hey friend your username makes me think you'd get a lot out of AA meetings, the steps truly removed the mental obsession for me. no need to commit but great to meet others in the same boat. all the best.

Whole summer is a long time, but today is only one day. You can worry about tomorrow when you get there. You got this, fren.

Hey homie! Fellow drunkard here, got sober off the drink (and hella other shit) in 2020. Did it all straight cold turkey and it fucking sucked but is well worth it in the long run. Idk how the naltrexone is supposed to work, but I'd suggest taking it if it was prescribed to you.

So, what helped me a lot is realizing that, as addicts, we replace one addiction with another. On top of that, when you're not using, you have a lot of free time and you gotta do something with it. I ended up making the conscious decision to make art every time I wanted to use; I ended up making art every fucking day for about a year which, due to the lockdowns, is just what I had to do to make it by considering I couldn't work to fill time.

Find your art, whatever it may be. Hope it helps.

You might try just drinking a bunch of water.

Medication can help, but your body is still used to physically drinking a lot of fluids. So just like smokers use toothpicks or whatever, it might help for you to replace your physical habit as well.

If you find yourself anxious, try exercise or a fast paced videogame to work it off. Just in general find things to keep you occupied. All the shit that you've been putting off, start doing it. You need to show your brain that other things can trigger rewards than dopamine.

It could take a while.

Alcohol free corona tastes exactly like real corona and does the job for me to quit. Now I just gotta fight tobacco with vapes and coffee with something else

It sounds like your brain has had the chance to associate a lot of activities and people with alcohol, so it only stands to reason that you'll think about alcohol when you experience basically everything in life. This can lead to cravings, but also cravings can just happen anyways.

An example of this phenomenon is when a kiddo learns that going by the toy aisle means they get a toy. You'd better believe they learn quickly and remember when the toy comes from and may very well fuss when they don't get one (and let's be fair, sometimes they fuss for no reason at all!)

I agree with others that recommend avoiding situations or limiting exposure to people who you associate strongly with alcohol, especially early in recovery. I also recommend taking the naltexone as it can help reduce cravings for alcohol... (Its a bit like earplugs for the fussing kiddo, making the noise more tolerable and easier to ignore). And absolutely don't look too far into the future. Just be sober a day at a time (or an hour, or 5 minutes if needed).

One day at a time. It’s tough, be kind to yourself and remember that people in the program are there to support you. Don’t white-knuckle it, reach out for help.

You got this my dude! Take it one day at a time!

It's easy to fall into the trap where you convince yourself it will be this way forever. But that's usually not true.

It’s really one day at a time. I managed to stop for two years and now I am trying to get back on the bandwagon one day at a time again.

Okay, I legitimately thought you were talking about not drinking… like at all (water and such) until I read the text. 😅