[ARCHIVED THREAD] - How to quit drinking? (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 12/4/2006 5:14:54 PM EDT
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I have decided that i want to stop drinking alcohol. I have yet to gain anything from it, so now i have made the choice once again to let it go. When your 22 years old everyone you knows idea of a good time is to get black out drunk its time for a change. I have said i would quit drinking several other times after negative things have happend. This time i really want to actually stop for good. I dont want to go out and get drunk anymore, i will only enjoy the occasional social drink (1-2 pints of guiness when going out to eat). I would really appreicate any advice from anybody that has quit drinking. So far i have decided i would start going to church again, this has to help right? I have also deleted all my friends numbers from my phone book, like i dont know them by memory... I figure since i cant remember the last time i did anything with my friends that didnt involve massive amounts of booze, they wernt friends at all, only drinking buddies. Thanks for the help. |
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Well go to your local feed mill or large animal supply store. Once you get there buy a hand held cattle prod. You know, the kind that shocks the crap out of anything it touches. Every time you think of taking a dring, zap yourself in the stomach. You should be classically conditioned to avoid the thought of alcohol very quickly, unless you are in to S&M  Just kidding. A support group is invaluable and finding an active hobby also helps take your mind off the booze. |
| Go to at least one AA meeting a day for the first 90 day. Get yourself a sponsor and work the 12 steps. I been clean and sober for almost 17 years. On Day at a Time. Church won't hurt, but you need a good support group. It took me five years of going to AA meetings before I would go back to church. I am now every active in church now, but church didn't get me sober. It was te folks in AA that helped me with my addiction. Some of the larger Baptist churches have Most Excellent Way, which is a support group for drugs and alcohol. It was the best decision I've ever made in my life. Good luck and prayers go with you. |
| Anyone who drinks to the point of blacking out is an idiot...just don't drink as much. I'm guessing you're the average party-going person, and not a serious alcoholic, then just don't drink past your limit. You should know what your limit is, and just choose not to pass it. Don't give into peer pressure, and if you can't hang out with your friends without getting shitfaced, then they are not friends. Good idea to remove them from your life. I went through the same ordeal a few years back, and I just chose to drink a few drinks instead of pounding back 12 shots. YMMV. |
The thing is im not an alcoholic, its just that the only friends i have drink all the time. The only posative influence i have around my own age is my GF. It gets boring sititng around by myself if im not with her. I dont have tons of extra money since I'm in college , this makes it hard to find new hobbies I think I need to find friends that have better hobbies then getting drunk. That will be quite a task considering most 21-22year olds party all the time. If anyone from south east michigan (canton) wants to go to the range sometime or anything else shoot me a pm! |
Some people just need to grow up. |
Get involved in a club or activity at your school and it will occupy the "down time" If you are serious about stopping, either avoid the friends who drink or have enough will power not to dring or be peer pressured into drinking. |
Most folks who aren't alcoholic don't have to make statements about not being one. Think about it. |
When the only friends i have are heavy drinkers its makes it difficult to be with them and not drink. My only other option is to sit at home most every weekend alone, which is no fun at all. I signed up for more credits next semester i hope that will help take away from the boredom. |
I'm in the same boat as you, we are around the same age, I didn't like what it did to my health and my wallet, and I got sick of being hungover. So I stopped. That's it. Just stop, and don't drink again. It's that easy. Be a man. I still hand out with the same people though, I just don't drink when I do. |
| I am a binge drunk -- a classic example of "one drink is both too many and not enough." I quit 29 years ago. First, tried AA, but didn't really work -- a bunch of people talking about being drunk. Hell, I know what that's about. It may sound like preaching, but I quit on my knees with the help of the Lord. I'm not a religious fanatic, just a believer. It took four or five years before I didn't want a drink, but it worked. I still hung out with my previous friends who drank, but they understood -- some people just shouldn't drink. In my opinion, nothing good ever came from being a drunk. If you would like to discuss sometime, I am available. |
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Do you have a drinking problem or do you just want to abstain from alcohol altogether? If it is the latter, just exercise self-control. I didn't drink until age 26, had plenty of fun times in high school and college and don't regret it. I drink very rarely, too, I average a beer every 2 weeks, wine less often and mixed drinks even less often. I'm trying to stealthily get my girlfriend to drink much less as she wants to lose 15-20 pounds and she still doesn't understand that booze contributes a lot to weight problems. Heck, for me, I just offer to be a designated driver every chance I get and LOAD UP ON ICE COLD WATER! Reviewing your friends and their idea of fun is also a good one. If it is people who like to spend the whole weekend drunk...well, those are ones you should ditch. If they are friends that like to get together and have a beer or three over a 2-3 hour period, that isn't anything bad. |
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I quit drinking to get drunk when I was about 25. All of the friends that I got smashed with all the time were no fun any more and I didn't miss hanging out with them. I still drink with my Army buddies, but Army buddy drinking is another beast altogether. As for the church thing? I don't think it will help you quit drinking as much as make you feel guilty about it. If you go to church, go out of faith in God not to curb a vice. |
Just find new friends then. 
