# Looking for tips on giving up alcohol.



## Damien Thorne (Sep 27, 2021)

I notice that the more I drink, the more depressed I get.  I think my Irish Catholic genetics fucked me over big time here.  I am ready to put down the bottle for good, but my body is resisting currently.  I just need to make fixing these waves easier until the cravings eventually pass.

Any brilliant ideas here?


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## Justtocheck (Sep 27, 2021)

Benzos switch. Almost no hangovers.


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## The Last Stand (Sep 27, 2021)

Find another hobby to distract you. If you feel the need to drink, try water or apple juice.


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## Just A Butt (Sep 27, 2021)

smoke crack instead


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## Damien Thorne (Sep 27, 2021)

Just A Butt said:


> smoke crack instead


Sorry, I don’t feel brave enough to go to downtown Portland right now.


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## Exigent Circumcisions (Sep 27, 2021)

Nobody likes a quitter.


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## Cuntflaps (Sep 28, 2021)

Just stop drinking. Duh.


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## Dick Justice (Sep 28, 2021)

Drink half as much this month as you drank last month. Keep going until you've weaned yourself off. Sudden changes are hard. Gradual changes are gradually less hard. If you're desperate try and find another less awful vice you can use as a substitute when you get a craving. Soda is dead and gay but it's less bad than booze for example. The more work it is to "consume" your substitute, the better. Lots of people chew gum for example because it's something to focus on and takes a lot of time to finish. A lot of people cook shit from scratch for similar reasons.


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## Bill Dauterive (Sep 28, 2021)

Take up biking or some other hobby that includes exercising. Your body will start producing natural dopamine and it will be a lot easier to give up booze. Or just start smoking weed.


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## 仙草茶 (Sep 28, 2021)

We in England applaud you Catholic heathens for your drinking ability, perhaps you should move to London and operate a sideshow act in which we supply you with libations for you to drink in mass quantities for our amusement?


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## Fliddaroonie (Sep 28, 2021)

Nobody gives a fuck about your "heritage" OP, and stop blaming everything bad in your life, including your inability to stop drinking on "muh guhnetikz".


get fucking help, and accept the problem starts with you as a person, not your tenuous and shaky "connection" to a country your ancestors farted within sniffing distance of a few centuries back.


And kafflick isn't an ethnic group, unless you're massively inbred because your spud lobbing ancestors only spawned with other kafflicks.


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## 仙草茶 (Sep 28, 2021)

Fliddaroonie said:


> Nobody gives a fuck about your "heritage" OP, and stop blaming everything bad in your life, including your inability to stop drinking on "muh guhnetikz".
> 
> 
> get fucking help, and accept the problem starts with you as a person, not your tenuous and shaky "connection" to a country your ancestors farted within sniffing distance of a few centuries back.
> ...


shush you Picadilly needs more entertainment options, don't dissuade OP from taking up my offer.


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## Fliddaroonie (Sep 28, 2021)

Who's Seething said:


> shush you Picadilly needs more entertainment options, don't dissuade OP from taking up my offer.


Naw, Speaker's Corner mate. Let him get Inshallahed by the bonkers Muslims!


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## 仙草茶 (Sep 28, 2021)

Fliddaroonie said:


> Naw, Speaker's Corner mate. Let him get Inshallahed by the bonkers Muslims!


Good point, let him wander over to Tower Hamlets Strongbow in hand, I'm sure it'd go over swimmingly.


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## Fliddaroonie (Sep 28, 2021)

Who's Seething said:


> Good point, let him wander over to Tower Hamlets Strongbow in hand, I'm sure it'd go over swimmingly.


Well, you can do water based activities with concrete welly boots, right?


To answer OPs question seriously though:

Drinking too much is because of you. It's you who picks up the bottle, and you who drinks it. Stopping drinking is one thing, but you have to understand what's driving you to do it in first place.

It is not "muh guhnetikkkzzz!!" or anything like that. It's factors in your life, today, and now, which cause it. |Figure out why you do it, and address the reasons for it, but "muh genezz!!" is just copium.


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## Damien Thorne (Sep 28, 2021)

Fliddaroonie said:


> Well, you can do water based activities with concrete welly boots, right?
> 
> 
> To answer OPs question seriously though:
> ...


