Rewards Of Alcoholism:
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 773
Rewards Of Alcoholism:
I was just curious as to what benefits you guys received when the alcohol/drugs worked in your lives.
I think I began drinking alcoholic like to have fun. The truth is that I did have a lot of fun the first few years. A person once told me that we drink for 3 reasons: have fun, relax and forget. I know my last year of using, I just wanted to forget. I wanted to forget all the destruction alcohol caused and all the messes that I created.
Sober Since.......None Of Your Business!
I think I began drinking alcoholic like to have fun. The truth is that I did have a lot of fun the first few years. A person once told me that we drink for 3 reasons: have fun, relax and forget. I know my last year of using, I just wanted to forget. I wanted to forget all the destruction alcohol caused and all the messes that I created.
Sober Since.......None Of Your Business!
Don't get undies in a bunch
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: South Shore MA
Posts: 7,120
Rewards?
Lets see...
Helped me realize I had moral defects.
Helped me realize alcohol is not my friend.
Helped me realize I am Not the center of the universe.
Helped me realize there is a God and I am not Him.
Helped me realize that some of the best people I have ever met through my whole lifetime are those who have lived a life that has many say...we have been to hell and back and that on the trip back they learned many things.
Respect, compassion, love, joy and people filled with such are great people to be around.
Lets see...
Helped me realize I had moral defects.
Helped me realize alcohol is not my friend.
Helped me realize I am Not the center of the universe.
Helped me realize there is a God and I am not Him.
Helped me realize that some of the best people I have ever met through my whole lifetime are those who have lived a life that has many say...we have been to hell and back and that on the trip back they learned many things.
Respect, compassion, love, joy and people filled with such are great people to be around.
Forum Leader
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Scottsdale, AZ, one big happy dysfunctional family!
Posts: 23,056
Originally Posted by tiburon88 
A person once told me that we drink for 3 reasons: have fun, relax and forget.
Then came the nightmare, the terror, the bewilderment and the horror of my addiction.
I'll take another 24 hours of sobriety please.
Coffee Drinker
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Lobstah Land
Posts: 1,122
Originally Posted by tiburon88
I was just curious as to what benefits you guys received when the alcohol/drugs worked in your lives.
It has been such a very long time since I Perceived that I was bennefitting, that I really don't remember good times.
I do, however, vividly remember one big industrial strength dose of Misery though.
Ted
1 bite&all resistance crumbles
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: IRELAND
Posts: 2,208
Originally Posted by best
Rewards?
Lets see...
Helped me realize I had moral defects.
Helped me realize alcohol is not my friend.
Helped me realize I am Not the center of the universe.
Helped me realize there is a God and I am not Him.
Helped me realize that some of the best people I have ever met through my whole lifetime are those who have lived a life that has many say...we have been to hell and back and that on the trip back they learned many things.
Respect, compassion, love, joy and people filled with such are great people to be around.
Lets see...
Helped me realize I had moral defects.
Helped me realize alcohol is not my friend.
Helped me realize I am Not the center of the universe.
Helped me realize there is a God and I am not Him.
Helped me realize that some of the best people I have ever met through my whole lifetime are those who have lived a life that has many say...we have been to hell and back and that on the trip back they learned many things.
Respect, compassion, love, joy and people filled with such are great people to be around.
I love what you say here...really resonates wtih me, thank you!
Cathy31
x
Member
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Righthere, Rightnow
Posts: 1,424
I think I drank to escape in the beginning, even though I told myself it was for fun, which it was in the beginning. But then it stopped working for me. And then I found out I couldn’t quit. Luckily, I became desperate and reached out. Then I was transported into AA and I haven't had a drink since.
Member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: los angeles, CA
Posts: 65
I had a ton of fun for many years while drinking on weekends and with friends. Oddly enough if I could go back I think I would do it all over again because (thanks God) nothing extremely negative happened to us.
I've mainly decided to stop drinking because I'm ready for a different part of my life that doesn't include alcohol. I want to enjoy my kids and being buzzed or hung over doesn't fit in with that.
I don't hate alcohol.. We had a great run.. we're just not friends anymore and I'm moving on..
