Sweet alcohol... this is my last drink

[Paul in NZ]

Good Move Steam

Most of us have self medicated with booze at some point and it's not a cure for anything except health and wealth. I love to drink but realise you can't do it every day...

[Crisis management]

Go for it Steam, I have also started not drinking as I was having a couple each night and it was just habit / stress relief. It takes a bit of getting used too, and a bit of willpower but I really notice the difference, feeling healthier and more alive.

the hard bit is chosing not to have the first one, find something to do, go for a walk or clean the bike. Change your routine so your not sitting down thinking about the drinking!

You can do it.......if you lapse we'll all want an explanation and public flogging!

[Hitcher]

Good luck with your aspirations, young Steam. All things in moderation?

[Swoop]

Good on ya!

Electricity is actually made up of extremely tiny particles called electrons, that you cannot see with the naked eye unless you have been drinking.
Dave Barry (1947 - ), "The Taming of the Screw"

If you drink, don't drive. Don't even putt.
Dean Martin

Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.
Ernest Hemingway (1899 - 1961)

Great people talk about ideas, average people talk about things, and small people talk about wine.
Fran Lebowitz (1950 - )

My Grandmother is over eighty and still doesn't need glasses. Drinks right out of the bottle.
Henny Youngman (1906 - 1998)

When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading.
Henny Youngman (1906 - 1998)

[Water is] the only drink for a wise man.
Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862)

The trouble with jogging is that the ice falls out of your glass.
Martin Mull (1943 - )

One reason I don't drink is that I want to know when I am having a good time.
Nancy Astor (1879 - 1964)

I envy people who drink. At least they have something to blame everything on.
Oscar Levant (1906 - 1972)

Work is the curse of the drinking classes.
Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900),

Drinking makes such fools of people, and people are such fools to begin with, that it's compounding a felony.
Robert Benchley (1889 - 1945)

I always keep a supply of stimulant handy in case I see a snake--which I also keep handy.
W. C. Fields (1880 - 1946)

Reminds me of my safari in Africa. Somebody forgot the corkscrew and for several days we had to live on nothing but food and water.
W. C. Fields (1880 - 1946)

[Jimmy B]

Good on you Steam

Sometimes you just got to step back and have a look at what’s going on and if you are not happy with what you see then take some affirmative action.

I have given up the fags, was smoking 1-2 packs a day and I know it was hurting me. Problem is the slide is so gradual that each day is imperceptibly worse than the last, so much so that I have forgotten what good health feels like.

Anyway, for me, booze and fags go together. They go together so well that I was also drinking every day. Part of my job is to entertain people so throw in at least several binges on top of a 1000 fags a month.

14 days ago I stopped both and basically slept for 4 days. Since then instead of fagging and boozing I have spent more time doing the things that are important.

Early days but I cannot tell you how great I feel right now.

Good luck

[Ms Piggy]

Ahhh yes, trying to cut back on the "attitude adjusters", good on ya Steam.

I've been cutting back myself too - last year I was in a job that I didn't enjoy and working there 32 hours a week required "attitude adjusters" most nights but now that I'm back studying and doing something, that while being a lot more stressful, I am actually enjoying I don't have the need...of course we'll see when I have my last 3 HUGE essays due within 1 week.

Maybe (getting really deep here!) there's some other stuff you need to change? But, maybe that's not the case at all.

[zooter]

As I type I have polished off a whole bottle of wine over an evening so a little bit tiddly. Anyway, I was wondering how Steam and JimmyB are geting along. You guys going on the wagon are doing it for good reasons and I hope you succeed. You really aren't missing anything.

I worked three years as a sober driver, no drinking full stop. Actually can't see the point so it's very rare for me to be tiddly these days. I read some stuff in Allen Carr's 2nd book about booze which some may find interesting, I'll paraphrase with my take on it weaved in:

Basically, all booze requires an aquired taste for the effect of the alcohol. Can't argue with that. Give a child any booze that isn't sugary alcopop and they will tell you it tastes yuk. Alcopop drinkers will be quite candid that they are drinking to get pissed.

So what are the benefits of getting pissed?

Only one. You stop caring about any worries. Poor alcoholics get into a trap where the excess alcohol creates another (pretty damn serious) problem. Then the dependency sets in and they are stuffed until they quit and drag themselves back to normality.

The physical dependence on alcohol is a product of the stuffed up metabolism and it takes a bit of willpower and good nutrition to recover. More booze makes the symptoms go away but only temporarily. Good food, exercise, fresh water, sleep, no more booze, rest and faith in the universe to see you right and you're all set.

[shafty]

Good on ya STEAM. I enjoy a drink, but very rarely drink on "school days" ie Mon - Thurs. When I first started driving our Party Bus, I just felt like joining in for a drink!! - but ofcourse thats impossible. I DO enjoy one or two when I get home tho, after driving our Drunken clients round, - I enjoy the relaxing effect. I know a Guy who knocks off for a month every year - he usually does it in February for obvious reasons!

I heard a really interesting discussion on the radio about alcohol - they referred to "alkaloids" I think - ie anything that relaxes the social senses, - and how there always has been an alkaloid in every ethnic group since forever - and how it is/was necessary to reduce social barriers with breeding etc - still applies today in many cases!!

[vifferman]

Good decision, Steam!
I gave up booze, caffeine, etc. YEARS ago, but only for about 4 years, and then I got tired of making such a big deal of it. But I wish I'd stuck to it.

Lately, I too drink nearly every night - never more than 1 beer, or a couple of small wines. I figgerd, "I'm pharkt - why shouldn't I? I enjoy it!", but that's a pretty dumb rationale. In any case, I can't handle more than about that quantity anyway, so it's self-limiting.

[Drum]

All this talk makes me want a drink.

[kneescraper]

Ahhh Steam, your onto the right track.

I gave up because of my medication, no drinking while on it. I feel so much better, being able to drive home after going out for dinner with the boys is a great feeling, they have to chug out $20 for a taxi.

I have to admit, I would love a cold Macs Gold after mowing the lawn or working on the house but a tall glass of Pepsi with ice goes down almost as good.

You will feel 100% better in about a month, once the body has worked all of that crap out of ya system.

Good on ya Steam!

[avgas]

Ah yes the good ol' days when i would have a shot of KRAP KRISTOV every half hour at home to make life smooth.

[The Pastor]

Ah yes the good ol' days when i would have a shot of KRAP KRISTOV every half hour at home to make life smooth.

Kristov and smooth in the same sentance? WTF MATE!

[Steam]

Thanks to those who've wished me well.

Hmm... well for the first month I failed miserably.
I'd go to the supermarket and think "Och, I'll just have a wee dram tonight, start tomorrow..." then buy a dozen Speight's.
This month has been better, maybe only every second night. But I look in the fridge at my flatmate's beer and a lust grips me, a thirst...
mostly I resist...
Maybe I'll ask him to remove it.

I wish low or No-alcohol beer was as good, to wean me off. But it's bad. Really bad. I've never tasted a low-alcohol beer that satisfied.

It's a long term process I guess, I've just begin.
Thank God I never started smoking, I'd be useless at giving that up! I think I must be an addictive personality.

[kiwifruit]

I feel your pain steam

I've recently given up drinking, smoking weed and smoking durrys. (all cold turkey)
was drinking about 2l of wine a day, most days,
smoking weed 2-3 times an evening,
smoking 10-20 smokes a day
all for 10 odd years

its only just started
but already i feel shit loads better
have lost over 10kg in 2 months
more alert
etc etc
its hard to get to sleep at night tho!


Hang in there
you can do it