The rule of absolute sobriety. Absolute sobriety. Here's Why Sobriety Is a Process

You may feel like it will happen right after you decide to stop drinking alcohol. However, it is not.

• Sobriety does not come immediately.
• Sobriety is a process.

In this article you can learn all the basic principles of sobriety that will help you quit drinking forever.

Modern principles of sobriety

• The point of sobriety does not come the next day.

• As a result of your drinking alcohol ( and you most likely drank it for many years in a row with enviable frequency). alcohol damaged yours.

What are these damages?

• Now, when you want to stop drinking alcohol, inappropriate feelings will begin to come to you, which are called:
  • Sense of anxiety,
  • Feeling uneasy
  • Tension
  • Irritation,
  • and other negative feelings.

I wrote more about the symptoms of withdrawal in the article

• Withdrawal symptoms do not go away overnight, like a headache or hangover.
  They will appear periodically during 6-12 months after you quit drinking.
• Over time, if you abstain from alcohol, these symptoms will decrease and then stop altogether.
• It is the symptoms of withdrawal that make you drink again and again.
• You take these feelings as your own, begin to find an external reason for them, talk about your life, and worry a lot. This ultimately leads you to a breakdown.
• Therefore, sobriety does not come immediately, but requires time and effort on your part.
• Sobriety in life is the ability to avoid a breakdown!

This is why sobriety is a process.

It would seem that you have stopped drinking, and there should be no more consequences.

However, the main consequences await you ahead - this is a meeting with " ».

• Whether you are aware of your addiction or not: symptoms of withdrawal exist regardless of this.

Even if you manage to abstain once or twice, you may break down the third time. Not on the third, but on the tenth.

• The risk of relapse remains quite high until you learn to recognize withdrawal symptoms and learn to distinguish them from real feelings.

Sobriety needs to be learned.

• If you're still drinking, it means you don't know something. Some are eluding you. Why does alcohol addiction still manage to fool you?

• Let go of your overconfidence and open up about addiction.

• Find out more information about , about , about the impact .

Only armed with powerful knowledge can you fully overcome the period of withdrawal and achieve comfortable sobriety.

• Most information on the Internet about the effects of alcohol on the human body is ineffective. Why? Because:

Information about the physical harm of alcohol has never helped anyone.

• In order to achieve sobriety points you need to study information specifically about the features.

• By understanding what long-term consequences await you, you can be well prepared. You can get ahead of time to meet withdrawal symptoms head on.

• Alcohol addiction will not go away immediately. You will need to deal with the consequences of alcohol, even when you are sober.

What do you need to do to break free while sober?

• You don't have to do anything to break. Just stop drinking and continue living as before. And one day your psyche itself will lead you into such a destructive state when “the idea drink" will seem like the best solution to you.

How to maintain sobriety and not break down?

1. Work on your sobriety every day;
2. Constantly receive
3. Remain vigilant to your own psyche and brain;
4. Go through a withdrawal period, which lasts on average 1 year;
5. Gradually change your own habits and follow /

And this is the only way to achieve comfortable and stable sobriety.

Put sobriety at the center of your life where alcohol once stood - here's what you need to do to stop drinking alcohol and start leading a truly sober lifestyle.

Remember that sobriety is a process and it takes daily effort to stay sober.

Watch my video where I talk about sobriety:

Write in the comments how long did you manage to stay sober as much as possible?

8 August 2012, 13:50 My friend died at 45 years old. I never drank alcohol in my life; I played sports in my youth. He died as a result of a blood clot breaking off and blocking an artery. Doctors I know said that if ten minutes before what happened, I would have taken 100 grams on my chest, I would have lived. So, as the humorist Evdokimov said, “Fate!” By the way, Academician Chazov (Are you by any chance an academician?) recommended taking 50 grams of pure alcohol daily to prevent cardiovascular disease. Life is so diverse that when fanatics appear who demand something in its pure form (be it religion, political views, advocating the fight against alcohol, etc.), they, as a rule, achieve the absolutely opposite effect. This was shown by Gorbachev’s prohibition law, and the widespread introduction of religion into our lives, and any ban on anything. But the price of alcohol undoubtedly needs to be increased. Today, just at lunch, I caught myself thinking that a set lunch (business lunch), which in Soviet times cost 50 kopecks, today costs the same as a bottle of not the cheapest vodka. In Soviet times, it cost more than 5 rubles. And to engage in propaganda that drinking is harmful is due to a lack of sense of humor and intelligence.