You are correct, of course.


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## Fliddaroonie (Sep 28, 2021)

Damien Thorne said:


> You are correct, of course.


Like a stopped clock. Twice a day and at regular intervals, haha


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## kiwi-identified cow (Sep 28, 2021)

Kombucha tea replaces beer and cider pretty well for easing away from habitual drinking IMO. It's all carbonated, and there are a lot of brands and flavors to try. The Original flavor from the brand GT's Synergy has a noticeable fermented taste. Some people are put off by the bacteria culture, though a lot of the brands seem to filter the visible 'gunk' out (Synergy doesn't). It naturally has a tiny amount of alcohol in it since it's fermented (usually <0.5%, but some brands extract the alcohol afterward, so it depends).


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## L50LasPak (Sep 28, 2021)

If you can't figure out how to live with the constant stream of negative thought you'll have sober then you're fucked.


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## Akashic Retard (Sep 28, 2021)

Find a hobby, something to distract you. If you're just sitting on your ass or doing something that you would usually do while drinking, you're going to end up drinking. Get into something new like hiking or photography or something. Given enough time it will become easier to not drink.


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## Tom Nook's Gloryhole (Sep 28, 2021)

Step 1: Don't buy it

Step 2: Don't drink it, even when it's offered for free

That's all the advice you need retard. Filling your newfound free time is a different problem that only you can solve.


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## Damien Thorne (Sep 28, 2021)

Tom Nook's Gloryhole said:


> Step 1: Don't buy it
> 
> Step 2: Don't drink it, even when it's offered for free
> 
> That's all the advice you need retard. Filling your newfound free time is a different problem that only you can solve.


Fuck you, I hate how right you are with this post.  Or thank you for your honesty.  Don’t know how I want to reply to this.


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## MadStan (Sep 28, 2021)

Stop smoking cigarettes. Once the thrill and association are one, drinking gets boring.  No drink tastes ever as good after you stop smoking. You lose the thirst for drinking as a consequence.

And contemplate suicide a bit more.


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## Damien Thorne (Sep 28, 2021)

Menotaur said:


> Stop smoking cigarettes. Once the thrill and association are one, drinking gets boring.  No drink tastes ever as good after you stop smoking. You lose the thirst for drinking as a consequence.
> 
> And contemplate suicide a bit more.


I don’t smoke cigarettes, though I figured out that is what a lot of people in AA turn to.  That and the lowest quality coffee known to man.


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## MadStan (Sep 28, 2021)

Damien Thorne said:


> I don’t smoke cigarettes, though I figured out that is what a lot of people in AA turn to.  That and the lowest quality coffee known to man.


I think switching to cocaine or meth would be sure-fire.  If not that then just will power, but is just isn't as much fun.

Sigh. And fuck you. I drink coffee too!

I'm going to think about contemplating suicide again.


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## Dennis Rodman (Sep 28, 2021)

Not to get into it too much and derail your thread, but I’ve gone through the same thing. I found that immersing myself in a hobby or learning a new skill helped distract from wanting to drink.


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## Inflatable Julay (Sep 28, 2021)

CBD is helping me quit. I have a couple gummies and chug a few of the waters or sodas and my urge to drink is dramatically lower.


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## Gravityqueen4life (Sep 29, 2021)

weed


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## CAPTAIN MATI (Sep 29, 2021)

Drink a lot of water and stay the fuck away from booze for a month.


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## grasshoppermustard (Sep 29, 2021)

I feel ya man, these lockdowns in Australia over the past 2 years had me hitting the bottle hard at times. Lockdowns totally fucked my gym routine and with that went my self discipline. I'm not an alcoholic but I think I was on the path to it because some mornings I'd wake up and just start drinking out of pure fucking boredom. I never even considered doing such a thing prior to covid but there were days I'd wake up and hit the vodka at like 8am.

Anyway, at the start of this year I decided to quit cold turkey, but it was rough for a few weeks, got really depressed, sleep was fucked, irritable, craving a drink to relieve the boredom etc etc. So, because the gym was shut, I started taking long walks, and then making them longer and longer. We're still in lockdown and I walk about 2 hours a day now. I also started fasting to deny myself the pleasure from food because I think pleasure was what I was seeking through drinking, fasting really helped me to readjust my mind and body. I do 100 hour fasts, and then cook up a really good meal, then started getting more interested in cooking, specifically French. Nothing nicer than cooking up a banquet after not having eaten for 3-4 days.

