I’ve been tracking my drinks for 2 years, first time I reach such a sober streak - and I feel really better!

              • Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com
                7·
                17 天前

                Dude after I went from 10+ drinks every day to almost every day having zero, I was ASTOUNDED at how much I could eat while still losing weight. Turns out 1,000-2,000+ calories of drinks in a day translates to a LOT OF TREATS! I’ve plateaued now and never was a really huge person, but I just gorged and had treats all of the time every day after the initial hell week and lost 20% of my weight. I’m back to tiny and I still eat almost a half pint of ice cream daily heyo yeeee

        • wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz
          6·
          18 天前

          Find some hobbies, books, etc., whatever you’re genuinely interested in. Don’t push yourself in these first few days; if all you want to do is sleep, then sleep. But in the coming weeks/months it will help tremendously to have something you can pour your whole being into, just completely immersed in. A book, a video game, hell even binging a tv series if it’s all you can motivate yourself to do. Arts, crafts, woodworking, soldering, language learning, whatever it is that gets your gears spinning.

          If you ever feel yourself wanting to reach for a drink, ask yourself if you’re just bored. If the answer is yes, find something to do just to occupy your mind. It doesn’t matter if it’s something “lazy” or “unproductive.” If it gets you to bedtime without taking a drink, it was worthwhile.

          If it’s not boredom, ask yourself if what it is. If you’re tired, sleep. Frustrated, depressed, stressed, lonely? If you can identify the cause of the craving, it gets easier to find something else to do instead of reaching for a drink.

            • quill7513@anarchist.nexusEnglish
              2·
              17 天前

              When I was first quitting I got really into listening to baseball on the radio and talking to other baseball fans about the games. Here lately I’ve been playing some solo journaling roleplaying games since just about anything on the internet wakes up the dread

    • OrteilGenou@lemmy.world
      18·
      18 天前

      I had trouble stopping for a good while, then one day I realized it was Saturday morning and I was out for a walk on a chilly, sunny day and I felt good. It was like a switch flipped. In a flood I realized that I had trapped myself in a habit I didn’t even like any more. My health had already suffered a bit from it, and the upside of having a ton of friends and family at gatherings cracking open a few had faded, friends moved on as they do, family expanded and the growing complexity of it all made alcohol an anchor rather than a buoy, and it went from a catalyst for fun to a stress factor that only had downsides.

      I realized those old days were gone. My cousin wasn’t going to hurl over the railing at my other cousin’s wedding reception while our uncles roasted and toasted him from an open trunk. I wasn’t loosening up in the hopes of talking to a cute girl at a party. I was sitting alone in my basement on a Saturday with a jug of questionable vintage, drinking because there was in that habit a faint recollection of good times past, and a compulsion that was just strong enough to keep me there, but weak enough to fly under the radar.

      I love a fizzy club soda. I love a cup of mint tea. I love feeling the day as it happens, the drag of a bad time felt fully ricochets into the actual good feeling of an accomplishment, however small.

      It’s not a tough choice any more, because I’ve seen it in the light of day… But it’s still there.

      Also, to echo another poster, you CAN do it.

    • stopforgettingit@lemmy.world
      9·
      18 天前

      The first day is the hardest part. I have full faith in you and for your next 24 hours, I’ll pledge with you, IWNDWYT (I will not drink with you today). Don’t worry about next week or even two days from now. Lets do another 24 hours not drinking together.

      Also, not to swamp you with books but the book Allen Carr’s Quit Drinking Without Willpower changed my entire mindset around alcohol and that made it much easier to get thru the cravings that happen in the first couple weeks.

        • DagwoodIII@piefed.socialEnglish
          4·
          18 天前

          It’s easier to stay stopped when you hear other people’s stories and realize how much you have in common with them. Good luck!

            • DagwoodIII@piefed.socialEnglish
              2·
              17 天前

              Get the Everything AA app and the Meeting Guide app.

              Everything AA is a yellow background with a blue triangle and circle. Meeting guide is a white chair on a blue background. Both are free to get in any app store.

              Everything AA has all the literature and connects you to 24 hour Zoom meetings. I like big city meetings because you get a diverse crowd.

              Meeting Guide will help you locate meetings near you.

              And I’ve seen people walk into meetings with less than one day sober.

                • DagwoodIII@piefed.socialEnglish
                  2·
                  17 天前

                  Search ‘AA Intergroup [the name of the city]’ The website will list all the local meetings, live and online.

                  I go to a 6 am Zoom meeting that gets people from all over.

