MrPoutine

Hello everyone. I have been a regular visitor here for at least 2 years, perhaps close to 3 years. I tried to join shortly after my first visit, but I was blocked with a message that someone from my IP address had been banned from SR because he/she had made abusive posts, so I couldn't register. I found recently that I could now register on this site, so here I am. It was not me who made the abusive posts, so please don't kick me off SR.

A bit of background info about me:
First the good news: My last drink was in Dec 2012, i.e. 2 years and 4 months ago. I am happy now to not drink, I consider myself a non-drinker, just as I consider myself a non-smoker (never smoked).

Until the age of 60, I was a pretty light drinker, I was usually the designated driver when I went out with a group. However, I started to drink very heavily for a period of 5 years, starting at the age of 60 , heavily enough to end up in hospital 3 (or perhaps 4 times), including at least one seizure. After these hospital stays I had 4 periods in the local detox establishment, in 1 year.

I drank because I couldn't cope with the stress of my life, I needed to block out reality. My life had been pretty good until a few years ago, when I lost my job in the high-tech industry, amidst wide-spread lay-offs. I won't go into the details, but my life started go downhill after that (not because of the drinking - that started later). We made some poor financial decisions, including purchasing a small business. I started drinking after we had run the business for 3 years, mainly from the stress of watching my life savings go down the drain. We finally got out of the business after 8 years, before we had spent all savings. My wife and son (we all worked together in the business) eventually realized that we were were losing money, and wasting our lives trying to make a go of the business. The month we shut down the business , I stopped drinking. There were other things we had to fix up in our lives, but I could see positive things to live for once the business was out of our lives.

Life is good now. I am retired, and I do volunteer work tutoring high school kids in a disadvantaged area of town. Also I am taking courses at the local university - the courses are free for anyone over 65. Spring has finally reached this corner of Ontario, so I can start riding my bike again.

I appreciate reading posts from other people- especially I like the wide range of opinions on maintaining sobriety. I don't have any great wisdom to impart about quitting addiction. I know what worked for me, and what didn't. In case anyone is wondering, I did go to AA for 18 months, but I stopped attending meetings about 6 months after I quit drinking. I had a sponsor, and had been working the steps, but I never felt comfortable with AA. I told my sponsor I was leaving and thanked him for his time, and he was fine with that.

This is getting a bit long - so that's all for now.