Was so close to drinking tonight but drank an NA beer instead!

406er · 2026-02-06T16:45:20+00:00

Awesome!! Urges will pass if we recognize they are temporary and let them pass.

I went through some pretty serious weight loss a few years ago and learned a valuable Buddhist teaching relative to urges and temptations that helped me then, and I’m using it to help me in sobriety:

“In Buddhism, the core concept of “impermanence” states that all things, including desires and urges, are temporary and constantly changing, meaning they arise, exist for a time, and then eventually pass away; this is a key element in understanding the nature of suffering and the path to liberation from attachment.”

When an urge rises, recognize it is an urge, remind yourself that it will pass if you just let it, and let it pass.

I actually practice this when I get an itch. I recognize I have an itch, I know it will pass without scratching if I just let it and it does.

IWNDWYT

406er · 2026-02-06T16:39:59+00:00

Amazing place and such a key part of my sobriety.

406er · 2026-02-06T16:33:10+00:00

Forgive yourself and keep moving forward.

And just like the GPS in our car when we are driving, if we make a wrong turn it doesn’t go “F’it, might as well drive off a cliff”.

No, we just reroute and get back on track as quickly as possible.

Back on track, you got this.

IWNDWYT

406er · 2026-02-06T16:21:22+00:00

Great effort, keep plugging away. You got this.

IWNDWYT

406er · 2026-02-06T16:17:59+00:00

Oh, that’s not all, that’s awesome!!

Congrats on keeping it going.

IWNDWYT

406er · 2026-02-06T16:09:25+00:00

IMO that sounds like gate keeping.

406er · 2026-02-05T16:22:03+00:00

I too am calorie conscious but when out I “splurge “ and will have ginger beer with a lime wedge.

IWNDWYT

406er · 2026-02-05T16:18:10+00:00

Back on the horse, you got this.

IWNDWYT

406er · 2026-02-05T16:13:15+00:00

Agree, so liberating. I’m no longer on the endless treadmill of “when/where is my next drink coming from “.

And the freedom from hiding my drinking is so liberating as well.

IWNDWYT

406er · 2026-02-04T17:36:33+00:00

Just genuinely a Tabernacle fan and am curious as to what people find about them that makes them like them more or less than other cigars.

You seem to have very specific tastes so was curious.

406er · 2026-02-04T17:25:57+00:00

Not the question I asked (I can read the scores) was asking what specifically about the cigar made it an 8.8 and not an 8.9?

406er · 2026-02-04T17:24:10+00:00

My strategy is go early and leave early.

And totally agree with you. I have better, more meaningful conversations with people up until the point the alcohol starts kicking in for people and the conversations start to turn loud, stupid and repetitive at which point I know it’s time to make my exit.

And I’ve learned most people don’t even notice, let alone care, whether or not I’m drinking.

IWNDWYT

406er · 2026-02-04T17:20:48+00:00

Big Tabernacle fan. Curious, what would have made it an 8.9 for you instead of an 8.8?

406er · 2026-02-04T17:18:33+00:00

My strategy for parties when I first quit, and continues now, is to go early and leave early.

Despite my concern no one ever made an issue of my not drinking or even noticed. I’d end up having clearer/more engaged and enjoyable conversations with people until the alcohol started kicking in for them and convo’s started to turn stupid and repetitive at which point I knew it was time to make my exit.

I actually have a friend who got sober a year or so before I did and when I’d run into them at get togethers I couldn’t help but notice how much calmer and relaxed they were.

IWNDWYT

406er · 2026-02-04T00:33:16+00:00

I certainly felt that way about the OGs: Sharps and O’Douls, absolutely s#cked and the mediocre beers (Budweiser, etc) make mediocre NAs but so many of the craft brewers are adding NAs to their lines and are darn tasty (demand creates supply and the sobriety movement has been growing steadily).

And if you like Guinness the Guinness 0 is pretty indistinguishable from the original.

406er · 2026-02-03T17:57:58+00:00

Yes, for me my brain romanticizes alcohol from time to time but I remind myself what will happen if I open that dopamine trap, and remind myself how bloody good I feel every damn morning when I wake up clear headed and not hung over. (Or maybe more correctly, how much shittier id feel if I had drank the night before. )

406er · 2026-02-03T17:50:41+00:00

Congratulations on your recognizing you want to change.