So yeah, physical activity, deny yourself pleasure (dopamine reset?), and find a hobby, and give it time. I will drink again in future, but because covid hysteria and alcohol is a really bad combo, I made a commitment to myself not to drink again until the covid bullshit ends.


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## Dr. Barry Nyle (Oct 20, 2021)

Low dose of benzos and pipe tobacco / cigars.


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## Slimy Time (Oct 21, 2021)

Find another less destructive habit, like cigarettes. That shit costs a lot, so once you are hooked on those, won't have cash to spend on booze. Bingo, drinking habit solved.


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## fhqwhgads (Oct 21, 2021)

If you drink non-alcoholic beer and get high at the same time, you can almost convince yourself it's alcohol getting you fucked. This just replaces one vice with another, but at least it's not as bad?


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## SeniorFuckFace (Oct 21, 2021)

Find out why you are drinking first and then go from there.


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## Damien Thorne (Oct 23, 2021)

Fuck it, I have one month now.

It became considerably easier to not give in after the first two weeks.


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## Yuuichirou Kumada (Oct 23, 2021)

I adapted the Easypeasy method to get over porn addiction to also help me get over alcohol addiction. So far, it's working wonders.

Long story short, the main pointers are:


Don't think of this as you "giving up" on something. That would imply alcohol is an important thing in your life you simply can't live without, which is not only not the case, it actually greatly diminishes your life quality in the long run. Essentially, don't fret because you are not drinking anymore over this or that issue. Celebrate the fact instead.
If you start feeling like you miss it, or that downing just one drink won't hurt you, it's just your brain fucking with you. Know when that happens, tell it to pound imaginary sand, and do something else instead.
Definitely don't put this as a Herculean task that requires all of your willpower. Otherwise, you are setting yourself up for certain failure. And once you fail, you'll feel even worse than before, for not being able to "contain your urge to drink". Just stop drinking and move on.
See_ why_ you are drinking. Do you have any deeper issue with your life that drives you to drink? Are you so unhappy, stressed out, or bored to the point that short bursts of dopamine are worth the rest of the day(s) going to waste with sickness and hangovers? You know better than anybody else what irks and disturbs you, so take some time to reflect on that. Alcohol won't do shit to solve those issues, and may even make them worse. Hell, alcohol itself is an issue.


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## Mullti Port RDRAM (Oct 27, 2021)

I think I puked my guts out last time I drank heavily (Election Night, look man don't judge) and then the next week I learned my father had checked in to an outpatient rehab clinic. He's still struggling with the creature, he's taking it worse than me. So I had a really great motivator to not become a gibbering alcoholic.

It was easy for me to give it up because I never really went too deep into it, but after the last time, I was done. I just wouldn't drink anymore. The first key to giving up is finding something to replace it. Obviously, it shouldn't be another vice. I started learning Korean as my getaway from drinking.

Get any alcoholic beverages out of your house, and stop using it for any cooking (it doesn't always burn off) until you're a few months sober. Build a support network of friends, family, AA/Alanon. Remind yourself that alcohol use will damage your brain and increase your cancer risks, and you're doing the right thing.

I have been sober nearly a year. It does get easier with time.


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## Studmuffinstuffin (Nov 2, 2021)

Justtocheck said:


> Benzos switch. Almost no hangovers.


Theyre so expensive though


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## ⋖ cørdion ⋗ (Nov 3, 2021)

I convince myself I'm still in control, but I have a hard time actually letting it go if I don't have to. I don't sit at my parents' thinking "I could be shitfaced right now", but I'm not exactly enjoying my monday to friday, so I feel it's justified to forget life if just for 8-10 hours of drinking/sleeping on a friday.

I absolutely love early saturdays, the thought of going for a walk, and generally being a healthy individual. I do however also loathe my current life situation and have no hobbies or interests, and feel too worn out by life to actually start any. "Just start drawing/playing/driving/knitting/running lmao" is easier said than done.


