What They Don’t Tell You About Quitting Alcohol

Why the detox makes you want to keep drinking.

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

There are a lot of reasons why quitting can be hard for someone. You can have both internal and external factors that may make it too difficult at times. When I first quit so many years ago, I had no way of knowing exactly what would happen in my first attempt and it was a lot of playing it by ear.

I’m sure that these experiences can be similar but I can only speak for myself. Here are the things I wish I had known and try to keep in mind as I quit drinking. I feel like in the beginning, I thought sobriety was all about just not drinking but it’s so much more nuanced than that. If you’re thinking of quitting, just know that it does get easier. But these are the things I wish I had prepared for a little more when I first quit.

Detox is the hardest

For me, it’s the first 2–3 days of sobriety. If I can make it past three days, I’m usually in the clear but it’s making it past even the first day that seems almost impossible at times.

In those first days, my body does not react well to quitting, especially if there’s a lot of external stress happening.

Detox for me is always the hardest part about quitting. Once I make it past 3 days, I don’t get any of the physical symptoms that…