Whole summer is a long time, but today is only one day. You can worry about tomorrow when you get there. You got this, fren.
this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2025
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Stop Drinking
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This is a place to motivate each other to control or stop drinking. It is also a place for non drinkers to discuss and share.
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I'll try. I was at the bar last night with friends who were drinking but didn't drink. Today I kept thinking about going to the beach again and wanting to drink and still wanting to go to bars to play pool which ik I'm going to want to drink at again eventually
If friends aren’t willing to avoid the bar for the time being, it may be best to take a break from them. Ask your friends if they can join you at a place that has less of a booze-focused vibe, like a restaurant or cafe.
You need a good reason to hate booze. Quietly, in your own mind, hate it. Blame it for every evil you can think of. Dredge up your rock bottom memories and use it to push you through.
You got this.
You might find it easier to totally avoid the bar and drinking people for the first few months. Right now your brain is still in the mode of "Gotta find my next drink" and it takes a while to get out of that.
Controversial, but I used non-alcoholic versions of my favorite beverage for the first few weeks to trick my brain into thinking it was getting what it craved. Remember that you're fighting a cunning, baffling, powerful demon in your mind and it will find ways to trip you up, so sometimes fighting dirty is the best defense.
You don't have to worry about not drinking for all of summer. You just gotta wake up and commit to one day at a time. I promise that soon you'll find something in life that you love even more than alcohol.
Hey homie! Fellow drunkard here, got sober off the drink (and hella other shit) in 2020. Did it all straight cold turkey and it fucking sucked but is well worth it in the long run. Idk how the naltrexone is supposed to work, but I'd suggest taking it if it was prescribed to you.
So, what helped me a lot is realizing that, as addicts, we replace one addiction with another. On top of that, when you're not using, you have a lot of free time and you gotta do something with it. I ended up making the conscious decision to make art every time I wanted to use; I ended up making art every fucking day for about a year which, due to the lockdowns, is just what I had to do to make it by considering I couldn't work to fill time.
Find your art, whatever it may be. Hope it helps.
You might try just drinking a bunch of water.
Medication can help, but your body is still used to physically drinking a lot of fluids. So just like smokers use toothpicks or whatever, it might help for you to replace your physical habit as well.
If you find yourself anxious, try exercise or a fast paced videogame to work it off. Just in general find things to keep you occupied. All the shit that you've been putting off, start doing it. You need to show your brain that other things can trigger rewards than dopamine.
It could take a while.
I hear ya and now my family wants to take another family member to a brewhouse and ik for a fact I'll want atleast a couple beers or cocktails because it is a brewhouse
Assuming your family knows that you're in recovery, it is acceptable to tell them that you'd prefer non-alcoholic restaurants in the future. Now, if Uncle Dave always loves going to the brewhouse for his birthday, don't stand in the way of his birthday, just give him a call to say hi, and sit that one out.
Then just don't go...
Don't make a big deal about, don't ask them to accomodate you, just skip this one.
If they press, tell them why you don't want to go. And that maybe some other time you'd be ready to go to a place like that again.
It's your family, just be honest
It sounds like your brain has had the chance to associate a lot of activities and people with alcohol, so it only stands to reason that you'll think about alcohol when you experience basically everything in life. This can lead to cravings, but also cravings can just happen anyways.
An example of this phenomenon is when a kiddo learns that going by the toy aisle means they get a toy. You'd better believe they learn quickly and remember when the toy comes from and may very well fuss when they don't get one (and let's be fair, sometimes they fuss for no reason at all!)
I agree with others that recommend avoiding situations or limiting exposure to people who you associate strongly with alcohol, especially early in recovery. I also recommend taking the naltexone as it can help reduce cravings for alcohol... (Its a bit like earplugs for the fussing kiddo, making the noise more tolerable and easier to ignore). And absolutely don't look too far into the future. Just be sober a day at a time (or an hour, or 5 minutes if needed).
It's easy to fall into the trap where you convince yourself it will be this way forever. But that's usually not true.
Alcohol free corona tastes exactly like real corona and does the job for me to quit. Now I just gotta fight tobacco with vapes and coffee with something else
One day at a time. It’s tough, be kind to yourself and remember that people in the program are there to support you. Don’t white-knuckle it, reach out for help.
You got this my dude! Take it one day at a time!
hey friend your username makes me think you'd get a lot out of AA meetings, the steps truly removed the mental obsession for me. no need to commit but great to meet others in the same boat. all the best.
Okay, I legitimately thought you were talking about not drinking… like at all (water and such) until I read the text. 😅