Spoiler: tism



My semi-addiction stems from a very specific situation in which I'd always get drunk and play games at specifically 6 PM with my friends. This became the highlight of my week and I started relating friday and fun with drinking. Now, I don't have those friends anymore and generally don't play games, so why don't I quit? Because monday to friday is grueling, and the only difference from wednesday and saturday at that point is whether I'd spend the day in dread over my impending doom, unable to find work.

So I drink. I drink and go early to bed on a friday, wake up early saturday slightly hungover cause I've stopped even drinking everything I buy, and then I vacuum or clean up or whatever, and sit with a cup of coffee 9 AM on a saturday staring out the window thinking "damn, I miss swimming". This is the idyllic world I'd love to embody every weekend without drinking, but obviously then I'd have to garner the strength to have that attitude towards life, as it would not be forced upon me by being hungover. Again: It's tough to just decide to do something and be some specific way if you aren't. Like being a social butterfly without drinking.


Anyway, I feel it's worth watching Rusty Cage's video. He got shitfaced every single day, even while recording/editing videos, so I feel it's a much more relatable scenario than most holier-than-thou people with 10 friends and 5 hobbies to distract them.

His general takeaway is "holy shit, you got so much time to do things now_". _This is the tipping point at which you realize you actually have to fill your life with something. It's not a distraction from drinking as much as filling the void that drinking _could _fill instead.





Alternatively, Pewdiepie of all people is a decent dip into philosophy, and his general takeaway seems to be embarrassment. Feeling like a loser for being reliant on fucking alcohol to not hate life, as if you were some rape victim working in the coal mines. He's a pretty (all-right) guy when he actually speaks about these things.


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## Damien Thorne (Nov 3, 2021)

Meh, I joined a 24 hour gym within walking distance of my house.  If I feel like drinking, I go there and burn off that fucking energy within reason.  I also lost quite a few pounds since I stopped binging on beer, so I must be doing something right.


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## Vingle (Nov 13, 2021)

It's fucking expensive, there. Only advice you need.

Do you want to buy yourself something nice, that actually last. Or will you throw it away at booze, that go down the drain in a few hours?


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## Damien Thorne (Feb 25, 2022)

I replaced alcoholism with Steam gaming.  Now I have no time or money for booze.


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## Sparkling Yuzu (Feb 25, 2022)

Wean yourself off to avoid tremors, let you family doctor know you're dealing with alcoholism and trying to quit. They can prescribe medications to help, like naltrexone, which reduces cravings. There's definitely a neurological element to addiction to it's important to treat it medically. 
Might want to see if you can get a referral to a psychiatrist. You might have an underlying mental illness that causes you to drink to cope, so finding the right medications for it could make it a lot easier to give up drinking when you don't need it anymore to suppress bad thoughts and feelings. {psychiatrists are only really good for diagnosing you with some mental illness and prescribing meds. 
Then you'd need to find a good addiction psychologist and get psychotherapy, which can really help. CBT has the most empirical evidence supporting it, DBT is extremely effective for BPD but can be used for other applications and ACT is like Buddhism in secular form and has decent evidence, it especially helps with obsessive thoughts. (CBT, ACT and DBT are acronyms for different types of psychotherapies btw.) 
Don't see a psychoanalytic quack like Jordan Peterson.


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## Fliddaroonie (Feb 25, 2022)

Damien Thorne said:


> I replaced alcoholism with Steam gaming.  Now I have no time or money for booze.


If no time or money is your thing, might I suggest EVE Online pls? It eats fuck outta both.


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## Shidoen (Feb 25, 2022)

Have you tried eating bread?


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## trent (Feb 25, 2022)

Embaby Cumjar said:


> Wean yourself off to avoid tremors, let you family doctor know you're dealing with alcoholism and trying to quit. They can prescribe medications to help, like naltrexone, which reduces cravings. There's definitely a neurological element to addiction to it's important to treat it medically.
> Might want to see if you can get a referral to a psychiatrist. You might have an underlying mental illness that causes you to drink to cope, so finding the right medications for it could make it a lot easier to give up drinking when you don't need it anymore to suppress bad thoughts and feelings. {psychiatrists are only really good for diagnosing you with some mental illness and prescribing meds.
> Then you'd need to find a good addiction psychologist and get psychotherapy, which can really help. CBT has the most empirical evidence supporting it, DBT is extremely effective for BPD but can be used for other applications and ACT is like Buddhism in secular form and has decent evidence, it especially helps with obsessive thoughts. (CBT, ACT and DBT are acronyms for different types of psychotherapies btw.)
> Don't see a psychoanalytic quack like Jordan Peterson.



