We think we are addicted to alcohol and are determined to give it up at all costs. But we can't get rid of repeated alcohol control (even hospitalization is ineffective), and we are very painful. Do we really have to die? How can I stay awake for a long time?

Here are some methods that will help you avoid drinking again as long as they are carefully implemented.

1, remember: alcoholism is an incurable, progressive and fatal disease.

Alcoholism is a progressive fatal disease. This disease is caused by human sensitivity to alcohol and psychological impulse to drink. At present, there is no medicine or psychotherapy in the medical field that can be "cured"-we can't simply change our characteristics by hospitalization or taking medicine, so as to return to the normal and moderate social drinking state in the early stage of drinking.

Thousands of alcoholics can't stop drinking. Not only do we see many alcoholics die of drinking-from "D.T." or convulsions, or cirrhosis caused by drinking, but we also see many deaths caused by drinking that are not caused by alcoholism. Moreover, when car accidents, drowning, suicide, homicide, heart disease, fire, pneumonia or stroke are listed as the direct factors of death, the fact is that the serious drinking behavior of alcoholics leads to the conditions and direct causes of death.

Most of us haven't reached the final stage of terrible alcoholism, so now we feel far from that fate when drinking. But if we keep drinking, there is no doubt that we will only die.

Many alcoholics who can't give up drinking will blame themselves for their weak moral values, or think it's because of their unbalanced mentality. However, drinking is not morally wrong, because it is a disease. At this stage, it can't be overcome by one's own will, because alcoholics have lost the ability to choose freely in the face of alcohol.

So we don't have to be embarrassed about our illness. There's nothing to be ashamed of. It's not our fault. We don't want to be alcoholics. We don't want to get this disease, just like no one wants to get pneumonia. Experience shows that as long as you have a strong desire to quit drinking, fully realize the seriousness of the problem, and take care of yourself in an alcohol-free and happy way, you can still live a happy, healthy and valuable life like a normal person.

Step 2 stay away from the first glass of wine

"If you don't drink the first glass of wine, you won't get drunk." "More than one cup is not enough."

When we change from ordinary drinking to drinking, frequent drunkenness seriously interferes with our life and work, so we reduce the number of drinking, or try to control the amount of alcohol to one or two glasses, or switch from high drinking to beer or wine to avoid getting too drunk. Maybe we can stay awake for a while, and then we will start drinking again when there is an opportunity (some special celebration, personal confusion or nothing special at all). At first, we just wanted a drink. As one glass of wine has not caused any serious consequences, we think it is safe to drink another glass. But it turns out that this is just a trap-when we drink two or three cups, we feel good, and then we feel that it will be okay to drink one or two cups according to our ability. As a result, we couldn't help drinking too much and returned to the original drunken state.

Doctors who specialize in alcohol dependence told us that it was the first glass of wine that triggered the potential desire to drink, which made us out of control. This repeated experience leads us to the conclusion that it is impossible to try to control the drinking plan without getting drunk, and avoiding the key glass of wine-"Never do anything wrong with the first glass" can keep us awake for a long time.

Alcohol dependence is an addiction to alcohol. As a soft drug, alcohol is just like any other addictive substance. If we want to stay in a state of recovery, we must stay away from the first anesthetic that causes our addiction.

Step 3 Use the "24-hour" plan

In the days of alcoholism, we often solemnly swear "never to drink again" when we are very uncomfortable. "I swear not to drink for a year." From the bottom of my heart, we really don't want to get drunk again. Of course, some people will have reservations: saying that this oath is only for "spirits", not for beer. In fact, beer and wine can also make us drunk, but we just need to drink more to achieve the same effect as white wine. Drinking beer and wine is no less harmful to us than drinking spirits.

However, after a while, vows and painful memories will be forgotten. I don't know when we started drinking again. Our forever will never last.

Of course, some of them did keep their promises and quit for a long time, two months, six months, or a year. Until the time came, we felt that we should be able to drink freely and control it ... We resumed drinking and soon got into the original trouble with new guilt and regret.

Alcohol dependence is a permanent and irreversible disease. Our experience tells us not to swear to stay awake for a long time. A more practical and effective statement is: "I just don't drink today."

Maybe we drank it yesterday, but we can decide not to drink it today. No matter what kind of temptation and anger we encounter, we try to avoid drinking the first glass of wine today.