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*Applause* If I can stop the booze, the drugs, the college wild life of the fraternity that I was in...anyone can ! Its great that you are thinking that way, I would invest that money into stocks and all of that with the beer money that you arent spending and you will realize how much you will be obtaining when you retire. I had the same problem before during college, I would get drunk every night (Yes I can afford it since I get special income from the Lovely Goverment - SSI) its the choice that you make, if you want to stop it, you would need to say to yourself, I will not try to do it and it takes one day at a time .. what I did was I took the beer money which ( give or take) $200 a month on booze. ( I once spend over $600 in three nights of party Non-stop ! but it was worth it) but if you add it up to a year of money that you didnt spend, it will be $2,400 a year which you can invest that in Roth IRA and get a T A X BREAK ! You will get a nice retirement funds and thank someone on this forum who thought of this many years later down the road.... I have been doing this when I was 23 years old and I think I am way ahead of my friends on the retiringment money and they are still party, but one thing .. I get a free beer as they say " come on man, its on me dude" but you need to think hard and what you really want .. nothing is overnight... |
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I'm in the same boat as you, we are around the same age, I didn't like what it did to my health and my wallet, and I got sick of being hungover. So I stopped. That's it. Just stop, and don't drink again. It's that easy. Be a man. It doesn't have shit w/ be a man... And for everyone, it isnt just that easy. When you can see what it has done to your health over 10-15 years and you know how much youve spent on it (thousands, but only because you drink alone at home because going out will break you), and you dont care about that hangover because 6pm after the 4th or 5th shot it will be gone....and you still crave it.... you stop for 3 days and all you can smell is whiskey, and all you want is that poison... shit. it isnt always that easy. I spend about $300 a month on it and that is if I dont go out....over 10 years...that is a chunk. I also know Ineed to quit. |
He is 22, he is not at that point. I was around the same age when I stopped, and I drank HARD. That was directed at him, not you. A relative of mine is a true alcoholic, he had to stop for a while because he broke his hip and he couldn't drink in the hospital. He almost died from withdrawl. I know what the real deal is, but I don't really think it's possible to get to that point at that age. |
Maybe you should be studying instead of always partying. I usually only party one night on the weekends. The other night I stay in and watch a movie or something (while drinking) and I then sleep for ten to twelve hours since I don't get much sleep in the week. The entire reason you are in college is to GET A DEGREEE, not to party. Time to get your priorities straight. Let me guess, you are not paying for college on your own... |
It means that we have a 22 year old male that drinks like a 16 year old girl at partys: to get noticed. If you and your buddies are racing to blackouts its not the alcohol's fault, its because you're acting like a dumb-shit kid and not an adult. I drink enough to know what I'm talking about, and its very rare that I am drunk. A couple of beers per hour over the course of the evening can be a great time depending on what is going on, but racing Cuervo shots is something else. One is because you enjoy the effects of alcohol and the other is because you want to people around you to think you're a badass. By all means, go to church on Sunday because you aren't strong enough to control what you put down your throat. Don't worry about all those people that are actually there to strengthen their relationship with the Lord. Geez. If you get bored because you aren't drinking its a personal responsibility problem and a maturity problem, not an alcohol problem. If you were skipping work to go to the range every day would you blame the ammo and head to church or erase your friends numbers that you know by heart (hey, look at meeee!)? One of our definitions of "libtard" or "DU troll" around here is wanting others to take over your life and fix your own problems that you could but don't. I stand by what I said earlier: Quit being an attention whore and the alcohol problem will take care of itself. |