I prefer the Alan Carr method of: "drinking is a retarded waste of time and money and you quit by just not doing it any more." 

His method also goes into detail on the fact that the vast majority of people don't really experience any kind of harmful physical withdrawal at all. You'll feel slightly uncomfortable for maybe a couple of days and that's it.


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## Manul Otocolobus (Feb 25, 2022)

Damien Thorne said:


> I replaced alcoholism with Steam gaming.  Now I have no time or money for booze.


You actually buy games? Pfft.

At least gaming is a socially acceptable substitution for alcoholism, as long as you don't become a 引きこもり(Hikikomori*)*.


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## Sealbaby (May 2, 2022)

Having an aesthetically and sensorily appealing room or house to be in really helps: rooms with natural light, that smell good, not moudly, clean, nice things on the walls. If the environment in feels sensorily welcoming you'll feel less inclined to numb your senses with substances. 

Also, one thing that can stop you from drinking in the moment and strengthen your resolve is some kind of sensorily pleasing ritual combined with meditation.

So, powerlevel, my dad had a major mental breakdown a while ago. When he was recovering he started doing something he's never done before, namely, he has a bath and lights candles. He runs the bath really slowly and focusses on the scented candle and the sound of the running water. You might also do something like burn incense. If you don't have a bath to create a water noise, you can buy an indoor/desk fountain.  It will probably feel really gay and awkward at first, but I started doing this as well and now it helps me.

Good luck OP.


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## Anura (May 16, 2022)

I have no advice for alcoholics but I can tell you how I'm avoiding becoming one.
I drink about once every 3 weeks or so and I plan out the evening to make the most of it. I won't have any dinner, start drinking at about 6pm, and have 9 to 11 standard drinks over the next 6 hours (for context, I'm male and 60kg). It is worth the hangover and not enough to induce vomiting (side note: I have never vomited while drinking, even that time when I had 17 standard drinks. If I vomit it'll be at least 12 hours later), though enough to give a reminder of why I only drink occasionally.
I'm no expert, but it seems to me that people who drink lightly but regularly are the ones who become addicted.


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## trickyzerg23 (May 16, 2022)

Beat your body with blows. Bring your body under your complete control. Do not allow yourself to be disqualified.


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## Netizennameless (May 16, 2022)

1. Don't linger on the guilt of relapsing if/when you do, but don't tell yourself it's okay either.  Resolve to do better and make the relapses further apart.   When you do relapse, don't buy enough alcohol to get trashed because you will drink up everything you have around you.  Don't leave your house when you relapse, so you minimize the chances of fucking your life up more.

2. Replace the obsessive pattern in your life with something that has positive outcomes (work, exercise, etc) rather than drinking.  This will also help you build confidence and self worth.

3. Discover and/or address the root cause of your drinking.  I put this last because it's a long term step.


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## Colloid (May 17, 2022)

Old thread but fuck it. One of the most effective things I did to curb my drinking was change my commute to avoid liquor stores as much as possible and just physically avoid it as much as possible. No going near the liquor aisle at grocery stores, no sitting in bar areas at family restaurants, looking at the original drink menu and picking something there asap to lock in the order. Out of sight, out of mind as they say. It makes keeping yourself clean for longer much easier.


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## Ughubughughughughughghlug (Sep 11, 2022)

Drink so much your body is wracked with pain and you can't stand the idea of drinking any more for a few days.


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## Slap47 (Sep 11, 2022)

This should be common sense, but just never have it in the house. 

You would be surprised at how laziness actually helps you. This also works with food addiction.


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## abacussedout (Sep 12, 2022)

Understand why you use alcohol. If it's to fill a God shaped hole then fill it with God. If it's more of a self control thing then cultivate self control in other parts of your life and it will help with the alcohol eventually. Same concept applies for a variety of motivators. Developing responsibility in any way will help. Volunteer with something that requires a regular commitment. Make your life about more than just you.

