Hello; Wish I had some answers for those who want to stop drinking. My family over many decades has been loaded with heavy drinkers. Most never were able to stop drinking and were alcoholics with all the negative stuff, financial and health wise, included. I am talking parent, cousins, uncles and grandparents.
It was such a common thing that as I grew up I thought I needed to learn how to drink. We were somewhat judged by how we could hold our liquor. I was lucky/unlucky in some ways. Lucky in if I drank enough to get beyond tipsy and for sure if I approached being drunk, that I had terrible hangovers with horrendous headaches that lasted for days. Also lucky in that I always found the taste of hard liquor to be awful.
But I tried for a few years when young as that was what pretty much all around me, outside of family as well as family, were doing. I thought for a while everyone had the same bad hangovers as I did and that I just did not measure up.
So it turned out I was prone to migraines and the alcohol was one of my triggers. Made it so much easier to reduce my alcohol intake. One beer a day is safe and maybe a ounce or less of hard liquor. This is what saved me during much of my life. After I reached age 62 I have not been getting the migraines. So 9 years migraine free as of now. I still keep to the one beer a day limit as I am too old to start a new destructive hobby. I also do not drink often. Takes me about a year to drink a case of beer. Pretty weak I guess.
I have watched some people destroy themselves with alcohol. A very few have been able to stop drinking so very much and even fewer have been able to quit long term. Near as I can tell it is a very personal incentive. The drinker has to at some point really want to stop for their own reasons. Doing it for family, loved ones or for fear of losing a job seems to help but not so much in the long run as several went back to the drinking. I keep hoping I am wrong about this as I have a close relative who has his drinking under control during the working part of the week but gets loaded on the weekends.
Near as I can tell from the outside is the drinker has to find some inner something stronger that the addiction. Moderation is better than heavy drinking short term but eventually the alcohol gets back into control. For me it was simple in that having a migraine triggered by drinking was not worth it. I was lucky that I had such horrible hangovers and never got into the regular heavy drinking.
Good luck to those wanting to stop drinking. I hope you find the strength.
It was such a common thing that as I grew up I thought I needed to learn how to drink. We were somewhat judged by how we could hold our liquor. I was lucky/unlucky in some ways. Lucky in if I drank enough to get beyond tipsy and for sure if I approached being drunk, that I had terrible hangovers with horrendous headaches that lasted for days. Also lucky in that I always found the taste of hard liquor to be awful.
But I tried for a few years when young as that was what pretty much all around me, outside of family as well as family, were doing. I thought for a while everyone had the same bad hangovers as I did and that I just did not measure up.
So it turned out I was prone to migraines and the alcohol was one of my triggers. Made it so much easier to reduce my alcohol intake. One beer a day is safe and maybe a ounce or less of hard liquor. This is what saved me during much of my life. After I reached age 62 I have not been getting the migraines. So 9 years migraine free as of now. I still keep to the one beer a day limit as I am too old to start a new destructive hobby. I also do not drink often. Takes me about a year to drink a case of beer. Pretty weak I guess.
I have watched some people destroy themselves with alcohol. A very few have been able to stop drinking so very much and even fewer have been able to quit long term. Near as I can tell it is a very personal incentive. The drinker has to at some point really want to stop for their own reasons. Doing it for family, loved ones or for fear of losing a job seems to help but not so much in the long run as several went back to the drinking. I keep hoping I am wrong about this as I have a close relative who has his drinking under control during the working part of the week but gets loaded on the weekends.
Near as I can tell from the outside is the drinker has to find some inner something stronger that the addiction. Moderation is better than heavy drinking short term but eventually the alcohol gets back into control. For me it was simple in that having a migraine triggered by drinking was not worth it. I was lucky that I had such horrible hangovers and never got into the regular heavy drinking.
Good luck to those wanting to stop drinking. I hope you find the strength.
