When You Want
to Drink

You are here because you want to drink. That is the whole situation. This page is for right now.

First: slow down

Do not act in the next two minutes. That is all. Not forever. Two minutes.

The urge is time-limited. It will peak and begin to subside on its own if you do not act on it. The feeling that it will keep intensifying indefinitely is part of the urge itself - not an accurate prediction of what will happen.

Set a timer if it helps. Two minutes. Read the rest of this while it runs.

What is actually in your control right now

Epictetus: some things are in our control, others are not. The urge appearing is not in your control. The intensity of the craving is not in your control. What you do in the next two minutes is.

That jurisdiction is smaller than you want. It is real. Every person who has ever built a sober life has done it through repeated choices in that small space - not through overcoming addiction through willpower, but through making the right choice once, and then again.

One action

Pick one: contact someone (text, call, anything), change your physical location (outside, different room), use the Insight Tool below for a specific Stoic response to the exact trigger you are experiencing.

Do not try to solve the whole problem tonight. One action. The urge will have peaked by the time you finish it.

If the urge is still strong after fifteen minutes

Call someone. If you have a sponsor, that is who to call. If not: a recovery line, a friend who knows your situation, anyone who can be on the other end of a phone.

Isolation makes cravings stronger. Contact makes them smaller. This is reliable and it is worth using.