If the desire to drink is too strong, then divide the 24 hours into smaller units-at least one hour-and we can tolerate the discomfort caused by this temporary abstinence, then one more hour! Another hour! Go ahead. If we succeed today, we have reason to believe that we can succeed tomorrow.

The "24-hour" plan is very casual. We can start over at any time, no matter where we are. At home, at work, in the hospital ward, at 4 pm or 3 am, we can always decide not to touch alcohol for the next 24 hours or 5 minutes.

We are just trying to live today (now), just to stay awake-it really works. Once this way of thinking becomes a part of our thinking, we find that a 24-hour life is equally effective and satisfying for dealing with other things.

Step 4 take action

The more we want to stay away from alcohol, the more we want to drink. So simply staying away from alcohol (or not thinking about drinking) is not enough.

Once you stop drinking, how do you spend your free time? Most of us have formal work to do, but we still have a lot of free time to kill. Therefore, we must cultivate new hobbies, arrange colorful activities to fill these hours, and at the same time find a suitable outlet for the energy once addicted to alcohol.

There are many meaningful things that are suitable for us to do.

1. When you start abstinence, you can take a walk or take a brisk walk. Especially to new places you've never been before. Go for a leisurely stroll in the park or country road, but it's not a tiring March.

2. read. Although some of us can't settle down to study, we really should read some books, which can broaden our horizons, increase our life experience and concentrate more.

Visiting museums or galleries, some people choose photography is also good.

4. Swimming, running, cycling, yoga or other exercises recommended by doctors.

5. Deal with long-neglected housework. Tidy up the wardrobe, dresser, file documents in different categories, or deal with things that we have put off for a long time. But when we do these things, we should not be greedy and do what we can. Don't clean the whole kitchen or all the files at once, but clean one drawer or one folder at a time and do other work another day.

6. Try to cultivate new hobbies. Choose activities that are not too expensive or demanding, purely entertaining, without competitive pressure and refreshing. Such as singing, writing, tropical fish, carpentry, basketball, cooking, bird watching, amateur performances, wood carving, gardening, guitar, movies, dancing, stone carving, potted plants, collection and so on. Many people find that the activities they really like now are actually hobbies that they never considered trying in the past.

7. regain the fun of the past. A watercolor painting, table tennis or go, reading notes, etc. The one you haven't polished for years, continue these hobbies. But if you think it's no longer suitable for you, give it up.

8. Go to class. Learn Japanese or English? Love history or math? Want to know about archaeology or anthropology? Or cooking, computer operation, and then go to correspondence, TV University or adult education (just interest, not necessarily credit certificate). There are many places where you can take classes only once a week. Why not try it? Taking classes can not only broaden your horizons, but also broaden your life. In case you are tired of the content of the class, don't hesitate to quit immediately and learn to give up activities that are not beneficial to you or have no positive, positive and healthy significance. Let us summon up courage to face it again and have the opportunity to appreciate a new side of life besides drinking.

9. Volunteer to do some useful services. Many hospitals, children's service institutions and social welfare organizations are in great need of volunteers to provide various services. We can have many choices. When we can contribute to others, even if it is only a trivial service, we will find it particularly useful. Even when we talk about the process of participating in these activities and related information, we will feel very interested and particularly involved.

10. As most of us know, there are many ways to get a new hairstyle, wear new clothes, change glasses, or even update teeth, which will have unexpected pleasant effects.

1 1. Relax. Not everything we do in our daily life must be positive and innovative. We also need to do some activities purely for fun, such as kites, zoos, comedy movies, soul music, detective stories and so on. If you don't like them, then find other fun activities that have nothing to do with drinking, just treat yourself.

Step 5 change old habits

In the process of drinking, we have fixed time periods, familiar places and habitual activities. Especially when we are tired, hungry, lonely, angry or particularly happy, these seemingly ordinary and repetitive scenes are dangerous traps for our sober life.

When we first quit drinking, it is very helpful to look back on our past drinking habits to find ways to overcome our addiction. The place where we are often used to buying wine may be the supermarket we pass by when we go to work. Each of us always has our own favorite place to drink. Whether drinking with friends or drinking at a fixed time every day, we can find out when and which days we are used to drinking from the past drinking trajectory.

We can adjust all the details of life related to drinking problems.

32. What is "sliding"?

In the mutual abstinence association, people usually refer to the recurrence of old diseases as "slipping". Slipping may occur in the first few weeks or months of abstinence, or after several years of abstinence. They either deliberately forget that they have admitted that they are alcoholics, thus becoming too confident in their ability to control drinking; Or stop attending meetings of the mutual abstinence association and have no informal communication with other members; Or indulge in business or social activities, so as to forget the importance of staying awake; Or get bored and lose psychological and emotional defense.

