Stories of people who gave up alcohol

[Guest]

Alcohol is never a constant problem for me -- but it is an infrequent problem and i am considering giving it up, though i don't know how i will becuase i really enjoy a glass of wine once in a while.

 

i don't drink daily, i drink at on occasional happy hour or once on the weekends. i don't black out, etc. but about once a month i will disregard the fact that i need to work the next day. and i will drink too much, not sleep enough, and call out sick from work as a result of my evening. i know this is wrong, and i feel guilty and horrible. right now i have a new job and i have called out once a month as a result of this after just 3 months. on top of being sick.

 

i feel like a terrible person for this, but i know other people who do it all the time and think nothing of it...and they are "highly functional people".

 

just curious to know any personal stories...stories about how your life has changed from stopping drinking, even if it was just once a week like me. and, sometimes i just have one drink and i don't "need" more. but sometimes i forget all responsibility and f things up. the worst is when i'm angry about other things...the drinking amplifies it...as it does in anyone i suppose.

 

stories?

[cantlivewithoutyou]

i won't tell you my story, but i do feel powerful to be able to say i don't drink anymore. being healthy and not wanting substances feels great. it sounds like you don't have a major problem but it also sounds like you have some guilt and might just feel better without it. it also feels good to not have to make excuses and miss out on work and other thngs.

[blind_otter]

I never needed alcohol every day. I would even go for a few weeks without drinking. I did other things, but ultimately it was the way I used alcohol that was unhealthy. As a way to cope. A method of escape. A mental vacation, I called it. Going away, just inside my head. And I did the once a month call-ins, but since I used other drugs as well, I would call in if I overindulged inthose as well, so the days added up. Once I was gone for a week.

 

I got into several relationships with alcoholics. Where our main method of recreation involved abusing one or more substances. I lost my job. I guess things started going wrong, and I started trying to escape even more with alcohol and drugs. I mean, it was ok while I held things together, but it was like I had set up dominos with the WAY I used alcohol, and once one thing went wrong, I drank more, and then more things went wrong because of the increased drinking which made me drink even MORE.

 

Eventually everything was f***ed up. My personal life, friends, family, finances, emotions. And I went to an AA meeting. It was the stories that got me -- people who had been caught in the loop I was in, but for longer, 20+ years for some. And the hope. That got me. I've never been Christian, even when I was Christian. I thought it would be more religious.

 

I learned there that it's not about how you use alcohol, but WHY you use it. And now God willing I will never touch it again.

 

For me, drinking is like russian roulette. I may drink and have a great time one night. Or it may go horribly wrong. And the pay off isn't worth the cost any more. I don't need it or want it.

[JosiePosie]

I just recently gave up alcohol for health and spiritual reasons. In my 20s I partied alot and did some embarassing things. In my 30s, I partied but the hangovers were getting worse and worse. It was common for me to blackout and get freakin' emotional over relationships while on a bender. Way too much emotional drama when partying was meant to relax and have fun.

 

I just turned 35 and been growing emotionally. I decided to quit using alcohol in order to quit the drama that comes along with it. I guess the "whys" were becoming more evident than the "hows". There are times when I am tempted to have a drink with dinner once in awhile, but that soon passes.

[inconsiderado]

it was the hardest thing i ever had to do...

[TeaCooler]

i went through bouts of serious drinking up until about a year ago. i gradually stopped drinking as much, then soon it became an non-issue.

 

i never really needed to drink...i just really really wanted to and had nothing else to do. it just became habit. i didn't freak out if i couldn't drink on a given day, but i knew another day would come and if i wanted to drink i could drink then. i think it felt good to know there was an option. "i should be doing something...drinking is doing something."

 

it wasn't the hardest thing to do because i wanted to stop. i didn't like waking up and wondering what happened the night before, and knowing it was something bad because i could feel the shame creep up from my stomach to my neck.

it's nice to know what i am doing when i do it now.

 

in my experience, if you start to think it's a problem, it probably is one or will become one...so it may be best to stop when before it becomes more of an issue.