5 years!

  Yegg said:

Congratz,

 

lol.

Motivational/demotivational posters are one of the greatest thing to grace teh intarnets.

  hexagon son said:

good on ya, edgey. i cant seem to go more than a week without booze, and usually binge-drinking. how do maintain any kind of a social life though? what do you do when everyone else is drinking?

Yeh, therein lies the problem, I've lost most of my social life. I've lost alot of "friends", more like bar acquaintances... I mostly only go out to play shows now, and when I do I carry a bottle of poland spring with me, so I always have something in my hand... like when a smoker quits and carries a pencil all day and chews gum. It is really fucking amusing sometimes when I do go out and I get to see some of these drunken slobs and think, "fuck, was I ever that bad?".

Yeah the social/pub life pretty much has to go out the window, sit in a barbers long enough and you get your hair cut, if you get what I mean.

is it just an irrational urge to drink, or is it a response to stress or something??

when i get drunk (more than a beer or two with dinner), it's usually a response to stress. irritation, anger, frustration, pissed off at traffic, work, whatever. this is an occasional thing. if i were like that every day, it might start to verge on a "problem." perhaps the shit that on occasion drives me to drink, you have to deal with daily.

i am curious if it's something like that, or if it's simply like being, say, a heroin addict, where your dopamine pathways just have grooves cut in that direction?

of course, it could be both, in a way -- the stress getting you started on it, and addiction keeping you on it.

  Yegg said:

Congratz,

 

lol

love the mixed emotions of his the guy looking at the camera. A mixture of lol and empathic wincing, like watching a friend eat shit for a dare at a party.

  hahathhat said:

is it just an irrational urge to drink, or is it a response to stress or something??

 

when i get drunk (more than a beer or two with dinner), it's usually a response to stress. irritation, anger, frustration, pissed off at traffic, work, whatever. this is an occasional thing. if i were like that every day, it might start to verge on a "problem." perhaps the shit that on occasion drives me to drink, you have to deal with daily.

 

i am curious if it's something like that, or if it's simply like being, say, a heroin addict, where your dopamine pathways just have grooves cut in that direction?

 

of course, it could be both, in a way -- the stress getting you started on it, and addiction keeping you on it.

Its anything and everything, any excuse to pick up a drink and a comlpete mental obsession, its a physical and psycological addiction, and as you say our pathways are just cut in that direction. It is under the WHO an illness and disease that is proven genetic.

Every once in a while I take a few months off from drinking and I just try to drink mountain dew or something when around other people that are drinking.

A wholehearted congratulations Edgey! Also, props for the letter, that was brilliant.

  Braintree said:

Every once in a while I take a few months off from drinking and I just try to drink mountain dew or something

and you think that's better?

  hahathhat said:

is it just an irrational urge to drink, or is it a response to stress or something??

 

when i get drunk (more than a beer or two with dinner), it's usually a response to stress. irritation, anger, frustration, pissed off at traffic, work, whatever. this is an occasional thing. if i were like that every day, it might start to verge on a "problem." perhaps the shit that on occasion drives me to drink, you have to deal with daily.

 

i am curious if it's something like that, or if it's simply like being, say, a heroin addict, where your dopamine pathways just have grooves cut in that direction?

 

of course, it could be both, in a way -- the stress getting you started on it, and addiction keeping you on it.

personally I think it's this so called "stress" thats makes you wanna drink... when like you said, it's really your internal addiction/chemistry tricking you into thinking that so you WILL DRINK! the brain is tricky like that. you have to realize it, and with your better judgment and whatever shred deep down inside that makes you really who you are(and not drugs), not wanna be bossed around and live your life.

^this comes from my experiences

  Braintree said:

Every once in a while I take a few months off from drinking and I just try to drink mountain dew or something when around other people that are drinking.

