Hi all. Just checking in.
I have been doing better overall with drinking but, still have the occasional "date night" with a bottle of wine. It is much less frequent though. My stress level is lower as well, which helps. It is wine, mostly red wine, which is my achilles heel. Beer I enjoy but, 1 or 2 glasses of beer and I am good. With red wine, once I start I keep going.
I am going to stop trying to cut back and just go cold turkey.
Thanks for checking in. When I drank no matter what it was I did not want to stop after the first drink. Hard liquor I would be wiped out after a couple of hours, beer I could drink all day, wine somewhere in between. Sounds like you are experiencing "loss of control" with red wine. That is not for me to say. You will make your own judgement on that. The medical community has now decided that no amount of alcohol is healthy.
I hope you do quit. Life is much better without it.
My Mom died of natural causes last October. My sisters and I took care of her for 10 months of home hospice. I am so grateful I am sober. Other wise I would have been worthless and a basket case. This month I celebrated 33 Years of sobriety and I haven't missed a thing!
This is my original post from 3 yrs ago. I hope there is something in there you can relate to. You seem to be self aware
At age 28 my Alcoholism was easy to define once I came out of denial. For me one was too many and a thousand not enough.
The NIAAA and the DSM-5 refers to Alcoholism as "Alcohol Use Disorder" to reduce the stigma. People who are on the spectrum of AUD are not morally bankrupt or less of a human being than those who are not. If you are a social drinker once you feel the effect you don't want anymore. Any one else is on the spectrum of AUD and at risk for alcohol dependence.
https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-he...-use-disorders
The NIAAA states that 80% of the people who get sober and stay sober for the rest of their life do so without counseling or support groups. They become sick and tired of being sick and tired. My father was one. The NIAAA states that AA works great for those who want to be there, but has little effect on those who don't. I went to AA when I got sober and I highly recommend it. I had already decided to stop drinking when I went to AA. I found that AA taught me, not how to not drink but, how to live life on life's terms without alcohol. AA is not for everybody nor is it a panacea, but it is a great place to start. I apply the principles of AA to my life everyday. I like to say my sobriety is not dependent on AA but enhanced by it. My Christian faith and the philosophy of Buddhism also play a role. AA borrows from both teachings. AA has been around for about 85 years, Christianity about 2000 years. and Buddhism about 2400 years. Alcohol abuse has been around for probably 10,000 years.
Ancient Chinese Proverb "First the man takes a drink. Then the drink takes a drink. Then the drink takes the man"
It is easy for me to not take a drink because I no longer see alcohol as a solution.
If you decide you are on the AUD spectrum it will get worse since it is a progressive disease. The good news is once you decide to get sober, no matter what method you use, your life will get better! You may decide you don't miss it at all!