Readit NewsWellbutrin helped me hugely with the craving aspect of relapsing: it's also used as a stop smoking aid and I was lucky enough to have a doctor who decided to try it. I found that once the craving was taken away it took about 6 months for the other pieces to fall into place for me to start to feel comfortable out in social situations while sober, but the amount of personal growth I made over that period of time was huge. I feel like I've finally waken up and started living my life. I was an opponent of pharmaceuticals for a long time but that one worked for me without the side effects you usually hear about with antidepressants. I thought I had tried just about everything to stop drinking and I was close to resigning myself to the kind of life I was living, but this has given me hope. I don't know if it's for everyone but it's working for me.
Try reading Allen Carr's books. They are the best. I quit smoking 11 months ago and drinking 2 weeks ago with his books. They eliminate the desire for the drugs because they nail into your head that those poisons have no upsides whatsoever.
It's great to hear that you quit drinking. I quit for my own reasons and I'm approaching 2 years now. Keep going, it gets easier! :-)
thanks for the support, I really appreciate it :)
aguzzi94 commented on Ask HN: You're dying. What are the last words of wisdom you say to your son? · Posted by u/aguzzi94
i dont and never will have a kid but if i did id probably say: never have regrets, the choices you made were the best ones at the time with the information you had
This was a hard one for me to understand and integrate. Totally agree on the crucial importance of it
aguzzi94 commented on Ask HN: You're dying. What are the last words of wisdom you say to your son? · Posted by u/aguzzi94
I will give him the key for my ledger
On point. I always despised my father because he never did that with me when I was young
Man, you are so self aware. That is such a huge asset. You may have a genetic predisposition to addiction. Try not to be a "dry drunk" which is a real thing and good luck. Thanks for sharing your situation.
Thank you for the kind words. I personally don't buy at all into the line of thought that says alcohol addiction is genetic. If that was true, one could be an alcoholic without drinking even one beer in his/her life, and die without knowing it. It would mean that, if alcohol was never invented/found, there would still be people with a genetic predisposition to alcohol.
Can you tell if a 2 year old is an alcoholic?
You see were I'm going. The more you think about this theory (that was never proven and backed by reals studies) , the less it makes sense. The AA are doing a great job at supporting people in need of help, providing them with a group of people to relieve their burden with. But I truly believe that they're based on the wrong assumptions.
Again thank you and wish you the best!
I'm coming up on three years sober this Sunday.
For me the thing that helped the most was the /r/stopdrinking sub on reddit. Reading people's experiences and techniques from all sorts of groups and books, and reading about the triggers and follies of their relapses helped me a lot. Also a place where I could talk about problems related to the sobriety was nice.
If you live in a bigger city or another you may want to look for a craft soda shop. It can be helpful when you go to a friend's where they drink. You'll have your fancy soda so you don't feel left out when they get their fancy beers. Also my 3 go to drinks for bars and such to not feel left out or another are: a mock mojito, ginger beer with a splash of cranberry juice, or a roy rogers(coke with grenadine). In that order. A lot of places can't make a mojito, some places don't have ginger beer or they have super low quality ginger beer, but everywhere has grenadine(which is pomegranate syrup not cherry...) experimenting with mocktails and stuff at home may be a good thing for you depending on what your relationship with alcohol was like.
Also last year for my soberversary I wrote an article on my sobriety and experience in tech if you want to give it a read. A lot of my points above are expanded and there's some good discussion in the comments. https://dev.to/samuraiseoul/alcohol-and-developer-culture-19...
Lastly, if you want to talk or vent or have questions feel free to reach out to me either on here, or using the contacts in the article I linked to above.
I will not drink with you today, good luck and good job on the ten days!
Thank you very much for the tips and insights. If I need help I will reach out or take a look at r/stopdrinking, but rn I feel very confident about this. I finally understood that alcohol literally has 0 upsides, therefore my desire for it is just gone. Again thank you for your time and cheers! Raises a cup of orange juice in the air
Can I recommend a strawberry purée + lime + orange juice mocktail? It's my go-to non-alcoholic, non-caffeinated sweet drink and it's delicious!
Thank you sir. I'll take one, with a cherry on top please.
Joke aside, I'll try one as soon as I can for real thanks
P.S: she really likes it, and I can finally call myself a mama's boy.