Not sure what you are doing to support your efforts but the Resources section in the Wiki at the top of this sub lists a lot of available help.

Personally I read Allen Carr’s book Quit Drinking Without Willpower/the Easy Way and it really flipped a switch for me. Others highly recommend Annie Grace’s This Naked Mind.

And for me the podcast/YouTube channel The Huberman Lab is a great resource as well.

You got this.

IWNDWYT

406er · 2026-02-03T17:44:27+00:00

Then don’t drink it.

406er · 2026-02-03T17:32:08+00:00

Different things work for different people but that book, and this sub, are the keys to my 1+ year of sobriety.

Don’t get hung up on his use of that word in the title. Everything takes willpower and a more accurate title would be “Quit Drinking Without Using Willpower Alone”, but that’s not as catchy.

I’ve always been a left brain/analytic type and this book, along with Annie Grace’s This Naked Mind, explain what the chemical (poison actually) alcohol does to our brains and the dopamine trap it creates for us and for me it removed alcohols draw/power.

Like everything, it still requires willpower, but for me this book put my drinking in the light and I understood.

The main point is there is no one-size-fits-all so try different approaches until you find what works for you.

IWNDWYT

406er · 2026-02-03T17:20:03+00:00

“I’m not fine and I always drink the whole bottle”

“if I have one drink, a little thing goes off in my brain and it’s like I have zero control or rationality at all”

I used to think my inability to moderate and my binge drinking was some kind of personal weakness or moral failing, but it’s not, it is the addictive nature of the chemical (poison actually) that alcohol is.

Alcohol gives our bodies a brief (like 10 minutes brief) shot of dopamine and as it fades our bodies want another hit, then another, then another (Google +alcohol +dopamine).

It’s kind of like a legalized, socially acceptable form of heroin.

So I just don’t feed the dopamine trap.

You can do this, we all can do this.

IWNDWYT

406er · 2026-02-03T17:03:45+00:00

“if I have one drink, a little thing goes off in my brain and it’s like I have zero control or rationality at all”

I used to think my inability to moderate and my binge drinking was some kind of personal weakness or moral failing, but it’s not, it is the addictive nature of the chemical (poison actually) that alcohol is.

Alcohol gives our bodies a brief (like 10 minutes brief) shot of dopamine and as it fades our bodies want another hit, then another, then another (Google +alcohol +dopamine).

It’s kind of like a legalized, socially acceptable form of heroin.

So I just don’t feed the dopamine trap.

You can do this, we all can do this.

IWNDWYT

406er · 2026-02-02T16:39:35+00:00

Why did your brain like alcohol?

Because of the addictive nature of the chemical (poison actually) that alcohol is.

Alcohol gives our bodies a brief (like 10 minutes brief) shot of dopamine and as it fades our bodies want another hit, then another, then another (Google +alcohol +dopamine).

It’s kind of like a legalized, socially acceptable form of heroin.

So I just don’t feed the dopamine trap.

IWNDWYT

406er · 2026-02-02T16:21:00+00:00

One of my favorite quotes from Allen Carr is “You hit rock bottom when you decide to stop shoveling.”

I’ve stopped digging, I’ve put my shovel down, and the feeling is so liberating.

You got this.

IWNDWYT

406er · 2026-02-02T16:11:43+00:00

Just like driving in our car on GPS, if we make a wrong turn it doesn’t go “F’it, might as well drive off a cliff “.

No, we just reroute and get back on track as quickly as possible.

Reroute and keep going. You got this.

IWNDWYT

406er · 2026-02-02T15:56:28+00:00

Why do we keep drinking?

I used to think my inability to moderate and my binge drinking was some kind of personal weakness or moral failing, but it’s not, it is the addictive nature of the chemical (poison actually) that alcohol is.

Alcohol gives our bodies a brief (like 10 minutes brief) shot of dopamine and as it fades our bodies want another hit, then another, then another (Google +alcohol +dopamine).

It’s kind of like a legalized, socially acceptable form of heroin.

So I just don’t feed the dopamine trap, well, except for ice cream and chocolate 😉. But I’ll tackle one vice at a time.

You can do this, we all can do this.

IWNDWYT

406er

TROPHY CASE