I've mainly decided to stop drinking because I'm ready for a different part of my life that doesn't include alcohol. I want to enjoy my kids and being buzzed or hung over doesn't fit in with that.
I don't hate alcohol.. We had a great run.. we're just not friends anymore and I'm moving on..
Member
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: on to bigger & better things
Posts: 4,122
I can pretty much relate to everyone's comments so far.
I did it all at first to fit in, to be accepted...to be you know..."cool". Then is was fun, so the "partying" began....things escalated and it was no longer just drinking and pot......after many years I realized I was addicted to different drugs....then I'd move on to another and another.....basically my life SUCKED real hard. Lost jobs, husbands, homes, self respect, self care, relationships with friends and family were really in shambles. After numerous attempts at sobriety...numerous trips to treatment.....Here I sit with 10 yrs and 6 days. LIFE IS GREAT AND COULD NOT BE BETTER!!!!!!! Way more than I had hoped for....I still have the mind of an alcoholic and at times it messes with me....but I am recovering a day at a time!!
I did it all at first to fit in, to be accepted...to be you know..."cool". Then is was fun, so the "partying" began....things escalated and it was no longer just drinking and pot......after many years I realized I was addicted to different drugs....then I'd move on to another and another.....basically my life SUCKED real hard. Lost jobs, husbands, homes, self respect, self care, relationships with friends and family were really in shambles. After numerous attempts at sobriety...numerous trips to treatment.....Here I sit with 10 yrs and 6 days. LIFE IS GREAT AND COULD NOT BE BETTER!!!!!!! Way more than I had hoped for....I still have the mind of an alcoholic and at times it messes with me....but I am recovering a day at a time!!
Member
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posts: 21
Originally Posted by tiburon88
I was just curious as to what benefits you guys received when the alcohol/drugs worked in your lives.
I think I began drinking alcoholic like to have fun. The truth is that I did have a lot of fun the first few years. A person once told me that we drink for 3 reasons: have fun, relax and forget. I know my last year of using, I just wanted to forget. I wanted to forget all the destruction alcohol caused and all the messes that I created.
I think I began drinking alcoholic like to have fun. The truth is that I did have a lot of fun the first few years. A person once told me that we drink for 3 reasons: have fun, relax and forget. I know my last year of using, I just wanted to forget. I wanted to forget all the destruction alcohol caused and all the messes that I created.
simplysober
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 118
I think for me, alcohol was always a problem, I was never a casual drinker, i drank with one purpose, to get DRUNK.
Alcohol was never ever a reward for me. it was a punishment from day one.
I just didnt realise it.
Alcohol was never ever a reward for me. it was a punishment from day one.
I just didnt realise it.
Follow Directions!
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Fredericksburg, Va.
Posts: 9,730
So far I have not seen anything I could not relate with, here is my favorite way to share what alcohol did for me for the first 10 years of my 40 years of drinking 90% of the time:
I could look the world in the eye. I could be alone at perfect peace and ease. My fears fell from me. I began to feel the nearness of my Creator. I had certain spiritual beliefs, and began to have a spiritual experience. The feeling that the drink solution came strongly. I felt I was on the Broad Highway, walking hand in hand with the Spirit of the Universe.
I knew a new freedom and a new happiness. I did not regret the past, I shut the door on it. I comprehended the word serenity and I knew peace. No matter how much I drank, I knew my experience benefited others. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity disappeared. I gained interest in selfish things and lost interest in my fellows (Except women). Self-seeking was my way. My whole attitude and outlook upon life changed. Fear of people and of economic insecurity left me. I knew intuitively how to handle situations which used to baffle me. I suddenly realized that alcohol was doing for me what I could not do for myself.
Those first 10 years most of the time were great, then slowly alcohol turned on me and took away everything it had ever given me but kept telling me to try it again, it will work this time.
I could look the world in the eye. I could be alone at perfect peace and ease. My fears fell from me. I began to feel the nearness of my Creator. I had certain spiritual beliefs, and began to have a spiritual experience. The feeling that the drink solution came strongly. I felt I was on the Broad Highway, walking hand in hand with the Spirit of the Universe.
