I caved on Wednesday. This weather and being at the house became too much for me. Anyway, I did make it 4 weeks which is not too shabby!

Anyone else taking this into February? I am down 10 pounds and thinking I should keep it going.

35 consecutive dry Januarys on the books.

I encourage everyone to understand how alcohol affects them, physically, mentally, and socially, and make wise decisions moving forward. Also, if you saw benefits, no reason to stop now. Keep going. And post what you've learned, or how you feel, after the past month.

aggiejim70 said:

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35 consecutive dry Januarys on the books.

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I'm on my 2nd dry January.
Day 1 on dry February today.

How about reset? I am almost at a month quit - March 14 was my last drink, hopefully for good. Funny... seems different this time. Started reading the Alcholics Anonymous book. Yup, I'm an alcoholic. Hi, my name is hoosegow and I'm an alcoholic. The first couple of chapters... described me to a t in a lot of aspects. I pray that I can maintain this time. Have had some really bad days but I don't go home with thinking the only remedy from the pressure and stress of work was to escape. I'm not ready to start going to AA - probably foolish and prideful of me - but I'm not a joiner. Not something I usually need in my life - the company of others or the need to belong to something.

At least this time, I know I can't go back to drinking. No tricks (only drink beer, only drink on the weekends, only have the wife make my drinks, etc.) Gotta just get in my mind that my crutch, my religion, my best friend, is not something I can be a part of anymore.

I'm not going to sit here and tell y'all that I'm cured. Nor am I going to sit here and tell y'all that God is the right for everyone. Just seems to me, this time is different. Either the self realization that YES I am an alcoholic and I can't have it or realizing that I HAVE to believe in something bigger than me to be able to get through the tough times has got me on a different path this time.

I fully expect to fail. Figure I will rationalize having a few drinks and then go on a multiple day bender. I pray I won't but I expect I will. I'm too damn stubborn to give up complete control. That stubborness has been a blessing and a curse in my life. I recognize that now. It gives me the will power to train 2-4 hours a day to become a world champion powerlifter, run a marathon, stay in a loveless marriage for the good of my daughter. Conversely, I makes me completely reliant on myself - and I keep failing myself.

Kinda funny... something bigger than me. I was thinking about digging up this thread and posting something like this yesterday. Saw that bigtruckguy did it for me. Maybe this is just arrogance. Maybe this is just coincidence. But one day after I was thinking about it and then bigtruck posted... figured I needed to just listen and pay attention. Figured this might be a direct message to me to share. Could be wrong and it could all be just a cosmic coincidence, but maybe it is what I needed right now.