Golly I do that often - bus pass, housekeys, pound for the pot, maybe my phone. It works for me - it's saved me more than once. Also, that's great about your steps. I think my sponsor takes it slower, which is fine with me, but that line in I think chapter 6 about step 9 "we will be in a place of neutrality with respect to alcohol" - I am so impatient for that feeling. (Actually, I'm impatient for lots of things - typical alcoholic really! - but that one is often on my mind)
saf hope it works for you. You can always come and check in here when you're home. For me, drinking when I was out with DD, either at lunchtime or evening, and though it was rare for me, has been one of those things that convinced me that the 'unacceptable' had become 'acceptable'. I thought society was wrong, but it turned out that I had a problem. If I hadn't, I doubt I'd have been wondering what others thought.
Mouse could that have been your convincer? Or do you still need more. If it means you have learned, then that night was not at all wasted, and those drinks were necessary. You don't need to hang your head low, you really don't. You are a lovely lady, and you have a problem. You are not bad or terrible or anything you might think of yourself. But you've said it yourself, you have to be ready, and as you well know, I needed kicking again and again for months before I was ready, if I even am now, so you will never get any judgement from me.
WannaBe I'm so sorry to hear about your FIL, and I guess being isolated there with your DH at home is going to be tough - remember we are here, across the ether.
I don't cook with alcohol and have found I can't even comfortably drink even water out of a wine glass. It sets my head off. I can't remember who said it here recently that it's not so much how much you drink but what it does to your mind that's the problem. Wine glasses set my head off, as at times, still, does being around alcohol (and I certainly couldn't go on holiday yet!) but I anticipate that changing because everyone with longer sobriety than me says it does! I had risotto with no alcohol in it on Saturday and it was lovely - similarly, my lasagne (etc) doesn't seem to have suffered. But I often like to think of all the little issues to avoid the bigger issues, and I still do it.
Jemima glad you are better. I don't know if you are in AA/ have ever been/ would consider yourself an alcoholic so the issues - and they are for me, I don't want anyone else to think I am making any sort of blanket statements, I was just thinking aloud the other day when I mentioned this - that I am thinking about may be irrelevant or mad to you.
I used alcohol to change the way I felt, because I couldn't cope with normal life. I have tried to use things, and people, to fix me, rather than looking at me. If I stop drinking, and there is no alcohol in my system at all - which there isn't - does that make me fixed, cured, problem solved? For me, it doesn't seem like it, because it's me, not the alcohol, that has the problem. The solution, for me, is in the AA programme. But I'll never be able to change the way I think if I hang on to my old ways of thinking - using caffeine, or medication, or even sex/ exercise/ work/ sugar/ etc., to change the way I feel and fix myself. I am learning slowly to see the difference between my needs - which are always met - and my wants - which are never satisfied. I am not sure which category my antidepressants are in, the only way to know is to try and withdraw them, and if it's disastrous, then I have my answer. Diet coke is definitely a want though.
I will stop there in case this is irrelevant and unhelpful for everyone else, it was peripheral ponderings, not vital stuff - the most important job for me today is to put my head on the pillow tonight sober and it's looking good so far. Apologies for the essay and big big apologies if I've not been helpful.