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Sergey Ivanov responded to Alexander Starodubtsev August 8, 2012, 17:27 "By the way, Academician Chazov (Are you by any chance an academician?)"
What "subtle" sarcasm... I'm really confused...
So, no, I'm not an academic. But let's take a closer look at our academician. He is still only 83 years old and does not give the impression of a person bursting with health. My great-grandmother lived for 92 years without drinking 50 grams of alcohol a day. And until recently she was cheerful and ran the household independently.
Now let’s compare Academician Chazov with Academician Uglov. Chazov was not in the war, and was not a surgeon; his work does not require steady hands and a true eye, but Uglov, having gone through the Finnish War as a field surgeon and survived the siege in Leningrad, operated until the age of 95. I am not sure that Chazov, having survived the war and the blockade, would have even lived to his current age with his “innovative” method of maintaining health. And I’m not even talking about “operating” at this age.
And the work of a cardiologist-therapist (in my opinion) is at least a little easier than a surgeon, and a cardiologist, a pulmonologist, and an oncologist. He did not have to stand at the operating table for many hours. So in 12 years we will find out how good his method is. Well, I’m silent about 104 years. Chazov will not live that long.

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Alexander Starodubtsev replied to Sergey Ivanov August 9, 2012, 08:54 Women probably don’t like you, that’s why they’re angry. They cannot stand bores or those who are prone to teaching. Your conclusions about life expectancy depending on alcohol consumption are far-fetched. It has long been known that the largest number of centenarians live in those places where grapes are grown, wine is made and they are consumed daily with meals. It all depends on the sense of proportion. I have long said that a person who does not have a sense of proportion is just as disabled as a person who has lost one of the five senses given to us by nature. And also, before you moralize, think about whether it is ethical to discuss specific people, their appearance, the degree of ease of their work, about which you have no idea, and even more so, who will die when. Obvious gaps in education. The fact that you are not an academician was clear from your first lines. Science is characterized by doubts, but you have no doubts. This is typical only for religious fanatics.

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Sergey Ivanov responded to Alexander Starodubtsev August 9, 2012, 14:18 “Women probably don’t like you, that’s why they’re angry”
Switching to the opponent's identity? Running out of arguments? Alcohol is like that)))

“It has long been known that the largest number of centenarians live in those places where grapes are grown, wine is made and they are consumed daily with meals.”
It has long been known that all this is nonsense, propagated by supporters of alcoholism. And even the higher life expectancy in Mediterranean countries is due primarily to diet, not wine. But supporters of the green serpent will still stubbornly argue that it is only due to wine. By the way, although wine is not very common in Japan, life expectancy is generally the highest. But the secret is the same - a specific diet. Primarily thanks to seafood (healthy polyunsaturated fats) versus our meat (bad saturated fats). As a result, there is less vascular atherosclerosis, ischemic heart disease, heart attacks, strokes, etc.

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Alexander Starodubtsev replied to Sergey Ivanov August 9, 2012, 14:46 Oh, what a mess you have in your head. Have you heard about Georgia and its centenarians? The diet you invented has never been heard of there. Young lamb shish kebab, satsivi, dolma, cheeses, etc. And all this must be washed down with wine. True, they love greens very much (I don’t mean dollars, although there is no hatred towards them either). A jug of wine on a dinner table set in Georgia is an indispensable attribute.

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Sergey Ivanov responded to Alexander Starodubtsev August 9, 2012, 17:11 “Have you heard about Georgia and its centenarians?”
Have you heard about Nibiru and the end of the world this year?
We heard. How are you preparing?

There were many long-livers specifically in Abkhazia, and not in Georgia as a whole. Strange, isn't it? Everyone drinks wine, but it doesn’t help everyone. For normal people, this will raise a question - maybe it’s not the wine that’s important here, but OTHER FACTORS? For example, clean mountain air and water, physical activity, etc. But fans of the green serpent have no doubts! Only wine will save them from heart attacks, etc.)))

