Hi Chrissie, I have been reading through your posts and am impressed with your progress. Thank you for the encouragement that you have offered. I like what you said in the beginning about being able to enjoy a drink as opposed to fearing it and then feeling remorseful afterwards. Also, the wanting to get to the point where you "don't give a rat's ass whether you drink or not". I couldn't have said it better myself! Are you there yet? Thanks again...Keek

Thanks, Keek for your comments and outreach. I see I haven't updated here for a while, so today is as good as any.

To answer your question, no, I haven't achieved the degree of apathy towards alcohol hoped for in my first post, but I can say for certain that my interest in drinking IS continuing to diminish and my trajectory seems to be headed towards that initial goal. My journey w/ TSM has been fairly long and completely undramatic, and I think Nal has gotten me most of the way to where I want to be. I maintain that I regained control at 52 weeks, but for some reason I'm reluctant to shout out "Cured!"

TSM has been a real learning experience about myself and as I posted somewhere recently, I realize now that I am no longer enslaved to alcohol, that I've been blaming it for pretty much EVERYTHING that is "wrong" w/ my life. I'm amazed to find there are still plenty of ways to do self-sabotage and engage in useless behaviors . But this is a good thing to find out, because now I can work on THEM, and not be thinking/talking about alcohol! Yes, alcohol felt like a big problem in my life, but it is not THE "problem". So...towards that end, I've made an appt. to talk to a psychologist next Monday, a man I've consulted once before and feel comfortable with. I'm very excited about the possibilities for that, because this major complication (booze) has been removed! Also, I'm excited to talk to the doc. about TSM...I've not shared this journey w/ anyone except all you good people on this forum, and it will be fun to lay this on him

Chrissie, that's great that you're doing to talk to someone about TSM. Let us know how it goes. I haven't told anyone about TSM: I feel like they wouldn't understand or would think that it's a placebo effect or something.

Hi Chrissie,

Sailorbox here. Still have not had the first drink but plan that first glass of wine, maybe, on Christmas day with a full meal. Have had a sip from a couple of bottles of wine that I have opened for my wife and it seems to invoke memories when i do, just a taste though, 1/2 tsp. Anyway I guess we will see if I go through with it in another week. Like to hear from you.

Hi Chrissie,

I'm so glad you mentioned no longer being enslaved to alcohol. That is so inspiring to hear. I hope I can get there some day too. So how was your experience with the psychologist? I hope its going well for you. Psychotherapy can be challanging but also rewarding if one sticks it out. Sometimes are harder than others. Let me know how you are doing.

Best Wishes