good gosh this Thanksgiving break has been extremely difficult.......i'm staying in a log cabin in the Smoky Mountains with the wife's family and i'm struggling to stay sober.......first night was cornhole on the deck, last night was poker, tonight's the game, friday is all-day in Gatlinburg.......the liquor is flowing and i'm having to go down to the basement for self-appointed time-outs on a regular basis......

it's time like this that i question my decision to stay sober, but i'm going to do my best to make it to midnight tonite without a drink.......

hope everyone else's Thanksgiving break is going well !!!!

Stay strong brother. Just remember how good you feel. Trust me, I'm normally at least 6 beers in by now and I'm so glad I'm not.

I promise you it gets easier. I've taken a few sobriety breaks in the past when I thought my drinking was out of control. I was sober for 5 months March-August and then decided I was ok for drinking moderately. September and October quickly reminded me that no, I was not ok and that alcohol was bigger than me. Today marks day 24 of sobriety.

To your point though, it gets easier to be around places where people are drinking and socializing. I was angry and nervous when I first started when my wife and I visited San Diego with friends and they went to Stones brewery. That was my beer of choice, and it was literally hell on Earth enduring that. Then the next happy hour at a bar drinking a coke wasn't quite as bad. Then I went to Scotland and went on a distillery tour and felt no need to drink.

Success builds on success, surviving Thanksgiving sober is like giving yourself a big will power booster shot for the challenges to come.

thanks for the words of wisdom....

.just survived a tour of a moonshine distillery, complete with free samples......one moment at time at this point.....gonna hit up the local AA meeting in a few hours.....

thanks again.....

P.U.T.U said:

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Damn wine country with no drinks, talk about impressive!

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For me personally, it's easy to live by the strict 0 alcohol rule. It's far harder for me to do 1-2 drink and stop rule. 1-2 quickly becomes 5 drinks. Moderate drinking slowly regressed to buying 3 sixpacks per week. I wish I had the willpower to be a moderate drinker.

at least i got to be in the 1% of something in my lifetime. 10 drinks a day was child's play.

May be TLDR, but I want to share my thoughts......

I managed to survive the Thanksgiving holiday without drinking. I was in a cabin in the Smoky Mountains (not sure if it's still there now) with my in-laws. I was so confident going into the vacation that I was not going to drink. I was actually excited. No hangovers, no guilt, no shame, no embarrassment, no remorse. I gotta tell you, when I first opened the doors to the cabin, it hit me like a tank. I needed a drink and I needed one now. I was totally blind-sided by the urge. I really didn't expect it to happen. It taught me that I'm very far from being free of the urge to drink.

I'm a newbie to the AA program, but I have to say, in my short time with the program, it has given me an entirely new perspective on drinking. For example, we went to a moonshine distillery. My brother in-laws immediately bellied-up to the bar and started trying the free samples. I was right there with them and I was having a hard time not partaking. I really wanted to join in. But a little seed that was planted in my brain during my short time in AA, made me pause. I actually asked myself, "Do you want to take that first sip? Because you know, 1 is too many and 50 is not enough. You know where this is going to take you."

Before AA, this thought would have never crossed my mind. I would go to the bar and instinctively start drinking. Not drinking would be the furthest thing from my mind.

I guess I'm saying that, even though I haven't been in the program long, I'm already seeing a benefit. I like my new mind-set on drinking. I don't HAVE to drink when others are drinking. If I don't drink, guess what, they are still going to drink and they are still going to have a good time. They don't need me to join them to enjoy the moment. You know why? BECAUSE I'M NOT THAT IMPORTANT. I used to think that others expected me to drink because that's what I did. Get drunk, make people laugh, be the life of the party. I'd put this expectation on myself to get drunk because I had a reputation to up-hold. But you know what? I'm not that important. People's good times do not revolve around my drinking.

It's taken me a long time to come to this realization. And this realization was brought-on by my involvement in AA. Will I drink in one year? In 6 months? Tomorrow? I don't know. But I do know that I will not be drinking today.

Good luck to all.

Great discussion guys. I appreciate you all discussing your experiences and encouragement.

I have come to the realization that I need to re-evaluate my drinking. I want to do this with a clear mind, and it sounds like that is only going to be happen by drying out for a bit.

Day 5 here, and I made it through an entire weekend without a sip of alcohol. This from someone who was on most nights average 3-4 drinks of beer/ whiskey/ wine.

Congratulations to you all and, more importantly thank you for your encouragement.

Update: I made it through 20 days and, with running and eating better, I've dropped 12 pounds in that time.

Unfortunately, the streak is officially over as I had a sip of wine last night. The disappointment that it is over is by far greater than the taste of it. Still, I am looking forward to more streaks and feeling better moving forward.

As someone who keeps my struggles internal, I am grateful for you all sharing your journey. Thank you all. I don't think I would have arrived at this decision and corrective action without this topic.

Good luck to you all.

Keep it up man. It's not about the fall. It's about the rise!

1-1-2017 will be the day i quit smoking cigars, at least until I retire.

i know not AA but i usually drink a beer with a smoke, so I will cut that too.

I don't drink alcohol often and cant remember the last time i was intoxicated so I wanted to post up the vice that I need support quitting.

I attended my 50th high school reunion last month and I have a 25 year chip in my pocket. So, I've spent half my adult life in AA. As Dr. Bob said, "If you want to quit drinking liquor for good and all and feel like you need some help, we know have an answer for you."

I am a knower when it comes to AA, not a wonderer, a "supposer" a thinker or anything of the kind. To all of you starting the program I have good news and some bad news. The good news is there is a solution, the bad news is
this is it.