34. What is a "24-hour plan"?

The "24-hour program" expresses the basic attitude of the mutual abstinence association in staying awake. AA members will never swear never to drink again for life and never promise never to drink again tomorrow. Facts have proved that even if the will not to drink is firm, it can't compare with the desire to drink. The most important thing is not to drink and stay awake. All they can do is to drink 24 hours a day. "I won't drink a glass of wine today. Maybe tomorrow I may be tempted to drink, and I may give in to the temptation. But tomorrow's business will have to wait until tomorrow. The problem I want to solve is not to drink a glass of wine in the next 24 hours. "

"Don't worry, take your time", "Be kind to others as yourself" and "Do the most important thing first". Because of the attitude they adopt to solve the problems they encounter in daily life, it is based on the contents of these slogans that most AA members can benefit a lot from their efforts to give up drinking.

37. Can AA help me solve my family problems?

Alcoholism is often the chief culprit in worsening family life, which will turn small frictions into family tragedies, expose personality defects and make the already poor life worse. Many people have made a mess of their family life before joining the mutual abstinence association. Almost all the new members who sincerely follow the AA abstinence program have successfully repaired the broken family life, and the family relationship is closer than before. Of course, sometimes the destroyed family life is irreparable, so we should cultivate a brand-new attitude towards family life. Generally speaking, the family life of members of mutual abstinence association can generally have a happy ending.

Experience shows that if an alcoholic turns to AA only to avoid family quarrels, but not really eager to quit drinking, it will be difficult for him to quit drinking successfully. Therefore, we should put the sincere desire of abstinence in the first place. Once you give up drinking, alcoholics will find that other problems in life can be dealt with in a realistic way and are likely to be solved successfully.

29. If I join a mutual abstinence association, will I lose a lot of friends and fun?

The general view of people who have joined the mutual abstinence association is that they did not enjoy real friendship or real fun before joining the mutual abstinence association. Their views on friends and fun have changed.

Of course, it is important to distinguish the friendship between friends and the familiarity with people who drink in pubs. Alcoholics who join AA are likely to miss those funny drinkers for some time. However, the new members will meet with thousands of AA members at the AA meeting, and these members will take their place. AA members will accept new members with sympathy and help them stay awake at all times.

Few AA members are willing to exchange the pleasure of abstinence for what they call the pleasure before abstinence.

30. What is the "Twelve Steps"?

"Twelve Steps" is the core of the individual abstinence program of the Alcoholic Abstinence Association. These steps are not abstract theories: they are based on the experience of early members of the mutual abstinence association after repeated attempts. These steps include some ideas and activities that early members think are very helpful for their successful abstinence. But you don't have to accept the "twelve steps"

However, experience shows that those members who make serious efforts to follow these steps and apply them to their daily lives can get more help from the Mutual Abstinence Association than those who take the "Twelve Steps" lightly. Some people say that it is actually impossible to follow these steps meticulously all day. This may make sense, because the twelve steps represent an attitude towards life that most alcoholics have never heard of. However, many AA members believe that the Twelve Steps is a practical and indispensable scheme if they want to remain abstinent.

The following is the full content of the twelve steps. They were first elaborated in the book Alcoholics Mutual Honesty, which is the experience of the Mutual Abstinence Association.

Step 1: We admit that there is nothing we can do about alcohol, which makes our life a mess.

Step 2: We begin to realize that there is a power beyond ourselves that can make us come to our senses.

Step 3: Make up your mind to entrust our wishes and lives to the "God" we believe in.

Step 4: Make a thorough and brave self-moral review.

Step 5: Admit the nature of your mistakes to God, yourself and others.

Step 6: Get ready for "God" to get rid of all the weaknesses in our character.

Step 7: Ask God to get rid of our shortcomings.

Step 8: List the names of people who have been hurt by us and consciously admit your mistakes to everyone.

Step 9: Try to apologize to those we have hurt without hurting them.

Step 10: constantly review yourself and admit when you do something wrong.

Step 11: Through silent prayer and self-reflection, strengthen communication with the "God" we know, so as to understand what he has taught us and gain the strength to follow their teaching.

Step 12: After implementing these steps and gaining ideological awareness, try to convey this message to other alcoholics and implement these principles in all daily affairs.