                  Also, the bigger places usually have a variety of meetings. Men only; women only; young people; LGBTQ+; etc.

                  Finally, don’t worry about the jargon. A lot of people like to talk about the Steps, The Program, The Big Book. It can be overwhelming, but it all comes down to one person sharing their own truth. Good luck

  • stopforgettingit@lemmy.world
    291·
    18 天前

    Nice job! I also stopped drinking this year, best decision I could have made for myself, I do feel amazing and I finally feel free.

  • LumiNocta@lemmy.zip
    26·
    17 天前

    I feel blessed not having a drinking problem. My father couldn’t manage his. He died of liver failure.

    Stay strong. It’s always worth it. Even in moments of doubt and pain.

    Very well done!

    • jtrek@startrek.website
      6·
      18 天前

      When I was in elementary school, a teacher said like “I haven’t had a drink in 5 years” and I said “Wouldn’t you, like, die?”

      I don’t know if he thought I was fucking with him, or my parents told me not drinking booze was lethal, or what, but he didn’t like laugh and clarify what he meant.

  • bmpvy@piefed.socialEnglish
    191·
    18 天前

    amazing work, well done! Be proud of yourself, this is such an achievement!

  • velma@sh.itjust.works
    141·
    18 天前

    This internet stranger is really freakin’ proud of you! That’s not a small feat and you should be proud :)

    • UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.mlEnglish
      9·
      17 天前

      When I quit smoking tobacco, I waited as long as i could to have my first smoke of the day. Some days I made it very far, some days I lit up right when I woke up. Eventually I made it through a whole day.

      It accelerated pretty fast after that cause once I got a few days under my belt, I felt positive reinforcement. Relapsing didnt crush my spirit, I could be so happy with how much time I “earned” last go around. Not bad that I failed to “quit”. This really flipped the script for me. I felt stronger as I kept trying rather then pulled apart and broken down.

      If being hard on yourself worked, we would be perfect by now.

      • InputZero@lemmy.world
        1·
        17 天前

        I’m currently quitting and I’ve gotten to the beginning of that point. It’s still hard, and today I’ve already started smoking, yesterday was a stressful day, but tomorrow I’ll try again. I’ve definitely noticed that it’s getting easier not to smoke.

    • tigermountain@lemmy.world
      6·
      16 天前

      I’ll offer insights into two I have experience with. First there’s AA. They’re faith based but leave it to the individual to define their higher power however they wish. But the point is that people don’t believe they have it in themselves to quit drinking so they must submit to something they consider outside themselves in order to stop. AA is also where you get the “12 steps”, which are what you have to go through in order to have the best chance of maintaining your sobriety. The steps are all faith based, such as giving yourself over to god in order to overcome your addiction. In meetings, you have to label yourself as an alcoholic when you start to talk, such as "I’m Luna, I’m an alcoholic. This program also labels you an addict for life and insists on total abstinence from your drug of choice

      The other is Smart recovery. They are not faith based and rely on reason and psychology to change behavior. They offer workbooks with the goal of helping you understand the patterns and mindsets that led to your addiction and how to modify those behaviors. They have a 4 point program based on CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) and is meant to be a temporary support rather than a lifelong commitment.

      What I’ve experienced in meetings: In AA everyone seems constantly fearful and anxious just below the surface, and angry. They really push you to share your stories of recovery and it’s somewhat cultish. If someone shares something particularly devastating and obviously needs help they might offer a phone number or say just continue to come to the meetings but they won’t offer any support in the meeting because they don’t allow cross talk. In a recent meeting a woman was asking someone to change her mind because she was saying the program wasn’t doing anything for her but instead of helping her people were asking to have her thrown out of the meeting and one even gave her the finger on camera. It was very disappointing to see.

      In Smart meetings cross talk is allowed. There’s also the impression the IQ in the room is significantly higher than in AA meetings. They would have been happy to have a discussion with the woman asking someone to change her mind. They also frame the situations you face in your addiction as choices, rather than an all powerful urge that’s unstoppable without god’s help. If you’re a junkie and you have to get that next shot, you have a choice not to do it even though the consequences might be almost unbearable.

      Hope this helps.

  • ѕєχυαℓ ρσℓутσρє@lemmy.sdf.org
    9·
    17 天前

    Congrats man.

    Some personal updates

    I don’t plan on completely quitting alcohol, but have managed to tone it down quite a lot. I now only drink on the weekends, only in the evenings, and up to 2 drinks.

    Also, it’s been about 7 months of no smoking for me. (I do use some nicotine pouches every once in a while though.)