Have you actually tried to stay sober for 12 months? I know for a fact that many alcoholics think they choose to drink, when in reality they have become so addicted that they cannot stop even if they tried.
This. I tried to convince my buddies on the "block" to stay away from it, and they were ready, but in 2 days it all came back, because "it's not funny, how do we hang out?" When they don't have money to drink enough, it's silent funeral of time.
I'm not sobriety prophet. I drink on occasion, but every time I regret that stupid state.
My alcoholic friends of all ages are all good guys, and I wish I could discuss with them on some complex themes, but after two hours of consumption they turn into repeating the same primitive shit again and again, abusing me as free psychoanalytic or bad comedy listener. They think they're nice and interesting in that state, but the pattern is clearly seen just after few times. And I'm with them for decades. Alcohol addiction makes you think you're nothing without it, but the fact seems to be the opposite in my anecdotal experience.
That's sort of arbitrary. "Bet you can't stay sober for 40 years."
Also reminds me of Erdős and amphetamines: "(Ron Graham) bet him $500 that he could not stop taking the drug for a month. Erdős won the bet, but complained that during his abstinence, mathematics had been set back by a month." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Erdős#Personality
12 months is long enough that you get beyond withdrawals and habit of drinking, and start to settle into a new life without alcohol. It's long enough that you go through all holidays and occations where you normally rely on drinking. It's harder than most people believe.
Have you ever gone twelve months drinking and eating only the exact, blandest food required to sustain your life?
Have you ever gone twelve months spending time doing anything other than your favourite activity?
Have you ever gone twelve months spending time with people who aren't your friends, when you would rather be elsewhere?
Of course, physically and mentally, I could go without alcohol, in the same way that I could go without doing those other things. Will I, though? Would that be a good life choice? Will any of them make me better people who enjoys life more and more fully than otherwise?
You're free to do what you find correct. I've experienced first hand what relatives with alcohol abuse means. It's not good, even when you're "functional". Sooner or later the liver gives up, or dementia sets in, usually before 50 - it's ugly and I wouldn't wish it for anyone.
No, but I can go a couple of weeks easily and in the past I've gone a couple of months with no real effort. Two months is far past any possible physical addiction and the habit is pretty much gone. I chose to start drinking again because I enjoy it.
As an equivalent challenge, there are significant health benefits to going vegetarian. Have you tried to go completely meat-free for 12 months? Maybe you think you choose to eat meat, but in reality you're so addicted to it that you can't stop. Are you going to quit eating meat for a year just to prove a point to an internet stranger?
Thats a fair point, and good for you. I simply asked to provoke a bit of an answer. Several of my near relatives have died from a life long abuse of alcohol, and each and every one claimed they could stop cold turkey. Yet, neither did when they got fired, or missed a plane to vacation, or one of many other things that, caused by drinking, had a profound negative impact on their life.
I have gone meat free for a month, but the constant hassel of getting enough protein for myself, and double cooking because I'm not going to impose it on the rest of my family, was too much. I am now eating less meat now as a result though.
