Originally Posted by MelindaFlowers

Hey X2jm,

31 is a great time to stop. I stopped at 32 after starting to drink at 21 and then crashing and burning by the time I was 32. It started off like lots of people but I was always the one still up drinking when others had gone to bed. Well, that makes it sound like I drank with others. I drank mostly alone at home. Blackouts had become common and my whole body felt terrible every day. I drank every day and did not know what an evening would even look like without alcohol.

It's been 10 months since my last drink and I feel so much better. You do actually get used to being a non-drinker. I like that term because it feels so much less dramatic than alcoholic. I am an alcoholic but in conversation I use the term non-drinker. Alcohol wasn't even enjoyable anymore. Blackouts were really starting to bother me deeply and I just couldn't wake up one more day wondering what I had broken, who I had hurt, or what other danger and destructive things I had done.

I think early thirties is a great time to stop.

If there is one thing I can tell you that helped me it was this: Check in here every day. Read and post when you feel like it. Read and read. Your evenings are going to feel very long and a bit strange for a little while but you'll get used to it. I don't go to meetings myself but I used to always wonder: why do people have to go to meetings everyday? Can't they just stop and be done with it?

Checking in on here is my version of meetings. I am here every evening for an hour or two. It keeps my motivation fresh and it feels good when you can relate to others and maybe even help them out. Alcohol had such a hold on me I didn't know if I would ever stop. This is why I check in here every day. I look forward to hearing more from you.