For a buddy of mine the hardest thing to give up was the ritual so he would make hippy sounding tinctures and brew weird teas and whatnot to have instead, some of which were so harsh you wouldn't know they lacked alcohol. He once shared some crazy potent ginger drink he brewed from scratch and it reminded me of the first time I had moonshine.


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## murph (Sep 12, 2022)

I assume you've either relaxed into being an alchololic degenerate or you are still struggling. The people you want to impress are not worth the effort. Continue to drink you delightful bastard. Waste all your money on liquor. Every dream based god will welcome you, as I do, with open arms, you fucken idiot.


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## serious n00b (Sep 12, 2022)

Quitting alcohol is easy. I do it all the time.


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## Damien Thorne (Sep 15, 2022)

murph said:


> I assume you've either relaxed into being an alchololic degenerate or you are still struggling. The people you want to impress are not worth the effort. Continue to drink you delightful bastard. Waste all your money on liquor. Every dream based god will welcome you, as I do, with open arms, you fucken idiot.


Sober three months and keeping at it.  Now I have more energy than what I used to have.  And I lost 30 lbs in the last three months, so I am no longer obese.  It was a tough first month, but it got easier by now.


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## Ughubughughughughughghlug (Oct 2, 2022)

I've kind of relapsed. After three months without getting drunk (which is equivalent to not buying alcohol at home, but I did have small amounts with a friend in a bar), I bought a 24 pack, and about two weeks later I've bought a big 4 liter jug of table wine. I can't stay out of the stuff.

I don't know if a change of environment would help or if at this point it's just a recurring issue that would follow me.


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## Kheapathic (Oct 2, 2022)

Not sure if it's relevant to make a new OP or not; but pretty much same problem but with soda / Dr. Pepper. I make it a day or two and the withdrawal headaches become debilitating; where meds don't work and it even hurts when I sleep.

Also, gas just reached $6/gallon again; I can give up soda, my car can't give up gas.


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## Your Starter for 10 (Oct 9, 2022)

You could use the Matt Pike method.  He just started smoking a lot more weed, and if he's in situations where everyone is drinking, or he just REALLY needs a drink, he just drinks beer.  Through this simple program he was able to stop drinking.


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## BobbyBriggs69420 (Oct 12, 2022)

I've been a bad alky at times and have "gotten sober" several time when my plan was all along to just try and reset my tolerance, reset my addiction and "start over as a moderate drinker". All of those times stopping were hard as hell. I think cause I was anxious for that prize at the end.

You say you're ready to give up for life, I finally said that myself in october last year and for me just finally saying that and finally realizing the liquid yehud has never done anything pleasurable for me in a long long time was enough to make something click in my brain that made this time real easy. Like having to walk through the wine section at the store or sitting at a traffic light next to a liquor store might've been anxious nervous, very trying experiences on any other "quit" but this time around it's not bothering me at all even in the very first days.


edit: tbf though,  this last time I quit from a 750 of wine/night habit, and I was comparing it to an old 750 of vodka/night habit.


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## Harambe (Nov 9, 2022)

My biggest problem is going from the one night where I drink 6-12 drinks in a night and no one really notices or minds really because I'm sneaky and not too mean of a drink to a zero drinks thing. Most afternoons and nights I can say 'no no drinks' but once a week I'll give in and binge drink. If I'm lucky, after that, I'll taper off through the week. I'll have one drink a night depending on what's at home. I've got 3 fine bottles of wine at home and one fine bottle of hard liquor. Stopping altogether is hard. I read the word beer somewhere and I'll think I should get a beer and it's this parasitic thought that ruins my day as I fight it.

It's the parasitic thoughtform that's most difficult. I don't really want to drink most of the time, but the thought is repetitive, insistent, and easily triggered. Reading about people drinking beer, or hearing it in a positive context is enough to make me think about drinking and make this intrusive and repetitive thought 'oh let's have a beer' 'oh it's like a buck for a tallboy of that japanese shit you like' 'oh no one will notice or care if you're a little buzzed' that just makes me want it and want it until before i know it i'm drinking. and it doesn't stay at 1 day a week for long, repeat it enough and it's just every day or every other day and it's a mess. i get fatter and shittier and all that


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