Quitting drinking

I recently came to the realization that many of my struggles with alcohol are rooted in nostalgia. There are several times in the past which I view with rose-colored glasses where I drank and had an awesome time, so each drink is a way to recapture that feeling. I have had to reframe things in the context of creating new memories free of alcohol which I will look back upon favorably in 5, 10, 15 years time.

I don't consider myself an alcoholic but I do enjoy a drink from time to time. Alcoholism runs in my family including both my parents, my grandmother (passed away), and probably a brother but he doesn't know it (he's more of a pot head). Anyway, running is one of the things that helps me. I help put my kids to sleep, give her a kiss, and go out for a run (usually around 9:30 to 10:00 p.m.). I no longer want to come home from work and open a beer because I know I have to run later in the evening. I drink almost nothing when I'm running because the last thing I do just about every day is run and when I get home from running there is no time or want to drink, I pretty much go to sleep. It may not be the best thing for my sex life but for drinking, running late in the evening works for me and it may work for you.

I drink a bottle of wine with my wife about 4-5 x per week with dinner. We are both highly competitive distance runners with children and jobs. In our Latin cultures, we have been drinking wine with dinner since 16-18yrs old. I treat wine like I do any juice -orange, apple, cranberry.

Stop over-thinking it, but here is the catch: we do not drink unless we are eating. Meaning, there is no watching TV drinking alcohol. Wine is served with appetizers, dinner, and dessert. That's it. There is no "social" drinking waiting around for friends, or prep for a party or anything. That doesn't exist in our cultures. Only if we are ripping meat at the grill while cooking do we drink or watching futbol with chips, meats, cheeses.

Anyway, I do wish I drank less just because it is expensive, but there is nothing better sitting down with my wife and kids over a great cooked meal with a great glass of wine after a very long and hard day of running and work.

Just thought I'd check in and see how people are doing. 7 months ago, I resolved to drink 5 a week or fewer and wrote:

Boy was that stupid. 5 a week has been a challenge. I'm about to put together my second consecutive week of just 5, and it has involved a lot of tradeoffs.

You were probably right about the beer and weight. How is it going?

I relate to this; It found it anxiety-reducing to meet new people if I and they were drunk. Having cut back a lot, I find a lot of things I formerly enjoyed baffling. Loud bars where no one can talk are the worst. I think on some level i always knew that I didn't like those settings and the people who spent time there, but denied it because I was uncomfortable with what that meant about irreconcilable differences between me and people I considered my close friends. The answer, and this was really hard, was to get new friends.

It does my heart good to see this thread. Alcoholism is an epidemic in our country and no one wants to talk about it. I'll never understand why drinking is so glorified in America. Makes no sense.

I'm a lifelong non-drinker, in part because I watched my dad literally drink himself into an early grave. Not only did he destroy his own life, he left scars on his family, too.

You all have my support and my prayers. In sincerely mean that. Stay strong.

I've come back to this thread many times over the past year without ever posting. At first, the thread irked me because many posters were describing things that I also did and connected that to alcoholism. But at the same time, aware of heavy drinking on my mother's side of the family, I decided to entertain the possibility that I was not in control of my drinking.

So at several points over the past year, I have decided to cut down/cut back. There's no need to drink four, five, or six beers a night, though I am also highly functional... like many other posters I've never had a catastrophic moment.

The problem is, I haven't actually been able to accomplish this cutting back. This is the part that is pissing me off. When I set my mind to doing something, I have always had a degree of success. Not this time. In the morning, I'll say to myself "no beers tonight," but by dinner hour I've purchased my six pack. In the morning I'm convinced that I won't have those beers. Every evening I'm equally convinced that it's not really a big deal and that I'll stop tomorrow. It has been a humbling daily failure.

I don't want to quit something that I enjoy doing. I want to be able to control it. I do not want to accept that maybe I can't. So...I don't know.

I hope everyone else is under control. This is an important thread.

Hang in there. It is tough but can be done.

I stopped drinking last Sunday.

5 days without drinking and the result:

On my favourite 8 mile cross country loop I took 1:30 off without any more perceived effort. Not only that but it was so much more enjoyable on a clear head and light legs.

And what did I do next? Last night I drank.

I feel like crap this morning. I am going to stop again today.

Psycho-logist wrote:

I recently came to the realization that many of my struggles with alcohol are rooted in nostalgia. There are several times in the past which I view with rose-colored glasses where I drank and had an awesome time, so each drink is a way to recapture that feeling. I have had to reframe things in the context of creating new memories free of alcohol which I will look back upon favorably in 5, 10, 15 years time.

this is an excellent take. When I first quit it would occasionally make me angry to think somebody or something (quitting) was going to take those good times away from me forever. Because I was always semi-drunk during good times, I assumed that to have a good time going forward I needed to be drinking.

