7 days sober, 21 to go

Good news is that I made it through my first weekend without a drink in a long time, probably since last January.   There were a couple of interesting things about the week.

First of all, my plan was to not drink on Mon, 1/2 up until Mon, 1/30.  However, I had 2 drinks on Mon, 1/2.  Why?  I must admit that after the extra holiday drinking I did capping off with 14 on 1/1, I felt a little jittery on Mon.  Also, while I had planned to exhaust all vodka in the house prior to the 4 week dry period, I had 2 shots left.  So, I drank them on Mon night and it did make me feel better.

However, I still get my 4 weeks in.  I had my last drink at 7pm on Mon, 1/2.  My training in Chicago on 1/30 does not end until 7pm.  So, if I have a drink right after training, I will still have completed 4 full weeks. And, since Chicago is an hour behind NY, I have an hour cushion.

I almost blew it out of the gate.   A couple who is very good friends with my wife and I and whose 3 year old we take care of, were coming over for dinner.  A year and a half ago for my birthday they gave me a nice bottle of cabernet, not off the charts expensive, but around 50 bucks, far more than the 8-12 my wife and I usually spend on bottles of wine.  I had planned on sharing it with the other couple the next time we a were all together and the timing was appropriate.  I figured this would be a good time, and even though I had committed to 4 weeks dry, I told myself it was ok to have this one glass of celebratory wine.

However, it never happened.  They showed up late.  In the meantime, I had dinner and an O’Douls. By the time they got here, I had no desire for the wine.

The reason I find this significant was that turning the switch to “off” when it didn’t work out was so easy.  It didn’t always used to be this way.  I like to compare alcohol cravings to cocaine.  Back in the days when I used to snort coke, just the thought of it would raise my blood pressure and get me all crazy.   These feelings would intensify as the first snort got closer.  While the feelings with alcohol were never as strong, they were similar.  The anticipation of that first drink would really increase my cravings such that once is started it was tough to turn off.   This is one of the reasons you get phone #’s in AA.  When you feel like a drink, you pick up the phone first and hopefully someone can talk you through it.  For me it was no problem this time, by the time dinner was over, I didn’t even want the drink.

This is day 7 of 28.  I don’t think I will have any problems getting through it. Unless, of course, the same couple comes over and I have a glass of wine.

Tags: AA, abstaining, Alchoholics Anonymous, BAC, sobriety, vodka