I drink on average 3 litres of whisky a week, it has to stop.
You did read that right, in fact it's probably a little more than 3 litres as for at least the last couple of years I've averaged about half a litre a night.
Not only is an expense that we can't keep going, you wouldn't believe how much steem I've spent, but I need to stop for the family.
I'm not a bad drunk, in fact after over 10 years of drinking whisky I just get relaxed and go to sleep. Now over the ten years for most of the time we restricted drinking to weekends and after 9 pm. It was a way to unwind and self medicate to cope with living with mental illness but it's got out of hand. The kids are older now and we can't really hide the amount by waiting until they're in bed any more.
Today I've been for my third meeting with my alcohol worker and I'm spending more days a week not drinking than having a drink. By some miracle I'm not having any withdrawal symptoms and my own liver has survived my abuse, my wifes liver is not so good but action now can stop any more damage.
It's early days and I'm not fooling myself that this will be easy, cutting down drinking just as December and the party season turns up isn't the best timing.
I've always been very open on steemit about my own and my wife's battle with mental health and that is still on going but we now have a new battle to face, going sober. The first goal is to cut down to drinking two nights a week and then kicking on to reduce the amount we drink on those nights.
So here I go, ending the year working to cut down on drinking so this time next year I've been able to grow my steem power back up and I'm not using drink to get me through the end of the day so I'm going to have to find new ways to relax and deal with life that I've been hiding from at the bottom of a bottle.
So let's see how this goes, I'll keep things updated here as for how it's going, something I can look back at as the weeks go by and hopefully give me strength when I have a wobble.
Good luck @alienbutt! Your making the right move for your health. You'll become much clearer during the days if you can cut back significantly
At the minute I'm struggling with sleep but that is to be expected as I need to learn how to sleep naturally again.
Alcohol works but it has too short a half life and it is unhealthy in therapeutic doses. What happens when you take a two-hour walk to get tired? Sounds funny, but works for many.
Walking sounds better in the summer, really not a winter child to be going out in the cold.
Maybe a hundred push-ups would work also 8-).
There is medication that helps you cope like you're drinking steadily all day without the drowsiness, like venlafaxine, but the effects differ from person to person. I'm no fan of such medication, but it is much better than drinking a lot. Maybe there is something like that out there for you.
Anyway, all the best with drinking less. You can.
Thanks, I'm sure in a couple of weeks my sleep will start to improve as push ups sound worse than winter walks.
Heehee. Push-ups outdoors should make you wish you were in bed then 8-).
Best of luck, you have a hard job ahead but we will all be there to support you in any way we can.
The mind is a mighty machine, it can do wonders.
Thanks Len.
It might be a little far to pop over and make you a coffee, but if we can help in any way, just ask.