I have to distract myself. When I first stopped drinking I went to a lot of AA meetings in the evening, because that's when I normally drank, when I was home alone, so I had to get out of the house. I no longer use AA as my program of recovery, but if all else fails, I know I can always go to a meeting.

Now when I feel like drinking, I write about it, either in my journal or on a couple of alcohol recovery support sites.

I also knit. I learned to knit lace, which is beautiful, but it requires my full concentration. There's no way I can knit and drink. So I knit, until the craving passes.

Sometimes if the craving is really bad, I just declare the day over and go to bed really early with a book or some DVD's.

It can also be helpful to have people you can call to talk to when you want to drink. I have a couple of good friends I can call and talk to.

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