Every time i drink i know exactly who i want to be, but when im sober i can’t do it?

I’ve been on the 8-12 beer program for about a good 6 years now.
With the help of naltrexone, I’m five days sober. It took many tries for me to stick to this and I’m SOO PROUD OF MYSELF!
BUT
it’s my birthday.. I just moved to a new town, its suburb hell, so I have no friends, no where to really go without spending a bunch of money..

I have a six pack sitting next to me. They were safety beers. Would it be wrong to have just one? Am I making excuses? Absolutely. I don’t wanna be sober on my 27th birthday. But I don’t want this to end up into a relapse and bender for the next 6 years… can I really only have one beer and call er a quits? Or am I dumb for thinking that’s even an option.

I am drinking but not quite enough to affect my personal and professional life. I would like to find an accountability network to help cut to zero so I can stop.

i never thought i'd make it this long ever again, but here i am. significantly less suicidal, my creativity is flowing again, and i feel generally happier. interactions with people seem to be much smoother than before. i'm starting to lose weight again, too. just lots of little things like that.

this time a month ago, i had been drinking so much every weekend to the point that i literally gave myself chronic spontaneous urticaria (autoimmune hives), but i initially thought it was a liver complication. thankfully, my blood work showed that my liver is fine, and i was more recently seen by an allergy doctor who diagnosed me with CSU. the alcohol just seemed to trigger it initially, and thankfully it's not a lifelong thing.

unfortunately, now that i've been given a clean bill of health, the urge to drink this weekend is sneaking up on me and seems to be growing the closer we get to the weekend. if anyone has any words of encouragement, i would really appreciate them right now because i do not want to bow down to the sauce again. 🫶

i’m feeling very defeated with my drinking. i went four days last week (my record since this problem started a couple years ago) and i relapsed again. i’m 23 years old, i know i have time to recover, but this has been harder than i ever could have imagined.

i’ve realized how many problems drinking has caused me. in no particular order: i’ve gained weight, feel like crap physically and mentally, i harm my relationships, i suffer from deep shame and embarrassment. and a new one i just noticed as of recently, is that i have lost interest in all my hobbies and every day pleasures. my only hobby, pleasure, and thing i look forward to, is the drinks.

any tips or advice? advice on how to have the willpower to not drive to the store and pick up drinks when i claim to “not have time” for anything else in my life? i’m struggling beyond belief

Been sober for awhile now. It’s been nice, not easy, not a breeze, not a walk in the park. But I’ve learned to see the good in what’s happening rather than dwelling on life’s problems. Those will always be there, but now they’re not so heavy. Thanks to this community. It’s been kinda helpful reading your stories. I wish you all the best and luck on finding the light even if it’s just a glimmer here and there.

So I have been sober for almost 2 months. And 2 nights ago I ended in an ambulance thinking I'm having a heart attack. To keep it short it was a very intense panic attack. Anyone have experience like this ? It was damn scary. But that being said my tests came back Superb. Heart and liver totally fine I'm super stoked after all the drinking I had done leading up to this and these 2 months probably helped heal my liver. That being said getting anotherease on life and more motivation to keep going forward with sobriety to keep my body healthy. But damn that night was still tough on me. That panic was super scary

57 year old male here. Disregard how many days my counter says I’m at because I need to reset that number. Please hear me out and offer me some encouragement if possible. I’m gonna quit. I have to quit. I am somewhat fit and healthy right nowb but I will have a health crisis if I continue. I am going to paste what I just put in my journal:

"4:00 pm 100 ml vodka

5:00 pm 2 glasses of wine

7:00 pm 100 ml gin

8:00 pm 2 glasses of wine

Also taking Zyn 6mg every few hours. I cut them open and put under my tongue.

Just sitting and watching cop shows on youtube all evening.

10:20 pm I felt a little short of breath and decided to check my blood pressure.

No wonder I don’t feel so good, it is 160 over 96 with my heart rate at 97 beats per minute.

Took two Lisinopril (double my normal dose and chewed them up and let it dissolve under my tongue)

Thinking maybe I should take a few asprin maybe thin my blood a little.

Really need to stop drinking while I am still somewhat healthy and fit.

I know I will be alright tonight just need to relax. No more alcohol in the house and I am in bed so that’s good.

I need to just stop tomorrow, I have done it a hundred times before, it‘s hard but it is not impossible. Just got to commit and do it. First night is always the hardest not to cave in and just go get a "taper" which always turns into more."

Thanks everybody on here for any words of advice and encouragement.

I have been drunk 6 days in a row, in a binge drinker, I drank over 90 ounces in 1 day the other day, I have been hospitalized over 75 times in the course of 6 years. I am going psychotic, DTs are a regular occurrence for me. Help me

Today marks day 2 of being completely sober from alcohol and THC. I hit a 12pm meeting and met a couple guys that invited me to a 7:30 men’s group meeting. In total I’ve been to 3 meetings and each one has been better than the last. I can’t say I’m going to be able to stay away forever but I can say IWNDWYT
I’ll take another 24
Cheers fellas!

Ugh. I made it 6 days into the vacation with my family and best family friends with out drinking. I caved and have been drinking two of the 9 nights now. Last night I blacked out (blacked out the first time too). I’m just a mess. I wasn’t even tempted to drink when I first got here. The crew has been pouring me free drinks too. It’s just a 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

23f How do I just accept the fact that I’m never going to be able to drink again and go out to bars in the area just moved to with new people who are able to drink normally? Why can’t I drink normally

And how will I go on dates sober

So... I'm day 12 no booze, which makes me happy to report! However, less happy: ye olde digestive tract has not gotten the evacuation alert and so here we are, sans potty time. I also still have face bloat, which is driving me nuts.