Another thing that I found is that we rarely do things that don't benefit us. So when you initially quit drinking it is hell because you don't see the benefit. Once you start to experience the benefits then the thoughts of going back to drinking diminish. Although I was a fully functioning alcoholic without any issues, it really made me an irritable A-hole with my wife, I was forgetful and made lots of mistakes. If you can get to the point where you see and appreciate the benefits it gets easier to stick with it.

alkorunner wrote:

I feel like crap this morning. I am going to stop again today.

It's late afternoon here. I can only think of going out and buying some alcohol.

Where does all the resolution go?

Damn...

alkorunner wrote:

alkorunner wrote:

I feel like crap this morning. I am going to stop again today.

It's late afternoon here. I can only think of going out and buying some alcohol.

Where does all the resolution go?

Damn...

Filled myself with ice cream instead. No craving now.

Anyone still doing this?

Started keeping track and have a limit of ; per day and 15 per week. Feels much better to be in control. I have always had a problem with one more turning into an accidental bender.

I went 44 days without because of a goal race. I'm back drinking lots now. I'm hammered now. I need a new goal race to stop.

I´ve been drinking alcohol very rarely since 14months before, when I got enough of the feeling when went to bed even if took just 1-3 beers. My sleeping wasn´t as good as without it, mornings as well. Now have been 3 months sober, took 7 beers on my vacation in one night. The feeling when drunk isn´t anywhere near what it was 10 years before. I almost hate that feeling. And it´s a lot easier for me to be without it completely than trying the "normal" use of alcohol. Maybe I take it occasionally, but not planning it to happen. Have felt a long time that better would be staying without it completely. I´m an ON/OFF type basically on everything. It´s true that the longer you are without alcohol, the less you want it. Thank god my wife is sober. Good luck to everyone who´s struggling with alcohol. If you quit drinking, don´t quit just because of someone else, quit because you want to. Confess your weakness, don´t fight against it. Try to find other things like music OR MORE RUNNING :D into your life. When you´re happy and your mind clear and strong, it reflects to your overall behaviour.

Grey Hair wrote:

Posted early on this thread about using weed to get off of alcohol (from last October). Happy to say I am down to maybe sharing a bowl with a friend once wee, if that. Had two drinks since Christmas, no biggie.

My health is so much better and mental clarity is skyrocketing. At age 59 I feel like I've just dropped 30 years off my odometer.

Weed has THC & CBD and the combination certainly works wonders. The CBD nicely balances the THC effects and provides all health giving effects you are experiencing. I'm taking CBD oil to relax myself and the only way to beat alcohol might be to start getting to bed early, say 8pm so I dont have to go through the drinking-no drinking deal. I'm an evening/night person however I have to do this because modern society is relentless and requires that we be up and running in the morning. I resent that. There is definitely a difference the next morning after a night of no drinking, but the stress of modern life keeps me using wine as a regular daily intoxicant in the evenings. It's a loop that I broke out of once before by training for marathons (stopped drinking once my mileage went up to 50-60 miles per week) but i don't have time to run unless I get up really early which is impossible if I drink. Which brings me to getting to bed early so I dont have a fight a battle within myself whether or not to drink which I don't usually have to think too much :) If these words ring true to you, and your situation then we're equals. In the same boat basically.

So you can see it's a loop basically. The only way to stop is to do something else to make it stop. When what you are doing does not work, then do something else. I think getting to bed early (without drinking) and waking up early in the morning is a superb idea, if you have the ability to do it. It's probably easier than physically stop drinking, that is, it's easier to pull yourself our of bed at 4-5am than not drink in the evening, but to each his own. i should probably pursue a career change into alcohol rehab, provided I walk the walk and dont just talk the talk. Talk is cheap, life is all about doing. That's why cynics wont help or change the world, they only talk, talk, and talk. And talk is cheap. A member of my family spoke badly all through my life about my alcoholic uncle until he finally passed away, but I only feel kinship with him, and don't feel the negativity that family member made me feel when I was a kind when his name was mentioned. There was also another family member that died, and he was always referred to as the drunk whenever his name was mentioned. It's like his name and "alcoholic" went hand in hand like that was his identity. I want to say cool it, calm down but I cant just say I'm not so different than him because then I'll become that person with the name alcoholic or drunk, etc whenever I'm mentioned. This society is pretty crazy already and it's hard enough so they should just leave people alone and let them live but no people have to talk, and it's pretty cruel actually.

Rrrrrrrrr wrote:

Anyone still doing this?

I drank for 24 days in a row. Now on day 3 of no drinking and my relationship is about to end. "Solution"? I can only think of drinking myself stupid tonight.

Curious to see if the OP and others are still doing this.