I knew a new freedom and a new happiness. I did not regret the past, I shut the door on it. I comprehended the word serenity and I knew peace. No matter how much I drank, I knew my experience benefited others. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity disappeared. I gained interest in selfish things and lost interest in my fellows (Except women). Self-seeking was my way. My whole attitude and outlook upon life changed. Fear of people and of economic insecurity left me. I knew intuitively how to handle situations which used to baffle me. I suddenly realized that alcohol was doing for me what I could not do for myself.
Those first 10 years most of the time were great, then slowly alcohol turned on me and took away everything it had ever given me but kept telling me to try it again, it will work this time.
Member
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Righthere, Rightnow
Posts: 1,424
Originally Posted by Tazman53
So far I have not seen anything I could not relate with, here is my favorite way to share what alcohol did for me for the first 10 years of my 40 years of drinking 90% of the time:
I could look the world in the eye. I could be alone at perfect peace and ease. My fears fell from me. I began to feel the nearness of my Creator. I had certain spiritual beliefs, and began to have a spiritual experience. The feeling that the drink solution came strongly. I felt I was on the Broad Highway, walking hand in hand with the Spirit of the Universe.
I knew a new freedom and a new happiness. I did not regret the past, I shut the door on it. I comprehended the word serenity and I knew peace. No matter how much I drank, I knew my experience benefited others. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity disappeared. I gained interest in selfish things and lost interest in my fellows (Except women). Self-seeking was my way. My whole attitude and outlook upon life changed. Fear of people and of economic insecurity left me. I knew intuitively how to handle situations which used to baffle me. I suddenly realized that alcohol was doing for me what I could not do for myself.
Those first 10 years most of the time were great, then slowly alcohol turned on me and took away everything it had ever given me but kept telling me to try it again, it will work this time.
I could look the world in the eye. I could be alone at perfect peace and ease. My fears fell from me. I began to feel the nearness of my Creator. I had certain spiritual beliefs, and began to have a spiritual experience. The feeling that the drink solution came strongly. I felt I was on the Broad Highway, walking hand in hand with the Spirit of the Universe.
I knew a new freedom and a new happiness. I did not regret the past, I shut the door on it. I comprehended the word serenity and I knew peace. No matter how much I drank, I knew my experience benefited others. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity disappeared. I gained interest in selfish things and lost interest in my fellows (Except women). Self-seeking was my way. My whole attitude and outlook upon life changed. Fear of people and of economic insecurity left me. I knew intuitively how to handle situations which used to baffle me. I suddenly realized that alcohol was doing for me what I could not do for myself.
Those first 10 years most of the time were great, then slowly alcohol turned on me and took away everything it had ever given me but kept telling me to try it again, it will work this time.
This sounds awfully familiar to me Taz.
Another Day in Paradise
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Upland, CA
Posts: 900
Kind of made the quote meaningless
When alcohol became the focus and not the background in my life, it was time to quit.
"I had a ton of fun for many years while drinking on weekends and with friends. Oddly enough if I could go back I think I would do it all over again because (thanks God) nothing extremely negative happened." -Macphisto
That quote pretty well sums it up for me as well. I don't know when I "crossed the line" but when I wanted to cross back it wasn't there any more! I actually originally went to AA in order to learn to "drink better." I was just going to attend for about 90 days and then I figured that I would return to my "old drinking style." LIKE A GENTLEMAN. As it is said "I don't know when a cucumber becomes a cucumber, but it won't ever be a pickle again."
I ain't no cucumber anymore!!
Jon
"I had a ton of fun for many years while drinking on weekends and with friends. Oddly enough if I could go back I think I would do it all over again because (thanks God) nothing extremely negative happened." -Macphisto
That quote pretty well sums it up for me as well. I don't know when I "crossed the line" but when I wanted to cross back it wasn't there any more! I actually originally went to AA in order to learn to "drink better." I was just going to attend for about 90 days and then I figured that I would return to my "old drinking style." LIKE A GENTLEMAN. As it is said "I don't know when a cucumber becomes a cucumber, but it won't ever be a pickle again."