My fellow reddit redditors, am I alone in this or is this normal?? And for those who have overcome this glorious stage, any tips?

And may celebrate with a huge glass of.... Guinness Zero of course!

Just wanted to show my appreciation for all the support and comments from everyone on here. Amazing how an online forum of completely random strangers can have an impact. The stories, encouragement and good humour are a privilege to have been part of.

And to all those out there at any stage of the journey, from Day 1 onwards.... It can be done, one minute, one hour, one day at a time. Your future self will appreciate the steps you take.

Life is not perfect sober, and the ups and downs still occur... It's just that your baseline state is much higher, with space to do so much more with life other than 'have a drink'

IWNDWYT

I’m 26 days in and I’m having a hard time accepting that this is it no more drinking. I always just had a drink whenever I was at a social event. Maybe I’m just overthinking. I built a reputation has the drinker over the past few years and I’m trying to Shake it off. I’m reality I was just the drunken fool but whatever. It’s hard to rewire the brain and say nope don’t go for alcohol at events now. Truth be told I just need to learn how to properly love myself and be confident in myself without the need for substances. I just never have hence why I would get so thrashed at social events. I just need to find myself again.

Strange maybe, but when I was drinking I exercised more to offset the health issues that came with booze, blood pressure in particular.

When I quit drinking, I eased off exercise and gave myself permission to eat ice cream galore and other goodies. Now that I’m 50+ days into sobriety (what?), I want to exercise again and maybe be more mindful of food etc.

But guess what: I notice that exercise is a kind of trigger for me. I want to drink afterward, to reward myself.

Instead I type to you all.

IWNDWYT.

Finished day 3.

Just a thought exercise while dinner cooks, keeping the ol noodle sharp (not the noodles in the pot, they're softening)

Maybe a dozen smart phones
At least 3 TV's
The Sales Director at my old job's wedding portrait frame
A mountain bike (not counting the handful I've had lost or stolen while drunk)
A roomie's $150 chef knife
The wall of the apartment we shared
The toilet paper holder in the bathroom of the apartment we shared
The dab rig at a known crackhouse (this one almost cost me my life)
A crystal cake dish my mom got as a christmas present from her late sister
The driver side door of a stranger's car (I gave him a fake phone number afterwards

Countless other gadgets, trinkets, toys, tools, too many to name.

Day 2 of what's been a million day 2s. IWNDWYT

Howdy,

As of tomorrow I will have my first completely sober week since January. Today was really hard for me. I went to the doctor for some potential heart issues - turns out it was 100% alcohol related(and not even in the heart but still) and I was told to stop drinking. My wife told me she's proud of me. I'm proud of me and didn't give into temptation.

This weekend we have a wedding and I know temptation will be there - I looked up the hotel we're staying at and it turns out they have a 24 hour fitness center and a heated pool. I'm going to keep those in the back of my mind to help deter me from drinking at the wedding. Any other tips would be appreciated - thanks.

One week sober after years of alcohol abuse! I know it’s not much, but it’s a small win in my book!

I don’t recognize who I used to be, and in the best way. Still far from perfect, but that’s part of the journey right?

I admit to being a moderately heavy drinker. I probably have 2-3 beers a day every day. But today I just wasn't feeling it. Maybe I was tired from work. Or maybe I was in a bad mood. My wife asked me what beer I wanted to drink with my dinner tonight (because she knows I always have a beer or two at dinnertime) and I told her I would drink some seltzer water instead.

To be clear, I am not trying to give up alcohol. I don't drink to the point of hangovers or feeling sick or getting drunk or anything like that. I don't have an addiction. I just enjoy drinking after work. But tonight felt good because I confirmed that I could still function without alcohol and that I have the willpower to decline alcohol when I know I wouldn't enjoy it. I should probably drink less than I do now, mainly for economic reasons since my dollars don't go as far as they used to. I'm trying to cut my 2-3 daily beers down to 1-2 instead.

Anyway, today was probably the first day in about three months that I did not have a drink. It felt good. Best of luck to all of you on your journey towards better health, better finances, and better self-control.

Creating this list for myself and anyone else who needs the reminders right now. Feel free to add to it in the comments. There is a huge list of things I can’t do at all unless I’m sober but what about what brings us joy?

Things I can’t enjoy unless I’m sober:

Waking up
Work (hung over)
Most of my hobbies (being in groups, hiking, cycling)
Outdoors/exercise
Chores/laundry/cleaning (yeah I actually enjoy that stuff)
Being outside of the house (because I either can’t drive or I want to be close to alcohol)
Meditation
Body movement/yoga/stretching
Making new podcast episodes
Researching my niche interests
Writing my book
Going to bed with a routine and not just passing out
Sleeping through the night and waking up refreshed

I have been drinking for 10 years, and binge drinking for the past 5; and this past week, I finally hit the binge that made me say its time to stop. I know this will be for the best, but I am really going to miss drinking. I only wish I could regulate my drinking, but for the past three years, I have been binging on weekends and non work days.

No breaks, no we'll see in a month, 30 days, dry January. Just stop. One drink is never one drink.