You want to give up drinking and you are having a hard time.  Alcoholism is a disease and one always has to fight hard to lick a disease. Do you think that people who have cancer and are on Chemo have it easy? Who wants to feel nauseous? Lose hair? You get the picture.

Let’s face some facts here.

• If you are having a hard time admitting to yourself that you need to give up drinking the very circumstance that you are reading this material means that your are thinking about it. According to Prochaska et al (1992) one model suggests five stages an alcoholic and/or multi –substance abuser goes through. The first is  a precontemplation which consists of “do I really have a problem and if, is it really serious?” The next stage is contemplative where the patient thinks, “Yes, there does seem to be problem but am I going to do something about it? I am not ready to make a commitment to change even though I know there is a problem.” The third stage is called preparation. The alcoholic cuts down on the drinking and looks for help from a substance abuse facility. The final two stages, action and maintenance are the goals the patient needs to reach. Here the patient goes into treatment, gives up drinking and educates herself on how to avoid relapses.

This bit of information was taken from my book, The Drinking Woman Revisited.  (when reprinting I have to give credit).

Let me say something more here: many women thinking about giving up drinking feel sometimes shy about joining a group. Don’t. Trust me nothing shocks the women in Alcoholics Anonymous – yes, there are women only AA groups. You also may consider joining Women For Sobriety Group. Go for it. Be good to yourself. Even if you are only thinking about giving up drinking join.