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Sergey Ivanov responded to Alexander Starodubtsev August 9, 2012, 14:22 And further. If wine is so healthy, then where do the beneficial substances come from? During the fermentation process, only alcohol appears there. Therefore, the juice should be no less useful, because... already contains the same beneficial substances.
However, I have not heard of any studies on grape juice. What's the matter?
It's simple. There is no need to JUSTIFY drinking healthy grape juice - that's it. And it won’t be possible to sell grape juice for several tens, hundreds, or even thousands of dollars per bottle. But wine is easy!
Banal commercial interest. Create a myth about the healing properties of wine - and 2 birds are killed.
Wine consumption is quite decent - for health! And the money flows like a river, you can’t earn that much on juice...

Social networks often reflect processes occurring in society. So, now I increasingly notice the activation of supporters of a healthy lifestyle (HLS), who conduct intensive campaigning by their own example. Is it good or bad? In my opinion, it is absolutely obvious that it is good.

And even if narrow-minded people sometimes laugh at people who lead a healthy lifestyle, like “teetotalers with ulcers” or “if you want to be healthy, toughen up, sit on the ice with your bare butt and smile” - I can’t explain it with anything other than the narrow-minded mind of the one who says this Can. It’s especially surprising to me when older people, who in theory should have life experience and accumulated sores, which often respond to adverse effects on the body (lack of sleep, smoking, alcohol) react in such a sarcastic manner.

For some time now I have chosen for myself the path of absolute sobriety - I don’t drink at all, not even a drop, not even champagne, even on New Year’s.

Like many women, this lack of alcohol in life began with the prospect of becoming a mother. It’s too late, because a girl really needs to realize her maternal nature from childhood. After all, every girl is born with a supply of eggs and they are not renewed. Do you know what's most interesting about this? The fact that the eggs from which my grandchildren will be born were formed in my daughter when she was not yet born and was in the womb. Do you think my smoking and alcohol in this case can affect my grandchildren? That's it.

In fact, being sober is easy. You can drink tea, juice, milk, coffee, cocoa, water, kumiss, ayran, mate, ... But why don’t our holidays, weekends, meetings with friends, even everyday life for some people go without doping? Why? There are a lot of other ways to relax, spend time, socialize - play video games together, board games, go karts, walk in the forest, visit a museum/cinema/climbing wall, go for a run, drink tea/herbal tea prepared in a samovar, conduct a master -class for friends on something, drink mate... There are more than a lot of options. But we limit ourselves.

This is akin to people asking, “What do vegetarians eat?” That is, borscht with meat broth is an excellent food, but everything is the same, only without meat broth - crap? Because no. Limitations on interesting pastimes begin in the head.

You yourself know how unpleasant it is to travel in public transport, to stand in line next to a person who drank yesterday - the fumes cannot be completely hidden. And anti-policemen do not help as much as replacing alcohol with tea, for example, could help.

I was walking with the children on the playground. There were other mothers too. Next to one - very pretty, with a good figure and a charming daughter - I smelled of fumes. Not much. This shocks me. Her child is 1 year and 8 months old. At this age you can still continue breastfeeding. And - oops! - fume.

And fumes are not the worst thing. It’s not scary when a person destroys himself conditionally consciously - knowing about the dangers of his libations. It’s scary when betrayals, fights, stabbings, fires, car accidents happen in a drunken shop...

I choose absolute sobriety and I have more than the notorious five reasons for this:

• I'm a woman and I want to be beautiful for as long as possible
• I am a mother and I want to be an example of a woman for my children.
• I’m a wife and I want my husband to see me in bad shape as little as possible
• I'm human and I want to stay healthy as long as possible
• I'm a cheapskate and count every penny, so spending on alcohol is a luxury for me
• I'm a girl and I want a dress on which I can spend the money I didn't spend on alcohol.
• I am a patriot and I want my country to be strong...

I could write a lot more, but is it necessary? Think for yourself what is valuable to you in life, what will help you give up a glass. There is more than enough information about the effects of alcohol on the body. Everyone makes their own choice. What do you choose?

Hello friends! Many of you who have decided to take the first steps towards a sober life for the first time are asking the question: “What will absolute sobriety give me and what are its advantages?”

