I'm giving up beer and wine for a year or maybe forever

Nurses Recovery

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I gave up wine and beer for Lent, I'm not an alcoholic but it is extremely habit forming for me, and could very well lead to alcoholism. I'm feeling so much better, that I've decided to give it up until at least next Easter, in 2009. I'll reevaluate at that time.

I drink beer and wine to relax and get a little bit of a buzz. I'll give it up for awhile, then start up again with one beer or glass of wine, then two. When I get to three I always get tired of it. I don't drink every day, but there is always an escalating pattern.

I didn't grow up around much drinking, but I was adopted and I found my birth mother's family, and alcoholism runs in the family with a gradual onset. My birth mother was an alcoholic. I never drank much until age 30, but once I started there always was this escalating pattern, which is the same pattern that runs in my genetic family.

One thing about drinking a couple of beers a day is that it is fattening. I'm trying to maintain my weight even though I am going through menopause and am 50 now. I really want to stay healthy for the sake of my family, and also for myself.

So, I'm giving up all beer and wine (I don't drink hard liquor) until Easter of 2009 and wanted to share that here, thanks for reading.

Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Good luck

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Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg, Peds, ICU, Tele.

For me it's the opposite. I know I can easily make it through a day, a week, a month etc. In fact, the idea of only not having beer for one day makes me more likely to look forward to having one the next day.

But to make the goal of giving it up for a year is a real commitment and will be a great accomplishment, along with other general health goals of avoiding sugar and saturated fats, and sticking to an exersise program! I look at it as a commitment to both my physical and mental well being!

I'm excited about this! Thanks for the good words!!!

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Specializes in midwifery, NICU.

jls, I think it's a great idea to quit while you are ahead. To quit when you can see the habit forming, before it becomes a daily habit! Good luck in achieving your goal babe.

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Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg, Peds, ICU, Tele.
jls, I think it's a great idea to quit while you are ahead. To quit when you can see the habit forming, before it becomes a daily habit! Good luck in achieving your goal babe.

I think that sums it up, thanks Danissa!

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.
jls, I think it's a great idea to quit while you are ahead. To quit when you can see the habit forming, before it becomes a daily habit! Good luck in achieving your goal babe.

An alcoholic wouldn't be able to do this, "quit before it become a daily habit" because once the wheels of addiction are in motion it's not possible to quit on willpower alone.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.
For me it's the opposite. I know I can easily make it through a day, a week, a month etc. In fact, the idea of only not having beer for one day makes me more likely to look forward to having one the next day.

But to make the goal of giving it up for a year is a real commitment and will be a great accomplishment, along with other general health goals of avoiding sugar and saturated fats, and sticking to an exersise program! I look at it as a commitment to both my physical and mental well being!

I'm excited about this! Thanks for the good words!!!

Be sure to join us in the Health and Wellness forum thread here: https://allnurses.com/forums/f240/healthier-living-thread-part-v-253622-48.html

it's getting a little slow and we could use the support. :yeah:

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I remember my first days in AA. My idols were the people who had gone two weeks without a drink. I really needed to know how they'd done that. Those people with years? I didn't believe it. I was just too removed from the realm of possibility.

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.
I remember my first days in AA. My idols were the people who had gone two weeks without a drink. I really needed to know how they'd done that. Those people with years? I didn't believe it. I was just too removed from the realm of possibility.

I'll never forget the woman at one of my earliest AA meetings, who was celebrating her 10th sobriety birthday. I flat-out asked her how on earth she had managed TEN YEARS without drinking..........I literally could not imagine it. Her answer was pretty much the standard response, you know, "one day at a time".

Now, over sixteen years after I took my last drink, I know how it's done: one day at a time, one minute at a time, sometimes one crisis at a time. Some days, it's all you can manage just to put one foot in front of the other and grit your teeth; other times you go through weeks or even months of a "dry drunk", where you do everything wrong except take a drink. And then, I still have the dreams in which I pick up right where I left off, just like I hadn't learned the bitter lessons of sobriety, only I'm wracked with guilt and disappointment in myself for going back to the booze. Then I wake up, and I'm so happy that I didn't do it, that I don't have to start all over again from the beginning.

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Specializes in Psych/Rehab/Family practice/Oncology.

Hey...good for you!!! My sis was always giving up some dumb thing for Lent, you know, something like gumdrops, or other easy to give up thing. Finally, I confronted her, and asked her if it wouldn't be more meaningful to say give up chocolate, or something else to which she really had an addiction to. Well, she didn't like it, but took it to heart. Now she gets more meaning from it. Well, anyway, hope you're successful, and in my experience, if you think you may have a problem with a drug, you generally do. Trust yourself and good luck. P.S. Hope this didn't offend those diehard gumdrop lovers :)!

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Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg, Peds, ICU, Tele.

People do some silly things for Lent, I agree. What came to me was, if giving it up for Lent is worthwhile, then even better to give it up all year!

Chocolate, fortunately, has no hold over me, I only eat it occasionally and rarely feel any compulsion to indulge.

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i'm really glad you recognized this tendency, and to act on it.

it shows a lot of insight and honesty on your part.

good for you!:up:

leslie

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Specializes in ER, CVICU.

Kudos to you! :yeah: I hope you are able to stick with it.

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