How did you quit drinking?

calmandpeaceful

I was mesmerized by the thread on quitting smoking - and read all the advice carefully. I would like to quit drinking. I use it for stress relief - we had a major family crises (well, three actually) 5 years ago and I got deep into my wine at that time. Thankfully my life is good again, but the habit is still there. I used to drink 2 glasses of wine at night, but now it is more like 4 or 5. Any suggestions on how you quit your habit would be so super helpful. I'm going to a hypnotherapist, and if she cannot help me, I may seek professional help. But, honestly, I would just rather do it on my own. My witching hour is 4:30 to 7:30 (it's a long hour!).
Thanks

jamesriver

have you considered checking out an AA meeting? If you truly have a desire to quit drinking and change your life I highly recommend it. Meetings are for anyone that has a desire to stop, they are not just for the town drunk.

HeidiFuture

Try out the 100 day Sober Challenge here: tiredofthinkingaboutdrinking.com It's free. The site is run by a gal named Belle. She does free personal emails, articles, blog, mailings, one minute sober support messages, plus some paid stuff. She has a lot of great ideas for being sober and the getting through the witching hour. I read/listen to her daily. Quitting drinking is much harder than smoking I think. Please reach out for support. Take care of yourself!

RuNaRoUnDaFiEld

Have you tried not drinking one night?

Trish1c

I haven't managed to quit yet but I have managed to cut down. First for every alcohol drink you then drink a pint of water. Also when we finished the alcohol that was in the house, we did not buy more. If it's not in the house, you are less likely to drink it. About 16 years ago I also stopped driving after I'd had even 1 drink. Most times I'm the designated driver so I'm not drinking when we are out & that also helped me to cut way down.

Unless you fit the definitions of an addict I don't think the cold turkey never again is the best 1st step. Gradually cutting down seems more sensible to me.

calmandpeaceful

Thank you all! I will check out the 100 days sober sight, but will start with just this evening! I'm not really the group type - very private - and don't think AA would be something I could do. I appreciate your thoughts. My goal would be to be able to cut down, rather than cold turkey.

Sabine_Stroehm

Another site to consider is moderation management. A friend of mine swears by it. He too wanted to cut back, initially rather than stop. He felt this site helped him do just that, and stay at "cut back". Good luck with whatever you decide!

Shells918

Become the designated driver. Nothing like the possibility of a Dwi/dui to keep you sober.

I quit drinking due to migraines. My hangover started during my first drink so it's no fun for me.

If you're just cutting back, cut back the number of glasses of wine per night. If you feel like you need something to relax, take a walk, drink a glass of water.
Maybe keep a journal of the reasons why you feel like you need another drink, and write about it, rather than having the drink.

WeAreTheMassacre

I agree with the person above ; find out what possess you to drink, then maybe avoid them more often ? Keep it in a journal. For me it's social situations. I need a few shots in me to prepare. I've cut back A LOT (too embarrassed to say my weekly habits ) just by simply not hanging out with my friends as much. To me it's worth it. Until I pursue therapy or something that helps me learn to not depend on alcohol to socialize , I will gladly cut off some friends.
Alcohol is the single reason I gained weight and can't keep it off.

I replaced it mostly with lots of tea drinking and L-theanine. It's pretty much the buzz and looseness of alcohol , but actually safe.

DiIDE

I just substituted plain mineral water for wine one night and felt much better the next day. It does take a few days of not drinking to be able to get to sleep when you go to bed but you soon get over it. I had not had a drink for 3 years and had a mouthful of wine at a function recently and it tasted like vinegar. I also quit smoking 6 years ago and it was the hardest thing I have ever done so giving up the wine was a walk in the park by comparison.

ObsidianMist

for me drinking was a social activity, so it came down to not putting myself in situations where I was going to want to drink and having it made easily available to me. since you're an at home drinker, you may want to consider just not buying bottles of wine anymore. having it always available to you could, I imagine, make it quite difficult to simply cut down. I was also lucky in the sense that I'm extremely stubborn so once I decided I wasn't going to drink anymore, I had to stick to that. I didn't have a single drink for a few months the first time I decided I needed to stop, then would let myself go out and have one drink. then I slowly upped it to 3 drinks a night, which remained my maximum for a really long time. eventually I got back into drinking a lot and had to just stop altogether again, only letting myself have the occasional glass of wine at dinner at the boyfriend's mom's house, or maybe one drink if I went out to dinner with friends, as opposed to having nights of just getting trashed.

it really does just come down to self discipline. if you want to cut back bad enough, and are serious enough about it, it will happen.

markrgeary1

Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »

Another site to consider is moderation management. A friend of mine swears by it. He too wanted to cut back, initially rather than stop. He felt this site helped him do just that, and stay at "cut back". Good luck with whatever you decide!

I've heard good things about this group.