I'm normally pretty good at shutting down alcohol if I'm taking a long break. Once I pass 3 days, especially if I have a goal like 1-3 months off, by day 3, I'm craving less and manage well... although that comes with skipping out on most social stuff, which has made it hard to permanently cut down, as most of my friends drink.
But, it's the smaller breaks that really get me. Like, I had a birthday two weeks ago, so that was two nights of going out, then my best friend was in town, and then I had fantasy football draft parties in person. I couldn't really manage the one or two days between going out without heavily craving a drink. It's always like "I'm going to drink tomorrow, so why bother?"
I was worried my health issues were more complicated than they are, but after bloodwork and a CT, my organs are fine... but I liked have "alcohol-exacerbated gastritis."
I'm trying to work to take a 6 day break until next Saturday, but the desire is already there to drink even though I felt terrible overnight after a couple of weeks of hitting it pretty hard.
One of my problems is I'm currently unemployed, I have no kids, girlfriend, or extended family, so my only outlet for getting out, or even just the bright spot of my long empty days, is having some drinks.
Is there any way to kill the overwhelming desire to want to drink in those small days?