getr345

How I did it?

Wow, that kinda seems like a loaded question. I just posted my way through the journey here so that was VERY helpful and of course all the posts more or less reveal the answer to that question in stages but I guess basically I just really really wanted to improve the quality of my life and free myself from drug & alcohol abuse, dependence, and addiction. I could see that the path I was on led to a bad place that I didn't wanna go. So first I quit drinking, not knowing if I even could or what that decision really meant for me and my future. I just knew I had to try. So I did. Then a month or so after that, I decided I needed to get free from nicotine addiction so I suffered through that for a week or so, and did that. Then shortly after that I decided after much mental wrangling that I needed to quit smoking pot and stop messing with pain pills so I did that. Then I joined a gym and gradually my diet improved to the point where I'm now so careful about what I put in my body; and I was getting back in great shape and really feeling good about myself, seeing the improvements every day on the scale and in the mirror and in how I felt. And I take daily vitamins and herbal supplements.

So that's how I'm doing it.

Not sure I can say I "did" anything yet because I do not claim to be drunkproof by any means or truly out of the woods with any of the other junk I was stuck in. I slipped with a little pot as recently as the 4th of July. Think I might have finally finally learned my lesson there which is that I don't like smoking pot, lol.. So, I know it's still early and that life is long (if I'm lucky and sober) and that it will present more and more challenges in the years ahead but by doing what I'm doing now, I've at least given myself a good chance to succeed (where before I had ZERO chance) and I think I just may be able to hold it together for the long haul.

On top of all that, I got open about my recovery and my sobriety. I talked to people about it, including good friends and family. It became (it is) the focal point of my life, not just something going on in the background, or secretly, or reluctantly. I openly embraced the journey I put myself on and was glad when two good friends, inspired by my decision and by my candor, decided to join me on their own much needed journeys towards sobriety. Any feelings of shame I might have had at having gotten to that low point were replaced by pride for having made the decision to pull out of it, and that pride grows daily. I worked myself back into most if not all of the things I used to do for fun and recreation, I just do them now without drugs or alcohol. Things like concerts, sporting events, vacations, etc.