samj
New Member
Posts: 1
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Post by samj on Apr 20, 2021 11:37:49 GMT -5
I'm not really sure where to begin with this. I'm 28 and have realized in the past year or so that I have a pretty serious drinking problem. My friends and family have told me this, I know this, and yet I haven't quit. I've not even seriously tried to quit. I have short lived periods where I'll say, okay no drinking this week. But that honestly hasn't stuck. It's so insanely upsetting to me that I've let it get to this point, but I want and need to quit. For years and years I've used alcohol as an outlet when I'm stressed or anxious (I suffer from depression and generalized anxiety disorder). It helps me "relax" and just puts me in an overall mood where things don't seem so bad. I don't want to turn to alcohol anymore as a fix. This is my first step towards actually trying. I wanted to find a place to tangibly hold myself accountable. I just need to know there are people rooting for me and that I can do it.
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Post by Mark_LA on Apr 21, 2021 12:58:43 GMT -5
Hi samj and welcome. Pretty slow around here these days, as you may have figured out. I would suggest other online recovery sites such as Sober Recovery that get a lot more traffic.
Still, there's no reason I can't give you my quick crash course on alcoholism recovery. Only two steps!
1) DESIRE, with every particle of your being, every level of your brain, every aspect of your emotions, to be sober MORE than you want to be drunk.
2) Do whatever it takes to make sure those priorities stay in that order.
It all starts with putting down the bottle. One hour, one day, one week -- if you can stack up some significant abstinence time, things will likely start to clarify for you. The imperative to drink is "cunning, baffling, and powerful," as one noted author of recovery literature has put it. In early sobriety, taking a drink can often seem like the most reasonable, appropriate, and inevitable thing to do. All you have to do is: don't. Simple, but not easy!
Most alcohol addicts find that once they get past the initial stage of quitting drinking, there's a whole new task before them: learning to live a happy, contented life without alcohol. There's plenty of help for this, but let's see you get past the first stage of quitting drinking before we delve into that.
Good luck, and I'll hope you check back to report how you're doing!
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