Re: Yikes – relapse. It happens.

[Tom G]

Marie,
The obsession and compulsion, or urge, to drink left me when I was in a treatment center and began to learn and live the 12 steps of AA. It’s been two years since I’ve had that urge. I know what it’s like, but it took recovery for the obsession to go away.
Until you can get yourself in a recovery program (that would be your own program through AA), I would suggest breaking your “not drinking” time periods into minutes and hours. Say to yourself, “I’m not going to drink anything for the next ten minutes”. When that time is up, congratulate yourself and move on to the next block of time. Say 30 minutes. Keep that going. If the urge comes back, start over again with, ” I’m not going to drink for the next 5 minutes”.
The compulsion, or urge, to drink is strong. As an alcoholic, I don’t have the will power to not drink, by myself. I have to rely on my higher power (for me, that is the God of my understanding) to remove the urge to drink. I pray that you find the peace and serenity that come with sobriety and recovery.
Keep posting here. Know that you are not alone. Millions of us have had the same struggle with urges. Millions of us have found the answer to relieving those urges. May you find that relief soon.
Keep coming back, because this stuff works!
Congratulations for not drinking during the time it took to read this! That’s what is meant by breaking it down into small blocks.
Tom G.