Since this is the Diary of a “former” alcoholic, I’ll try to describe my condition in a few sentences, that is, the advantages that a conscious sober life gave me. This may not be everything, but it turns out that:

I am in good physical shape, and if I am still far from my ideal weight and body condition, then I am trying. There is still a lot to be done and done. Sobriety gives you the opportunity to control yourself.

I can get behind the wheel of a car at any time without fear of being “caught” by the guys and I am not bothered by the “exhaust”. This is a problem for all drinking motorists.

I can be where they drink alcohol and leave any time I want. Once again, I celebrate all the holidays with normal human eyes and don’t poison myself with a toast “to health,” after which many become “unhealthy,” to put it mildly.

I have real friends with me, with whom I am interested in spending time and who support my sobriety, and not drinking buddies with whom I “drank away” a lot in my life.

All work-related misunderstandings related to alcohol, which previously caused serious problems resulting in the traditional lack of money, the search for new partners and orders, are completely eliminated.

I soberly and adequately assess any life situations; because of some, I would have simply grabbed a glass earlier.

There is no problem of “Friday-pitnitsa”, days off on “Mondays” and the like. I wake up every morning with a clear head and thoughts about the day ahead, and not hungover.

I have normal relationships with all my relatives, who, to be honest, just recently simply gave up on my once frequent drinking bouts and told me to go to hell.

I easily make new acquaintances and it has become easier for me to communicate with people on any topic.

I believe that my risk of contracting some serious disease is much lower than that of drinkers. And I haven’t been sick with anything serious for a long time... ttt :-) Only if I was tortured last year, but this is from another song, not related to alcohol. Although no... if I hadn’t drunkenly lifted weights, but used tools for this, I might not have gotten a herniated disc

I don’t have those time periods when I can do something and when I can’t. This applies to any matter, whether urgent or not. When you're hungover, all you want to do is drink! Or so that this condition stops as soon as possible, at least for a while. All thoughts are about one thing - alcohol.

Well, and most importantly - literally!!! Freedom from addiction.

These are the advantages of my sober life. Yes, this is only a small part that fit into one post, I’m writing quickly, but if you sit and think, there will be another one.)

Friends! Don't fool yourself by looking for an excuse in alcohol! Life is beautiful and it should be created by you, not 100 grams of alcohol. You need to deal with stress in your right mind, and not entrust this task to a drunken dope! Your task is to learn to soberly perceive the world around you and reality. Once you accept this, you realize that many things in life could be done by you, and not by alcohol for you.

Understand this and start living again, from scratch. After all, if you woke up in the morning, it means you are alive, capable of changing for the better and experiencing all the advantages of sobriety. Get started today! I sincerely wish this for you.

Good sobriety and health to everyone!

If a person nevertheless admits that he is sick, and we see that this can only be admitted (no one will prove anything, and you yourself will not feel it), then such a person can refuse the feeling shame for what happened.

Alcoholism is a disease of altered morality. After a binge, a person is immensely ashamed of what happened. People around you are surprised, why weren’t you ashamed while you were drinking? Under the influence of cravings, I was also ashamed, but “craving” (the medical term is compulsive attraction) is regarded by a sick mind as one of the natural needs. An ancient mechanism comes into force: “It’s a shame, but what to do?” After becoming intoxicated, the shame goes away completely. A person is already becoming a different creature. But after drinking, the feeling of shame is double.

Being ashamed of the problem, patients lose the opportunity not only to solve it, but even to begin to solve it. It is impossible to cope with what you are ashamed of. An alcoholic is like a person who sweeps cockroaches under the sofa, only to not see them. All his life he will be forced to close this topic for conversation either with stupid laughter (often one has to see how adults begin to giggle like schoolchildren when this topic is mentioned), or theorizing (reasonable discussions about philosophy, biochemistry and the historical roots of the process), or simply rude refusal. One way or another, after two or three phrases you will have to hear something like: “Well, okay, enough about that!”

People involved in the fate of the patient also do not really like to talk about this topic. They believe that it is not worth provoking again. The man already looks repentant. And they themselves don’t like it either; it’s better to forget and move on.

However, it will not be possible to forget, not only because it is impossible to forget, but also because it will soon happen again. And again we will treat the consequences without affecting in any way what causes them.

