I need help I want to quit drinking

[Crystal]

I need help I want to quit drinking

[Lali]

Welcome, Crystal. You are in the right place. There are many people in this forum that had the desire to stop drinking and were able to do so by following the simple program of AA. Before I go into all of that, have you had any experience with AA?

[Crystal]

I went to meeting 1 time about 3 years ago when i lost my job because i was to drunk to make it to work

[ann2]

Welcome Crystal, so glad you found us! We would love to help. We share what works for us: the AA solution. Stick around and learn how we do it, and read how the first AA members did it, in our basic text, the Big Book, at this link www.aa.org/bigbookonline

There's a Big Book study in these forums where we share our understanding of various parts of the book. It helps to explain the system we use. Check it out here viewforum.php?f=31

Please keep coming back and sharing,

Ann

[chefchip]

Hey Crystal,

Welcome to e-AA. I have seen all five of your posts so far and get the impression that you aren't quite sure what to do here. And it sounds like you are not all that familiar with the program of AA. I hope you don't mind a couple of thoughts from me.

First, you say that you don't want to hurt your kids, or lose your friends and family. While those are great things they won't do much to help you quit drinking or find a better life. I found that I had to get better and want recovery for myself first. Once I got better then the people I loved also got better because I quit hurting them with my drinking. It sounds selfish, but it isn't. We are no good to anyone until we get ourselves straightened out. We have to WANT to for us, first.

Do you know if there are many meetings where you live, or close by? Do you know how to find all of the meetings in your area? If not, you can go to:

http://www.aa.org/lang/en/central_offic ... igpage=373 for meetings in the US and Canada
http://www.aa.org/lang/en/aa_internatio ... rigpage=31 for meetings everywhere else

AA is a simple program, but one that requires work and willingness to do things differently than we have done them before. People, like myself, who decided to give the program our all have found sobriety AND happiness, along with a new way of living. We did this by working the Twelve Steps, reading and studying the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. We worked with other people who had the same problems and learned the solution. You can, too.

So, first things first. Look up meetings and go to some. Listen and talk to people after the meeting. Let people know you are new and really want help. There will be people there who can and will help you. Also, see if you can find the book Alcoholics Anonymous, what we call the Big Book. If you want to read it online, it can be found here:

http://www.aa.org/bigbookonline/en_tableofcnt.cfm

Let us know how it goes, and if you have any questions, ask them! We are here to help in any way that we can.

Be well,
Chip

[Crystal]

Your right I don't know how this works I just know that all the times i tell myself I'm not an alcoholic I end up trying to understand what i did the day before and why everyone is mad at me I don't want this feeling anymore

[PaigeB]

"I end up trying to understand what i did the day before and why everyone is mad at me"

Oh boy! Do I understand THAT feeling! I always drank then drove my car... some mornings I was afraid to go look and see if it was there. If it was I would have to inspect for damage or look for blood in case I hit a person... If it was not there, I did not have a clue where it was!

Either way - just one of the reasons I hated to wake up to myself everyday.

[Crystal]

I am glad I found this site and you read my thread

[ann2]

I am so glad too, Crystal. You are helping me by letting me remember how it was, and by giving me a reason to put into words the help I was given. I'm a forgetful alcoholic and unless I'm spending time doing just this -- chatting with someone new -- my odds of staying sober are dismally slim. So thank you, from the bottom of my heart. Because sobriety is so much better than anything I ever had before. If I don't pass it on, I lose it.

Hugs!

Ann

[shaunagus]

Your right I don't know how this works I just know that all the times i tell myself I'm not an alcoholic I end up trying to understand what i did the day before and why everyone is mad at me I don't want this feeling anymore

Hi Crystal

I totally understand that feeling of telling myself I am not alcoholic but still ending up drunk later that day. For me it came with comparing myself with my idea of what an alcoholic is (park bench, brown mac - or unemployed, divorced, violent etc) none of which applied to me. But I kept getting drunk. Every night practically. And I kept trying to stop and failing.

In the end I decided that's what made me alcoholic. I couldn't stop myself havin the first drink and once I had done that I couldn't stop having the second, third, fourth, fifth and so on and so on. Day after day swearing I won't drink and still drinking. Swearing I would only have one and getting drunk. Night after night after month after year.

I was pretty much as confused as you were. What worked for me was going to a bunch of AA meetings, identifying people who shared that the desire to drink had been removed by the AA programme (the 12 steps), asking one to be my sponsor and working through the steps with him. Shortly after starting the desire to drink was also removed from me, just as it has been my sponsor and all the others who had taken the steps.

It amazing.

And a very simple programme once you have a sponsor to guide you.

Best of luck

Shaun

[Crystal]

Thanks I need to be right with right minded people Thank you