Will power, how to hang on to it.

[wannabee]

If I do not see myself as an alcoholic, (addicted to alcohol) what I have is a lack of will. It is so easy to have the will power, at the start of the day. Yet will power seem so hard to put in place at the thought of a beer at the end of the day. A beer sounds so good.
Something quickly steps into my ?mindset? and gives permission for just one; believing it will be just one. Rationalizing maybe that I deserve this little treat; I have no other vices. It will taste so good.
The strongly convicted person I thought I was changes to weaker character that I pull up out of somewhere. I end up having three or four beer. Generally I eat and the drinking is done. Probably nothing gained in having to many drinks. Maybe nothing lost except myself esteem particularly if I have drank to much and others were around to have witnessed my usual demure changed. I am usually just more chatty. If I have added some wine I don?t remember everything and this is embarrassing the next day. I then feel humiliated with myself for not carrying out my resolve.
Sound Familiar. Got any ideas on how to hang on to this will power.

[PhoenixRising]

Will power, how to hang on to it.

I'm right where you are, wannabe.

I am trying baclofen and have high hopes it will take my cravings away. I am so weak-willed its positively sickening.

Sorry I cou;dn't be of more help.

-P.

[KateH1]

Will power, how to hang on to it.

Wannabe, If you asked most of us here, we all problably thought and hoped at one time or another that our problem with alcohol was just a matter of will power. But, when we cannot choose whether or not we will drink, or how many we will have. When we have blackouts and when our personality changes with alcohol......we need to take a closer look. At the very least, this is problem drinking.

I would suggest that you go 30 days without alcohol. During that time do some reading and studying on alcohol and alcoholism. Then perhaps at the end of 30 days you might want to try "moderation".

Good Luck!

[lodestar]

Will power, how to hang on to it.

Dear Wannabee,

Welcome back and nice to meet you! I read your post from the other day too and see that you have said you are "far from an alcoholic"...maybe that is true, but you are having trouble not drinking for a while now, right? I don't think the labels really matter. Whatever we call ourselves is our business. Still, the people we know that don't have drinking problems wouldn't need to be posting here or having trouble leaving a few beers alone, would they? I think the old "willpower" thinking can be a little demoralizing when we are analyzing our drinking. The fact that you have not been able to stop yet does not mean you are not weak, it is not all in your mind, etc. Yet it does take strength and resolve to achieve our goals. Kinda confusing when we're in that cycle of drinking. What are your goals?

Wishing you all the best!

[shirazgirl]

Will power, how to hang on to it.

Willpower means diffent things to different people. To me, it's having a verbal exchange in my head w/ the other mean person that lives there too, about why I should or shouldn't drink. In the end, I hope it's the rational me that wins this debate. To me, that is my willpower.

One of the biggest things that helped me not fall into the drinking after work was changing my routine. I took another route home, just so I wouldn't pass by the bottle shop. I go somewhere for at least an hour after work, usually the gym but if I've gone in the morning, I go to the market (they don't sell wine or liquor where I live in the grocery store), the bookstore, a video store. It brings me home at least an hour later which helped me to negate my witching hour. Exercise is not overated. It almost seems mean to go to the gym and then go home a down a bottle of wine. Why would I want to be that mean to myself.

Lastly, one of the biggest things I do to help myself is try to relate to a time where I embarassed myself, look at a photo of myself at my finest drunken mess, remember what I felt and looked like in the a.m. after a morning of drinking. Basically, I find my most "disgusted with myself" moments and play that reel for a minute or so in my head. I find that all to familiar "sick" feeling comes back and it reminds me of why I don't want to go back there again.

Find your way. You have one, we all do, it just takes some time and different methods to locate them. Keep up your fight and stick close to the boards.

[wannabee]

Will power, how to hang on to it.

Thanks for your replies,
I know where a problem with drinking problem can go. I have witnessed it,I've lived with it.I have done
lots of reading on alcoholism.
There was a time in my life when I had no difficulty making that decision not to have a drink. I hope
that moderation is where I will be able to return at some point. Is it possible to get back to that stage if we had some will power tools to call apon.
Is there anyone that has become a problem drinker over the years ;are in a lifestyle that now allows them the freedom to drink more then their particular bodies can handle that has been able
to use will power alone to get them back to drinking in moderation
Any one who is now able to have the controls they need/without having used the drugs or supplements in the MWO progam. I know it is different for everyone, but just wondering if conviction and will power is possible. Hence my original thread, Will power-How to hang on.

[PhoenixRising]

Will power, how to hang on to it.

Wannabe - I was able to moderate ten years ago. I was on a diet and so vanity allowed me to cut way back on my drinking. The less I drank, the less I wanted to, the less I felt the "pull". All it took for me to get sucked back in was to drink more than a couple days in a row.
Ten years later, I am still struggling with it. I'd love to be able to moderate but I honestly don;t know if I am able to.

-P.

[rubywillow]

Will power, how to hang on to it.

Wan, this all comes down to a very personal decision. CAN you drink one drink, and stop? Can you watch others drink, and not? Can you control your actions, the amount you drink, once you start? If you cannot answer YES to all the above, then you have to really re-think how important alcohol is in your life. Why are you thinking, worrying about this, unless there is a problem. This is hard to hear, but life gets harder if you don't address it now. Unfortunately, there comes a point where people cannot got back to moderate drinking, because there is no moderation. I'm sorry if you don't want to hear this, but it is the truth. If you eliminate alcohol from your life for 30 days, it will give you more time, and a clearer head, to really evaluate what, why, and how you are giving this importance to something that will, in essence, destroy you. I hope you take this in the spirit I'm sending it. I wish I had had someone tell me when I was much younger. You have an opportunity now to take something out of your life that SHOULD have no importance, anyway. Take this chance, and spend the time and money on things that will help you in your life and future.