If an alcoholic admits to being sick, then the feeling of shame becomes surmountable. There is no need to be ashamed of illness. After all, no one is ashamed of bronchial asthma or hypertension. Yes, you can’t talk about this topic with everyone. Many will react incorrectly, but this is not necessary with everyone.

√ There are relatives and close people who already know everything, and if they don’t know something, “tell us about yourself” is a normal phrase in close relationships.

√ Finally, there are doctors; understanding the patient and showing compassion towards him is their professional duty. It's stupid to feel ashamed in front of a doctor. In any case, if you do not overcome the feeling of shame, nothing will be achieved at all. Don't move from a dead point what your back is to.

By recognizing oneself as sick, a person can refuse to feel guilt. True, giving up does not mean losing. These two feelings will not go away immediately and not forever... The important thing is that the patient stops taking them into account in his logic. He understands that these are painful feelings. This is how his illness is hidden from him.

Yes, alcoholism is a psychiatric disease, madness. But the madman is not guilty.

An alcoholic really feels eternally guilty. Sometimes he even thinks that this is good, that it will help him stop drinking. Those around them, as a rule, cultivate this feeling with good intentions, believing that this will bring the patient closer to sobriety and treatment. It is customary to reprimand the patient, scold him, point out his shortcomings, in a word, raise him like a small child. The effect is actually completely opposite!

Firstly , as long as a person considers himself guilty and not sick (and these are contradictory concepts), he will involuntarily look for excuses. The alcoholic turns into a miserable person who defends the one who kills him. He is forced to constantly explain to himself and everyone why he drank? Alcohol alibis begin to be built, one more absurd than the other (such a life, such a job, such a wife, etc.). People around them begin to argue about this topic: “it’s not so bad, I shouldn’t have drunk.” These disputes are endless and useless. There are no excuses because there are no accusations: Either you consider yourself sick - yes, this is madness, but this is a disease, which means the disease is to blame. No one makes excuses for having a toothache or an attack of radiculitis. Or it’s not a disease, then it means that you live this way, we don’t like it, but what can you do, it’s your choice...

No one needs to theorize why a thief came and stole everything. Yes because he is a thief! The question is, why did it penetrate so easily? This means there was no protection.

Secondly , as long as a person considers himself guilty, he will believe that he is being offered not help, but punishment. If he is guilty, then he is punished! For the time being, the alcoholic refuses all manipulations and influences. He cannot afford to help because he considers himself “not guilty enough.” All conversations on this topic cause irritation. The perception of the topic changes: advice is perceived as reproaches, jokes, as mockery, the very word “alcoholic”, invariably, as an insult.

“Why should I be hemmed in?” - a very common question at this stage. I just want to answer: “Why does a person go to the dentist?” It may even be painful there, but they don’t drag you there by force; the sick go there themselves. This logic will last until the feeling of guilt becomes so painful that it will be easier to receive punishment. The punishment itself becomes desirable; it temporarily relieves the feeling of guilt. They don't punish you twice. I did and the topic was closed. Such people require some kind of demonstrative manipulation: stitching, so that there are a lot of stitches, chemical protection, so that they lose consciousness, etc. But, under one condition - for a certain period of time. Let's say a year. After all, no one agrees to an indefinite punishment.

The “poor guy” had the procedure done, and then the nightmare begins: we are designed in such a way that we cannot get what we did not expect. If you went for punishment, you received punishment. This patient will suffer all this time, suffer, torment himself and those around him, he must it's bad to be - because he punished! Sometimes, by the end of the year, the family begins to whisper: “I wish I had a drink.” He will definitely drink as soon as the treatment ends. He'll still drink! He had been pulling on the emotional spring for a whole year, and now he had let go... These events are part of alcohol mythology, everyone has heard about a friend or relative for whom everything turned out exactly like this. This result cannot be considered positive; it is only a change in the frequency of breakdowns, and even then not always. Doesn't mean you shouldn't ask for help. It is important to understand that the result depends 90% not on the method, but on what the patient himself was focused on; it’s easier to say, what did he want to get? If you are guilty, it means punishment; if you are sick, it means help, deliverance, after which you will feel better.

