Giving up alcohol.(it's worth a shot)

 So today I dealt with grief without resorting to drink.   It had to happen, it will happen again as we all continue the perpetual ride around the sun. In reflection, how I responded to the incident was interesting.  The very 2nd thought I had, after accepting I needed to make the decision to end a pets life, was " I hate making this decision sober".  At the time,it seemed like a valid reaction.  I was stressed.  But after speaking with my good friend and doing some reflective practice, I've come to realise it was a definite case of euphoric recall. Really good term is euphoric recall and is used a lot in substance misuse recovery.   It's basically rose tinted glasses for the psyche.  We generally remember the good things about our addictions, and not the things which brought us to the point in our lives where we access services because we're addicts. I'll give you an example:  Me: I really enjoyed the day out in Manchester with my ...

Association.  Now there's a thing.  And this happens a lot in addiction, certainly in the early days and certainly to me. I'll give you several examples: Manchester Airport, 4.30am. There's a person sat next to me drinking a beer.  Me: " that was me, that. I used to drink at the airport" On the plane. Drinks trolley goes round,  someone orders 2 red wines.  Me: "that was me, that.  I used to drink red wine on planes" In a taverna on the seafront. Someone orders a large white wine. Me: " that was me, that.  I used to drink white wine on the seafront" And so that thought process plagued me for the first few days of my first trip abroad as a recovering alcoholic. And I'll come back to that in a minute.  I precision planned this trip, in relation to crisis management and back up plans. I knew going abroad would be one of the biggest triggers since I stopped drinking.  So I had to cover all bases to make sure I would succeed. I identified my tri...