I discovered alcohol in my second year of university (I have this theory that I come late to everything in life.) I’d had a miserable first year in university, but when I started drinking, I found that helped me through hard times. It made me less stressed and less shy.
The downside? I developed an alcohol problem. I don’t feel like going into the details here, but let’s just say, two years ago, when I got trashed at an office party, I knew it was time to quit. I knew that since I couldn’t always control my drinking, the only way for me to never get that drunk (and that hungover) again was to stop.
I’m not against other people drinking, as long as they’re not too careless about it (like I was.) I just know that it was best for me to quit drinking.
So I made it to two years now. It hasn’t always been easy. Those who have done it - quitting drinking, or any bad habit - know that it’s not something you do once, and that’s it. It’s an ongoing process. I have to work at it, and try hard to avoid drinking. There are times when I really want to drink. But I’ve been able to avoid it for two years, so I hope I can continue.
Congratulations Emily. Just keep doing what you are doing. I have been sober for one day, and I have been doing that for eighteen years. I had a couple of false starts before that, but it finally clicked when I made some life changes besides not drinking. I had to understand what was sabotaging my desire to quit drinking. It still isn’t easy, I think about it everyday. But I know I can make it through today; I will worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.
Congratulations! Never having gone through it myself, I can only say that I respect what it takes, based on all the stories I’ve heard. Best wishes keeping it up!
Up thread, make some life changes. You will get to the point of liking to be sober & clean.
Sober friends & companions are a big help. Church? AA? No bars? An escape plan at gatherings you must attend like work or family ones?
One minute, hour, day week, month, year at a time.
You are doing good. Hang tough.
Add a day at a time and I know you can get to
24+ years. I have
Good for you Emily G. Damn right it ain’t always easy. I remember what a guy said at an AA meeting once, quoting from How it Works: “remember that we deal with alcohol; cunning baffling powerful…”
He added: “and patient.”
He was right. I’ve proved it! I can’t presume to advise anybody on this matter, my own career being too…checkered, shall we say. But I’m glad whenever I hear that anybody has gotten free, so thank you, and good luck!
Yes, I don’t want to go through a program. For many reasons, one of them being that I wasn’t really addicted to alcohol in the first place - I didn’t drink every day. And I was having less and less of a problem with it as time went on, so quitting drinking is something that sort of happened gradually, even if there was a single moment that I decided to stop.
Drinking other things, while people around me are drinking alcohol, can help, I find.
Sober for all eternity!