To Rob's FRiend
I'd suggest ditching the anti-depressants as well. I think you are better off addicted to alcohol than those little monsters. I'm not saying 'everyone ditch your meds', but that crap gets prescribed way too often. Doctors get kickbacks for prescribing that stuff, so they have incentive to subscribe it.
You go into the Dr and say 'I drink too much. I have quit and now I'm depressed'. Doc will sign you up for some program and prescribe a pill or 3 and get a kickback for the program and the pills. Meanwhile, his drugs are going to affect your perception of reality, alter your moods in an unnatural way, and get you addicted to the pills instead of the booze.
Get involved in something that makes you feel good about yourself. That can be anything from volunteer work to getting a hobby you enjoy (other than drinking).
It's difficult to just give up one aspect of your life without replacing it with something else. Change your daily routine. Maybe start by going for a walk or a bike ride (getting the blood flowing with exercise can give you a new attitude) or go fishing if it's convenient. Little first steps like that will also give you some time to think about other things you may want to look into.
A pet can be a mood lifter, going to the shelter and adopting a cat or dog might also give you a positive feeling about doing something good, and be a constant reminder that you made a difference in the life of that animal.
Don't look at a couple of drinks you had one night out of the week as a sign of your weakness or that you failed until you are convinced it is something that you must give up completely. I'm not a professional and am not speaking from experience, I'm just speaking from common sense.
I think also one thing that rings a bell between you and a friend of mine who has an alcohol abuse problem is their perception that others like the 'drunken clown' you and don't like the 'sober you'. That is not the opinion our friends have of him, and I suspect it is a similar circumstance with you.
My friends and I are concerned about our friend, and we enjoy his company sober or not. He is at his worst when he drinks too much and doesn't know or remember what he does. When he is in NEED of getting drunk and unable to do anything else unless alcohol is involved it also is a concern. It becomes his main focus, and he cannot enjoy himself until objective drunk is met. That is what we do not like, the need for alcohol. The person is well liked and enjoyable. The need for alcohol in the person is not.
Good point, I took up sailing about four months into recovery. And then last year I got scuba certified. I had never done either of these things before in my life.
Last year, i did seven dives with sharks off Tahiti and Bora Bora. And this winter I'll have my sailing license to be able to rent sailboats for live-on family vacations in the Caribbean.
Because the one aspect I most remember of the first months of sobriety is that there are many hours in a day to be filled when you remove the drinking time , and the hang-over time. I mean A LOT of time.