Let's see if we can bring this around with a positive spin. I kinda got what was meant is.....you seem to have come to terms that the drinking isn't the fun thing to do anymore. You don't need us to talk you out of drinking, YOU know it is affecting you, therefore....remove the problem. The reasons people drink vary, but I can tell you, drinking doesn't make you an alcoholic. If you are, it was in you long before your first drink. The alcohol just makes it easy to not face the real issues you may have going on in your life, things you don't even know are there. If you think your "recreational" drinking is getting out of hand...STOP IT NOW!!!!! If you think it's makes you more of a man, or in the "in" crowd, trust me....those people probably won't be in your life 10 years from now. What are you trying to prove to them by getting blind drunk with them? I wish you all the luck and wisdom in your path in life.... God, Grant Me The Serenity, To accept The Things I cannot Change... Courage To Change The Things I Can, And The Wisdom To Know The Difference |
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I have decided that i want to stop drinking alcohol. I have yet to gain anything from it, so now i have made the choice once again to let it go. When your 22 years old everyone you knows idea of a good time is to get black out drunk its time for a change. I have said i would quit drinking several other times after negative things have happend. This time i really want to actually stop for good. I dont want to go out and get drunk anymore, i will only enjoy the occasional social drink (1-2 pints of guiness when going out to eat). I would really appreicate any advice from anybody that has quit drinking. So far i have decided i would start going to church again, this has to help right? I have also deleted all my friends numbers from my phone book, like i dont know them by memory... I figure since i cant remember the last time i did anything with my friends that didnt involve massive amounts of booze, they wernt friends at all, only drinking buddies. Thanks for the help. Well in your mind you have already failed. You are thinking completely wrong. If you want to "quit drinking alcohol" you have to actually quit. One of the ideas fron A. A. is to just not drink "today" When you get up tomorrow, do not drink "today" That is taking it "One day at a time" If you do not drink "today" every day for the rest of your life, you have successfully quit drinking. Good luck! |
If someone has a drinking problem this is the worst advice that could possibly be given. |
Denial is often a fact with alcoholics. How much and how often in the past year have you drank? More than twice a week? More than 3 drinks in a single day? Ever passed out from drinking? Ever forgotten how you got home? Ever lost friends because of your drinking? Ever missed work because of drinking? Ever spent more money than you could reasonably afford on drinking? If you answer yes to even one of these questions you could have a drinking problem. If you answer yes to three or more you are an alcoholic. |
the hell? by that "definition", i'm an alcoholic, along with 80%+ of the students at the university i attend. |
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I went to Re-Hab once I made it 13 months 13 days,,,,,,But ya' know what? I was doing Dope the whole time(I like Smokin Pot) so now I am Unemployed Years Later and sittin' here drinkin beer typing out self pity. It's True,,,,,you get out of Life what you Put into it.I Swear it's True  *the chick at the store where I get my case of Beer in the morning she's cool so is her ol'man and passes no judgement,,,,,she takes my hand the other day and I notice her ring spells Jesus,,,,,I had to go home and think that day |
So be it. |
Yeah that definition is bullshit. Don't think I've met anyone that hasn't had more than 3 drinks in one day. So 99% of america has a drinking problem? And I know a hell of a lot of people who have drank more than 2x a week and at least passed out at least once in their life. I wont help you with your problem, you along with millions of others help pay TONS of taxes....it would be irresponsible for me to do such a thing |
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Have you talked with your friends and told them you desire to stop drinking? If you have and they are still pressuring you to drink then its time to find new friends. Take a look at your life style. It will be very difficult to say no if you're still hanging out at clubs and bars. Limit the temptation. Best of luck to you. Patty |
