can only relate my own experience which is as follows.

Once I very reluctantly decided that I had to stop drinking I knew that the game was up and there could be no going back, if I wanted to keep living. If I had needed further convincing I got that by going to an AA meeting where the Doctors Opinion from the Big Book was often read and discussed and that told me why I could not drink safely.

However, I was advised to keep out of bars in early sobriety and that is what I did, even causing offence to close relatives by missing one of those must attend family social occasions. After about four months I got a sponsor and went through the Twelve Steps and my attitude to alcohol changed. If you have a copy of the Big Book you can read about that change in the Step 10 promises on pages 84 and 85. Today, I have no fear of going to places where alcohol is served because it does not hold any attraction for me but I do not go to those places unless I have some business there.

Sounds nice and relaxing! It's not forever and there are a lot of fun things to do in sobriety that don't involve drinking, especially once the worst of winter is over.

Three days.

I had to go to a family party where everyone was drinking and wine was served. I had to trust myself.

But there were plenty of times, especially in the first few months, that I declined to be in a situation where others were drinking. Not because I thought I would drink, but I just didn't want to deal with it and staying home seemed nicer.

I had trouble over the past seven years. I often made 6 months, one year and ne and a half year. I kept falling because I had reservations about no drinking. I thought that there would be times when I needed to drink to deal with life. My benders lasted two weeks to a month. I often started a bender after an AA meeting. Before that I had 24 years of sobriety straight from day one without slipping. Three years ago I quit without reservations and without AA. There was nothing in the back of my head that reserved drinking for difficult times. It was a decision that I made.
Today I went to the Oncologist. I thought that the cancer came back. I was wrong. The best part was while I went through two weeks thinking that it was back, I did not go to drinking. This was a great accomplishment for me.

Lostnurse, we are having the same kind of night. 5pm here and I'm watching TERRIBLE reality TV, drinking coffee and eating cookies. Boring but I'm okay with that.

Good job deciding what you need to do to stay sober.

Beth

Just really looking forward to a time when not drinking feels normal!! I am getting there! Thanks for the support!

great news for you Impermenance!!! What a relief for you. I just got home today from staying at a transplant house with my brother for the last week. He had a kidney transplant, and many others there are going thru cancer treatments. Good health is such a blessing a lot of us take for granted!
I am a little blue and down tonight being back to an empty house . Thanks to all of you that help me remember a glass of wine, is NOT gonna change a thing!

It's a day at a time. I went on a pre planned girls weekend 1 week sober. My friends drank alott, I didn't. I was confident I wouldn't. I visualized myself getting into bed each night sober and thankful and at peace. That's what I did.
In the almost three years since I've gone to open bar events, flown first class, cocktail parties, weddings, etc.
in each case I had a reason to go other than drink. I went giving myself the permission to LEAVE if I felt too uncomfortable, and a few times that's exactly what I did.
Go live life! Just be mindful and check intentions and spiritual fitness daily:-)

I feel like sticky I go to event that involve alcohols, but when I think of drinking it always comes back to about three things. 1-in just a few hours the event will be over.2-I want to go to bed with peace in my heart and sleep like a baby. 3- not waking up with guilt and and feeling sick. Those three thing always puts the drinking right out of my mind and has for the last 5 months and 3 weeks

Lostnurse, it sounds to me like your husband doesn't get it. If you drank again with these people, just a few months ago, why would he think you could hang around them drinking again?
Me, I still don't trust myself around alcohol, and I don't like drinkers.
So, I don't go there. But, in time there'll be reasons to go there, and that's different. Like, I want to be able to play the piano in the local wine bar -as soon as I have a repertoire, I'm going!