Well here I am at day 19 and as I've said in a couple other post life is good I feel great 90% of the time. A couple of nights ago I survived a particularly bad craving with the help of some friends in the program. Thinking afterword about the cravings I'm still having I've figured something out. Its about the escape the last craving came on what was my friday night (i don't work a typical week) I was busy and couildn't or wouldn't relax and I heard the sweet relaxing song of my old best friend beer i won i didn't drink but that's where my worst cravings come from. So I guess I'm asking any ideas? Has anyone else had the same trouble ?
Thanks All Take Care
Bryan
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Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Romans 8:6 , The Message
Ive followed you, since you came on MIP...and youre going through some pretty normal stuff...
I remember cloud 9 for a few days..then Bang!...to the bottom..and then back up on the cloud..
Some days...the cravings were there..big time....and other days..they werent...
Took a while for everything to balance out a bit..
I have talked with many...who never had a problem with cravings...after the first day...
I was not one of those...and needed meetings every day for the first year...just to keep from going Whacko...
I vibrated emotionally...mentally..and physically for 270 days..before those big cravings went away..
Then again....I firmly believe....that alcohol took me all the way to the bottom...and there have been quite a few, that have gotten off the garbage truck...before getting there...
Awareness of what we go through on a daily basis...is a biggy...and having those nearby that we can reach out to...is another biggy...I could never have done it on my own...and still cant...
There were different times of the week....also...that were difficult...and triggers, that would automatically make me think of picking up a drink...
Truck on our freind....one day at a time...:)
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"LOVE" devoid of self-gratification, is in essence, the will, to the greatest good...of another.
Day 19, big accomplishment, congrats. The first 19 were one day at a time, take the next the same. Try to find a meeting to go to on that one night that seems to be a hump getting over. I did six a week for a long time. Pick up a Big Book, a grape vine, whatever... to get your mind moving in a different direction. Dont obsess over the drink.
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My warranty on tomorrow has run out. My guarantee on the past is void. Nothing is going my way... and I like it like that.
and youre going through some pretty normal stuff...
Those words are both comforting and maddening but you are both right and now that i recognize the trigger i just need to make sure i'm at a meeting on those nights thanks for the support
Bryan
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Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Romans 8:6 , The Message
Congratulations Bryan! As has been said, it's pretty normal. One thing I'd like to add is to the "one day at a time" phrase. I know for me SOMETIMES it was one minute or even one second at a time. I'd find myself in one of the stores shopping for groceries where I had previously bought my bottles of alcohol and had to fight grabbing a bottle for THAT SECOND OR FIVE SECONDS OR THAT MINUTE. It was not east at first. Now, with eight months behind me, I can go to the stores and not get the urge. I do however look at some bottles of wine and wonder "How does that one taste?" but I know FOR CERTAIN that if I were to try it "just to see", it would be the end of my sobriety. I have been there before, thinking I've got it under control and can have just a bit, and have gone right back to the level of drinking at which I once had been. Maybe not right away, but within a month or two or so, the alcohol had posession of my desires.
So yes, your cravings and thoughts are quite normal. Good fortune to you. After a while, and the time differs from individual to individual, you will find that it is truly a great life without the altered conciousness and that you have made some great and true friends in your sobriety...Tim
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"We posess the eyes through which the universe gazes with wonder upon its own majesty."
Bryan, you are making progress one day at a time, which is the only way it will come. The early days are filled with challenge and learning and living a new way of life. I have been following your posts as well and I still urge you to stick with the program close. Go to meetings every day if at all possible. Meetings and the close fellowship of AA are the only things that helped me to stop drinking alcohol. 19 days is huge. It is you taking a stand in your own life. With the help of AA you will be able to make it stick. Just keep going to meetings and don't drink between meetings. I swear to you, that all the promises in the Big Book are true. Life is sweet when you can taste it sober. Hang in there Bryan,