Third , as long as the alcoholic considers himself not sick, but guilty, he will be forced to make amends until he drinks. This is the curse of alcoholics - people who live by drinking. They not only drink heavily, but also work, read, love impulsively, as if this is just another binge for them. Jumping out of an alcoholic nightmare, experiencing an immense feeling of guilt, such a person begins to involuntarily look for a feat. He needs extreme fatigue; mild fatigue will not suit him, because only extreme fatigue will allow him to get rid of the feeling of guilt. The tired one is innocent. How often do you hear from patients: “Well, what an alcoholic I am, I work!”

Of course you work, you work! After all, you need to feed not only yourself, but also your alcoholism. They don’t get around to treatment because there are so many things to do at once. Sometimes this situation makes people around happy: “as long as it’s working, bad thoughts won’t enter your head.” Unfortunately, there will be thoughts. After all, we are talking about a disease, and it will develop. Increasing the pace, sooner or later, such a patient still reaches some limit of fatigue, and then another breakdown begins. This is a vicious circle, or rather a spiral leading down. In this “ring” people move like circus horses for years and decades. Alcoholism is a very cunning master. He is not interested in the quick death of his slaves. Therefore, alcoholics live relatively long. If nothing terrible happens - injury, poisoning and other cases of early death - an alcoholic can live to be 60 and 70 years old. The truth is that all this time he does not live, but feeds the disease. He studies, gets married, has children, but all his life he is in two states - either unconsciously preparing for a binge, or he is in it. There is only one way to jump off this carousel of madness - to admit that you are sick. In this case, sobriety is not a way to make amends, but a way to begin to live as intended. Every person is born for happiness, but an alcoholic cannot afford it.

While an alcoholic drinks, he condemns himself to an existence in which he is either unhappy or drunk. Alcoholic in sobriety must to be happy, otherwise he will get drunk - this is not a wish, but a medical recommendation, an opportunity to save a life!

By recognizing oneself as sick, a person can give up feelings of shame and guilt. He can change them for a feeling dignity.

Sobriety is a virtue for those who understand. There is such a variety of this feeling. You shouldn’t be offended by a friend who, in response to the confession: “I haven’t drunk for six months,” replies: “So what?” If you happen to talk to a person who has not drunk for five years, he will answer something like: “I remember the first six months... You’re great, keep it up!” This is real pride, not pompous, but special. We forgive those who do not understand it. Many of them are not alcoholics, they don’t understand, and they don’t need to understand this. And many of those who don’t understand are sick people who still haven’t admitted it to themselves. Let us pity them, God willing, and someday they will receive this pride.

The most important conclusion from recognizing yourself as sick is the desire to stop drinking alcohol forever. That is, for life, any alcoholic drink, in any quantity for any reason. In this case we are talking about absolute sobriety.

There are two cornerstone concepts in narcology: active patient participation And absolute sobriety as a result. If someone offers "dose control", "treatment without knowledge" or any other "help" - this person cannot be called a doctor, no matter how he presents himself.

The provision on absolute sobriety is not even a doctor’s proposal, but a requirement of a sick person! It is unlikely that anyone has heard of a patient persuading a doctor to cure him not forever, but only for a while. Nobody wants a recurrence of the disease. Usually, doctors are forced to avert their eyes and say words as old as the world: “medicine is not omnipotent...”, “we are doing everything possible...”, “I don’t give guarantees, but I will try to help you...” In these dialogues, patients are perplexed: “How so? I need absolute results! Is it really impossible to achieve complete deliverance?”

A sick person actively seeks help and demands it. He will go through all the specialists, read a lot of literature, he will look for everything that can help him.

Reasoning like this: “okay, I’m an alcoholic, leave me alone,” “maybe I’m really sick, maybe I need to take a break,” a person contradicts himself.

By recognizing himself as sick, an alcoholic transfers the situation from a moral and ethical one to a medical one. Therefore, the question: “What if I’m an alcoholic, I can’t even drink anymore?” in itself is meaningless. The doctor is not a lawyer and does not answer legal questions. Is it possible to cough? Is it impossible to walk with a toothache? What if sometimes, on holidays, I get a rash and a fever? What, isn't it possible?

Sick people ask other questions: “Is it possible not to get sick?”