cravings...

[roberta]

I have been sober for only a couple of days and already I am experiencing intense alcohol cravings. I really need the support and encouragement of others like me.

[stickmonkey]

keep coming.
make some a a meetings

[caressa]

Dear Roberta,

Craving are normal in early meetings, although we don't always crave until we have that first sip. Most of it is obsession and for me it was about acknowledging them and letting them go.

Prayer helps. I asked that they be removed. I asked for the patience to work through them. I picked up the phone and called a member before I had a sponsor. This is one of the reasons it is good to get a sponsor.

Go to meetings, read literature if you have it. Surf this site and checkout the posts and even if they don't seem to work, it will take your mind off of the cravings.

God answers knee-mail. God is Good. Good is God, so I try to change a negative into a positive. "I am craving a drink, but just for today, I choose not to pick up, please help me!"

Good Orderly Direction from a Groups of Drunks (Drug Addicts)

Keep coming, this too shall pass. Like all feelings, whether good or bad, they do pass, especially if we don't stop and think and feed them.

[ajames1526]

I only have about a month and a half of sobriety and it took me about 5 days to get past that strong compulsion but it does pass. For the most part I make sure I get to as many meetings as my schedule will allow and have my sponsor's number setup for speed dial in my phone so as to not give myself to much time to think about calling.

The one thing I have found this time is having a sponsor, first time after 9 years in and out of AA, makes all the difference. Been drinking alcoholically for over 15 years and have gotten sober a number of times but short lived for the most part. Every-time I had to go through the hell of the shakes and DTs.

[MrDuck]

Congratulations. It is amazing how the program works when we work it. There is an old saying that a true alcoholic is always looking for that hole in the fence. It has been years since I have had an urge to drink. But being a true alcoholic I know that if I don't do the things that I should to maintain my soberity that I will be looking for that hole in the fence. Being the slippery little snake that I can be it would not take much of a hole for me to get though it. AA still works for me. To whatever degree I work it. Once again congradulations. And thanks for posting. Feel free to post. I like posts that are from the heart.

Take care.

Ron

[MrDuck]

Opppssssssssssssssssssssssssss I posted it twice by accident. Sorry. Told you I was a slippery snake. ;D

Take care.

Ron

[caressa222]

Since then, I heard a Joe and Charlie AA tape that said we can't crave something until we ingest that first drink (drug), we can obsess about it, but we can't crave it. When we are new in recovery, it isn't very long ago that we tasted and haven't forgotten what it tastes like.

That is why we do this program one day at a time. Just for today, I will not use people, places, or things to take me out of where I am at, I will not pick up no matter what. I need to stay centered in the moment and connect with my Higher Power. That is why they say we need a strong spiritual defense against that first drink/drug.