The giving up/cutting down alcohol support thread! Part 3

maz123_2

I'll sneak back and see if anyone notices.
i had a bbq (indoor) yesterday so lots of beer and a box of wine was floating around. god knows how much i drank yesterday, but i got the usual heartburn etc did some confessions from previous drunken behaviour, was grumpy with my little one today and not done the tasks i'd set myself.
On a good note we did go out today for a couple of hours on the bikes, i didn't want to ruin yet another day due to hangovers and tiredness. I've felt as miserable as sin and really low in mood, all due to alcohol.
I've not had a drink today, but feel like one just cause i'm now feeling down. Why do I keep doing this to myself? Answer because i'm an idiot
maz

Pippilongstocking

hiya Maz - least you did something with your day -

At least thats what I keep telling myself I was silly but I am not silly today

Sniffs in the manner of a very very sniffy person - waves weakly hello

graemecarter

So much to catch up on. I went to the South of France for a few days, and come back and there is a new thread!

Seems like most people are doing great, some struggling, and a few finding things difficult.
Life has a habit of getting in the way of our AF plans.
I know that alcohol was not the problem with me. Life is the problem, and alcohol (for a short time only) was the solution.
Then alcohol added to the problem. So I stopped drinking (after many years of trying) and then sorted my life out. Thus AF since August 2007. However, if I rest on my laurels, I will be drinking again in a matter of weeks.
Remaining AF takes constant vigilance.

I am alcoholic - part of my DNA wants me to drink, so I need to stop that voice being heard.
If my voice is telling me 'have a drink, it's a bank holiday' etc and I listen to it, then I have no chance.
I don't trust my thinking, as it has got me into loads of trouble. I make bad decisions, and many of those involve alcohol.
The biggest decision I can take is not to drink.

Good luck people - the alcoholic part of me will take any reason and make that seem rational and logical. Weather is good = drink. Had a row and upset with OH = drink. Everyone else having fun in the sun = drink. Always drink on Bank Holidays = drink.
I try not to listen to my alcoholism. I Admit it, accept it, and then discard it. I cannot fight it, I have to be cleverer than that.

graemecarter

maz123 wrote: »

I've felt as miserable as sin and really low in mood, all due to alcohol.
I've not had a drink today, but feel like one just cause i'm now feeling down. Why do I keep doing this to myself? Answer because i'm an idiot
maz

Personally speaking, I don't feel an idiot for being alcoholic. It's an illness I have. I can fight it and lose, or accept it and recover.
My classic alcoholic behaviour was repeating the same action and hoping for a different outcome. In my case, I would go out everytime saying to myself 'I am not going to drink too much tonight, I will be home by 9pm etc'
I would so rarely manage that, and yet I persevered with that thinking for years. Even though all evidence of hundreds of nights out would suggest that I couldn't do that moderation, I tried it. I was delusional enough to believe I could do it. That's alcoholism

annie_d

Can't alcoholics cut down? Do they have to stop completely? I know i have to stop completely, i can't cut down. I just wondered.

Bismarck

maz123 wrote: »

I've not had a drink today, but feel like one just cause i'm now feeling down. Why do I keep doing this to myself? Answer because i'm an idiot

no-one on here is an idiot.

we do some daft things and some do (or used to) involve alcohol...again that doesn't make us idiots.

some of the things we did could be called mindless, reckless, irresponsible or idiotic...

we, in ourselves, are not idiots...

take care...constant vigilance....

graemecarter

annie_d wrote: »

Can't alcoholics cut down? Do they have to stop completely? I know i have to stop completely, i can't cut down. I just wondered.

I don't think they would be alcoholics if they could cut down and moderate.....
This thread wouldn't exist if we could do that successfully. :rotfl:

Alcoholism is more a state of mind (which influences behaviours) than a units drunk thing.
It is actually extremely difficult to define.
All I know is that I am one. And I will always be one. I can drink, or I can not drink. But I will always be alcoholic

annie_d

We aren't idiots but i know what you mean. To me it is unfathomable. I am intelligent, smart, can make informed choices etc etc but when it comes to alcohol, I make no sense.

graemecarter

annie_d wrote: »

We aren't idiots but i know what you mean. To me it is unfathomable. I am intelligent, smart, can make informed choices etc etc but when it comes to alcohol, I make no sense.

Me too, which is my alcoholism

annie_d

Thankyou, Graheme.