I just want to know how you feel about this. I am 8 months into TSM and have beated my addiction to beer and vodka. However, I struggle with wine. I can tell it is slowly very slowly changing my taste for the wine. However, Im still very far from beating the wine habit. So to my reason for the post....

How do you deal with "non-believers" in the method. Very few people think it is legit. My mom (God Love Her!!) is my only support system. I have no boyfriend and the few that I have dated hear what I'm doing, think it is stupid, and run quickly in the other direction to a girl who can handle her alcohol... I hate that I have no social life. Well, I didn't mean to make this a whine session but I'm just discouraged today. Had a bad night last night....hungover....

IS THE CURE FOR THE WINE COMING???????

Silly, I've got a wine habit too, but it is slooooowwwwwlllly changing. This whole thing just takes a lot more time than we originally thought. As far as cynical people go, they are usually cynical because of problems and prejudices of their own. Those girls who "can handle their alcohol" now may not be looking so good in a couple of years. We TSMers, however will be cured, in control, de-addicted and in a better place to deal with life's challenges. Some people are running from their problems with alcohol; we are facing them head on, and beating them!

And this is why I'm not openly sharing this method with people other than a few close friends. It's like announcing you're going on a diet and will work out every day...then someone sees you eat a brownie and judges you. I know TSM is working, though not as fast as stated, so there have been occasions of overindulging which would lead people to think the method is an excuse to drink.. Frankly, I might be skeptical of someone doing this if I didn't have an AL problem.

Maybe don't tell someone you just started dating.. no reason to share info that quickly..

I hear you! Exactly for this reason I have not told anyone, beside my gf.
She deals with it well so far, even tries to give me possibilities to drink when being outside of the house. (with family for example).

Sillygrits,

At the end of the day, the only person you can count on is yourself. Be a big believer in yourself and the cynical people just don't matter. Personally, I have turned off every single friend I have ever had and now I have my family and my BF. They all love me for me. If people go running the other way, they weren't the kind of people you want to be surrounded by anyway. People need to love you and value you for who you are - good and bad. If they can't do that then they are not worthy of your love and friendship. I'm not saying that it doesn't hurt - it hurts like hell and sometimes doesn't even make any sense. We are here for a reason - maybe you are meant to go this alone for now.

I am giving myself 9 months for the extinction and, yes, my vice is wine. I think wine is a little different than hard liquor because it usually has romantic connotations linked to it - when I think of sitting down with a good book, I have a glass of wine, a cozy night by the fire, a glass of wine, an enjoyable dinner out, a glass of wine, get togethers with family and friends, a glass of wine, a nice bubble bath, a glass of wine - you get the picture?? Whenever and whatever I do, there is my friend wine. It's more than just a drink, it's a lifestyle, a habit. In the good old days it used to be a cup of tea I would associate to relaxing and enjoying. Soon, soon.

I so hear ya, OP. My boyfriend's at a bad stage right now (I'm praying it's the big spike that comes before the drop) and right now everyone he knows is trying to get him into AA or something similar. No one wants to listen about TSM or learn anything about it, they just want to stick him in AA, they think he's not doing anything about his problem. It really sucks. Everyone thinks he is making excuses to keep drinking, and that I'm just sitting around enabling him to do so. I'm hoping to god his numbers start to go down soon so we can show people some progress.

I have explained this method to both our families until I'm blue in the face and people just don't get it. Everyone just says, "you have to stop drinking!" Yeah no s@!t sherlock, thanks a ton. I almost wish we had just kept this a secret and continued trying to cover up the extent of his drinking, or just lied to everyone and said he was taking AA classes. Ugh.

It's a hard thing to grasp from the "outside". Try to keep the faith and just hang in - If there has been progress so far, chances are it will continue. No more talking about it.