End in sight

A week from Sunday I can allow myself a drink again. No more rueful sighs at 6:00 PM, after some outdoor work on a weekend, or when company comes. Once I remove the prohibition will I be able to control the impulse? Well, I controlled it in the past before I considered it a possible problem. I expect my old habits to reestablish themselves.

But if they do, is that a good thing? I have learned something about the centrality of alcohol in my life by doing without it. I hope I can return to it more judiciously in the months ahead.

I should come up with a set of questions I should ask myself in a few weeks or monthes time as a check of how I'm doing.

In a few weeks:

• Have I been drinking more than I did before I went on the wagon? ("More" means in excess of a dozen beers in a week or three bottles of wine in a week with one bottle of wine substituting for four beers.)


• Am I drinking when I go out to eat? (I did this before, but it's an indulgence and a budget-buster.)

In a few months:

• Do I try to conceal how much I have drunk?


• Do I drink after the others have gone to bed?


• Have I lost my temper more often?
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