Isn't quite what you meant, but now I'm inspired to go entirely sober to some place where people are entirely wasted just for the experience of it....

  abusivegeorge said:

Its anything and everything, any excuse to pick up a drink and a comlpete mental obsession, its a physical and psycological addiction, and as you say our pathways are just cut in that direction. It is under the WHO an illness and disease that is proven genetic.

yes... but was it like a lightswitch when you tried booze? that's it, just immediately fell into it? did one bad patch in life trigger it? or was it a gradual thing?

i drink because its awesome and it makes me dance like a pro

I was really hooked on weed for a while, going through $150 a week on the shit. Did this for about 4 or 5 years. I got over it by going cold turkey and writing music/masturbating 24/7. I have since lost every friend I had at the time, later realizing that was the only real connection we had. We all just wanted to get fucked up, and didn't really have anything else to go on as far as bonding and socializing went. Once that was removed, there was no point in hanging out with them anymore. Makes all the acquaintances I had for have a decade seem crushingly shallow...on my part and theirs.

  abusivegeorge said:

Yeah the social/pub life pretty much has to go out the window, sit in a barbers long enough and you get your hair cut, if you get what I mean.

Hehe, taking the analogy literally, I hang out at a tatoo/piercing parlor all the time, and while I don't have either, the people there are making it seem more inticing every day. So far I'm resisting pretty well tho.

I'm on an all day drunk with my father-in-law today.

  hahathhat said:

  abusivegeorge said:

Its anything and everything, any excuse to pick up a drink and a comlpete mental obsession, its a physical and psycological addiction, and as you say our pathways are just cut in that direction. It is under the WHO an illness and disease that is proven genetic.

 

yes... but was it like a lightswitch when you tried booze? that's it, just immediately fell into it? did one bad patch in life trigger it? or was it a gradual thing?

Thats just part of the problem with many alcohlics, we don't know how it started, thats part of the illness, its just there.

  abusivegeorge said:

  hahathhat said:

  abusivegeorge said:

Its anything and everything, any excuse to pick up a drink and a comlpete mental obsession, its a physical and psycological addiction, and as you say our pathways are just cut in that direction. It is under the WHO an illness and disease that is proven genetic.

 

yes... but was it like a lightswitch when you tried booze? that's it, just immediately fell into it? did one bad patch in life trigger it? or was it a gradual thing?

 

Thats just part of the problem with many alcohlics, we don't know how it started, thats part of the illness, its just there.

forgive me, but...

perhaps you got wasted and forgot about it?

  hahathhat said:

  abusivegeorge said:

  hahathhat said:

  abusivegeorge said:

Its anything and everything, any excuse to pick up a drink and a comlpete mental obsession, its a physical and psycological addiction, and as you say our pathways are just cut in that direction. It is under the WHO an illness and disease that is proven genetic.

 

yes... but was it like a lightswitch when you tried booze? that's it, just immediately fell into it? did one bad patch in life trigger it? or was it a gradual thing?

 

Thats just part of the problem with many alcohlics, we don't know how it started, thats part of the illness, its just there.

 

forgive me, but...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

perhaps you got wasted and forgot about it?

Addiction doesn't start with alcohol thats my point. An addict is genetic, you ask any addict, they were most likely addicted to something else before alcohol as a child, excercise, video games, we were born with addictive natures and tendencies, and forgive me but unless you research this stuff, asking questions here isn't really going to help you understand, because we ourselves don't fully understand the nature of our illness.

  hexagon son said:

good on ya, edgey. i cant seem to go more than a week without booze, and usually binge-drinking. how do maintain any kind of a social life though? what do you do when everyone else is drinking?

sorry, had to requote myself as i'm being serious. i pretend i'm going out for a ciggie and i go buy 8% half litre cans of booze and walk around drinking them so i can hide it from my wife. mostly at night. but it seems like a few of you have been through this........

  hexagon son said:

  hexagon son said:

good on ya, edgey. i cant seem to go more than a week without booze, and usually binge-drinking. how do maintain any kind of a social life though? what do you do when everyone else is drinking?

sorry, had to requote myself as i'm being serious. i pretend i'm going out for a ciggie and i go buy 8% half litre cans of booze and walk around drinking them so i can hide it from my wife. mostly at night. but it seems like a few of you have been through this........