I ain't no cucumber anymore!!
Jon
Last edited by Jfanagle; 09-01-2007 at 12:02 PM. Reason: misstated quote
Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 558
I remember when I was much younger, there was a time when I really couldn't face people at all, it was like a phobia, it was very bad. Just walking into a shop was a terrible ordeal and I couldn't talk to people without being incredibly scared. I remember someone asking me if I was on amphetimines, I was so nervy. Of course I wasn't, I was just scared, so scared all the time. The only relief I felt was with alcohol. You know that great feeling you get on a rollercoaster (I love it!) when you whoosh downwards, well, for me it was like that only prolonged. It felt wonderful, I can't imagine any other drug being any better. The relief was wonderful.
My pattern then was to drink on an evening till I was drunk and then have a few days recovering, it wasn't till I was in my 30's that I actually drank two days in a row and that was from pressure from someone insisting I had a drink. But it progressed very quickly early on. I look back on my life now and it seems like one long breakdown that I only started to recover from in my late 40's when suddenly I began to realise the mess I was making of my life.
That said, I had some enjoyable times drinking - usually on my own! Though my dad always liked a drink ( he's not an alcoholic - he's 83 now and still enjoys his beer and wine and its good to see him enjoying it too) and we spent some very enjoyable evenings together - can't remember what we talked about but we enjoyed them. He knows now I can't share it with him any more.
Through it all, I've brought 2 children up (I was lucky with those 2 - though I like to think I had something to do with their turning out to be genuinely nice people - always told them I loved them, cuddled them and told them I was proud of them etc). I even did a BSc in psychology at one time - didn't do anything with it except started drinking more (it seemed a good idea at the time when faced with either that or writing a thesis - everything was a last minute rush job!). (I was divorced when the boys were very little).
Today I have no regrets. Today I have to be humble because of all the daft mistakes I've made - I can't go judging other people! Today I have so much gratitude, life is so good and every day is getting better (touch wood!). I have everything I need and I love it. Hopefully I have a bit more sense today than I used to and I'm not so frightened any more. Growing older seems to have dampened down the anxiety somehow. I'm in a good marriage (well,ok, he can be a right pain sometimes - but then he's put up with me too!) and we're coming up to 7years married). I can really appreciate everything now. If it hadn't been for alcohol would I have been this happy now?
Anyway, thanks for letting me get all that out, sorry for going on, but its such a lovely site this SR place!
My pattern then was to drink on an evening till I was drunk and then have a few days recovering, it wasn't till I was in my 30's that I actually drank two days in a row and that was from pressure from someone insisting I had a drink. But it progressed very quickly early on. I look back on my life now and it seems like one long breakdown that I only started to recover from in my late 40's when suddenly I began to realise the mess I was making of my life.
That said, I had some enjoyable times drinking - usually on my own! Though my dad always liked a drink ( he's not an alcoholic - he's 83 now and still enjoys his beer and wine and its good to see him enjoying it too) and we spent some very enjoyable evenings together - can't remember what we talked about but we enjoyed them. He knows now I can't share it with him any more.
Through it all, I've brought 2 children up (I was lucky with those 2 - though I like to think I had something to do with their turning out to be genuinely nice people - always told them I loved them, cuddled them and told them I was proud of them etc). I even did a BSc in psychology at one time - didn't do anything with it except started drinking more (it seemed a good idea at the time when faced with either that or writing a thesis - everything was a last minute rush job!). (I was divorced when the boys were very little).
Today I have no regrets. Today I have to be humble because of all the daft mistakes I've made - I can't go judging other people! Today I have so much gratitude, life is so good and every day is getting better (touch wood!). I have everything I need and I love it. Hopefully I have a bit more sense today than I used to and I'm not so frightened any more. Growing older seems to have dampened down the anxiety somehow. I'm in a good marriage (well,ok, he can be a right pain sometimes - but then he's put up with me too!) and we're coming up to 7years married). I can really appreciate everything now. If it hadn't been for alcohol would I have been this happy now?
Anyway, thanks for letting me get all that out, sorry for going on, but its such a lovely site this SR place!
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