Thats pretty much what an alcoholic does.

congratulations . . this is becoming quite a theme on watmm lately. yay (:

i feel so fortunate to be healthy in moderation!

edit: sorry to hear about your relapse george, very glad you're still with it tho! it seems like almost a bigger triumph to have lapsed and to still keep trying . .

  A/D said:

it seems like almost a bigger triumph to have lapsed and to still keep trying . .

this is very true...

  abusivegeorge said:

  hahathhat said:

  abusivegeorge said:

  hahathhat said:

  abusivegeorge said:

Its anything and everything, any excuse to pick up a drink and a comlpete mental obsession, its a physical and psycological addiction, and as you say our pathways are just cut in that direction. It is under the WHO an illness and disease that is proven genetic.

 

yes... but was it like a lightswitch when you tried booze? that's it, just immediately fell into it? did one bad patch in life trigger it? or was it a gradual thing?

 

Thats just part of the problem with many alcohlics, we don't know how it started, thats part of the illness, its just there.

 

forgive me, but...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

perhaps you got wasted and forgot about it?

 

Addiction doesn't start with alcohol thats my point. An addict is genetic, you ask any addict, they were most likely addicted to something else before alcohol as a child, excercise, video games, we were born with addictive natures and tendencies, and forgive me but unless you research this stuff, asking questions here isn't really going to help you understand, because we ourselves don't fully understand the nature of our illness.

i was just joking... it really is a classic joke kind of formula: "how did you become an alcoholic?" "oh, i can't remember... i was really wasted, i think..."

more seriously, just trying to fact-check presumptions i make. asking questions i thought i knew the answer to, to see if you gave the answer i expected. mostly, you have.

  hahathhat said:

  abusivegeorge said:

  hahathhat said:

  abusivegeorge said:

  hahathhat said:

  abusivegeorge said:

Its anything and everything, any excuse to pick up a drink and a comlpete mental obsession, its a physical and psycological addiction, and as you say our pathways are just cut in that direction. It is under the WHO an illness and disease that is proven genetic.

 

yes... but was it like a lightswitch when you tried booze? that's it, just immediately fell into it? did one bad patch in life trigger it? or was it a gradual thing?

 

Thats just part of the problem with many alcohlics, we don't know how it started, thats part of the illness, its just there.

 

forgive me, but...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

perhaps you got wasted and forgot about it?

 

Addiction doesn't start with alcohol thats my point. An addict is genetic, you ask any addict, they were most likely addicted to something else before alcohol as a child, excercise, video games, we were born with addictive natures and tendencies, and forgive me but unless you research this stuff, asking questions here isn't really going to help you understand, because we ourselves don't fully understand the nature of our illness.

 

i was just joking... it really is a classic joke kind of formula: "how did you become an alcoholic?" "oh, i can't remember... i was really wasted, i think..."

 

 

more seriously, just trying to fact-check presumptions i make. asking questions i thought i knew the answer to, to see if you gave the answer i expected. mostly, you have.

Ah sorry mate, I can sound a little touching at times, just got back from an aa meeting so I feel in a good place at the moment.

A/D, thanks mate, it only works if you keep going back to the programme.

  hexagon son said:

  hexagon son said:

good on ya, edgey. i cant seem to go more than a week without booze, and usually binge-drinking. how do maintain any kind of a social life though? what do you do when everyone else is drinking?

sorry, had to requote myself as i'm being serious. i pretend i'm going out for a ciggie and i go buy 8% half litre cans of booze and walk around drinking them so i can hide it from my wife. mostly at night. but it seems like a few of you have been through this........

what makes you feel like you want to go grab that drink and what makes you feel like you need to be secretive about it and keep it hidden from your wife? and doesn't she notice when you come back from having a cig and you reek of cheap booze?

it really is mental conditioning i think....i still drink, but the drinks are very few and far in between, and i havent been on a bender in about half a year.

every now and then i get off work and have a beer or maybe a martini, but thats where it ends these days...the hangover just isnt worth it to me anymore.