reggiewayne

I wanted to know if there is anyone out there that is actually less happy since they quit drinking? I assume the answer is no and would love to hear how much your lives have improved. Today is day 1 AGAIN for me. Drank last night.... I'll await your responses... Thanks!

Mark75

Reggie...

I was, in fact, less happy for a while... Alcohol was the treatment for alcoholism, so once I wasn't treating it, I was much less happy. Thankfully there is recovery from alcoholism. I chose AA.

I am not less happy anymore. I am content and often I experience the feeling of freedom and joy.

rws177

Below is my response from a thread that someone made about "how has your life improved since getting sober"......No I don't regret quitting. It just feels lonely sometimes as I have less people to hang out with since I stopped. However I find a select few to hang out with and keep up with healthy hobbies.



Wow so many things have improved in my life since getting sober. Great thread! It's always nice to think about this stuff, especially on a Friday morning.



-have an amazing girlfriend who is beautiful on the inside and out

-making strides in jiujitsu and my overall health

-feeling of confidence in myself

-going to college at night

-saving money

-discovering who my "real" friends are and weeding out anyone who is/was holding me back in life

-not hurting the ones I love with my crazy behavior

-developing a relationship with God.

-meeting so many wonderful people who are living life to the fullest by being sober

-feeling like I am capable of doing anything in this life


There are probably a lot more that I am forgetting here. I think that everything in my life has improved in sobriety. Sure it sucks sometimes having to actually deal with emotions but I know in my heart that drinking would just make those problems alot worse!
__________________

Dee74

I thought my life was going to be miserable sober, but I wanted to save my life....& I figured my life was miserable anyway.

Instead what I found was, sober, free of the bondage of alcohol, I actually have a chance at being who I always wanted to be.

For the first time in my adult life, I'm happy, and I like who I am.

No regrets here Reggie - I hope you decide to keep moving forward too.

D

doggonecarl

You are asking two questions: 1) Do I regret quitting, and 2) am I less happy since quitting.

The answer to 1 is NO, I do not regret quitting. It was long overdue and I'm amazed to think that I will be 90 days sober in a couple days.

That said, am I happier? Not always. I have found myself facing situations and emotions that I used to hide from by drinking. Being sober means dealing with them differently. Some of these emotions are quite raw and "happy" isn't the word I would use to describe myself.

The stress and anxiety I'm going through isn't happy meal time either.

I'm often frustrated that things aren't better than they are. My thinking and concentration skills are still messed up, so my work is suffering, and lots of times I just plain miss being drunk and numb to everything. So, no, at times I am a lot less happy than when I was drinking. Nonetheless, what I am is...

...blessed to be sober!

Good luck with your recovery.

Dime

Getting sober has been the best thing that has happened in my life. It's not easy early on but it gets better one day at a time. Being free of the struggles of active alcoholism is wonderful.

Stang

I am happier by far sinse I quit drinking. If nothing else the way I feel physically is worth the trouble of quitting. I had an urge to drink Saturday afternoon. At almost six months that seems to be the only time I have the urge now. I let it pass and was so happy Sunday that I didn't pick up. Now I have some sober time under my belt its time to get off my ass and improve some other parts of my life.
Rainbows will not fly out of your ass when you sober up but it is a far better way to live. Now STOP DRINKING!!! I have a feeling you will eventually I just hope you aren't in a coffin when you do.

least

I'm happy as a clam right now but in early sobriety wasn't always happy. As Carl said, I had/have a lot of emotions and events to deal with that are unpleasant and hard to deal with... BUT at least I'm sober to deal with them sensibly.

Do I regret quitting? Not for a minute and wish I'd quit three years ago instead of fooling around for two years trying to 'control' it... which never worked.

Most days I'm happy tho, despite the problems and such. I was never this happy when drinking...

Mark75

It comes to mind... There is being happy and then there is experiencing lasting joy. The former is easy with a buzz on, the latter was, for me, impossible before I recovered.

LaFemme

Mark hit the nail on the head I think:-)

1. I don't regret quitting and in an odd way I am grateful for having suffered from alcoholism because it makes the joy of sobriety sweeter. Odd but true.

2. Getting sober made it essential to change my whole approach to life and work hard on that...this work and these changes have improved my life in amazing ways. Ways that continue to reveal themselves. Difficult things may happen but I can deal with them now and maintain my joy in life.

flavinho

I regreat not doing it sooner. I'm almost 30 and I feel like my life was pretty much wasted due to alcohol; reckless and promiscuity was a predominant trait in my life. I'm luck I didn't get any STD as AIDS.

SDSurfn

This is an interesting and eye-opening thread for me as I sit here at Day 17.

I don't have anything to add, but I hope the thread continues as I would love to hear from others who have lots more sober time than me.

Thanks,

-SD

HidLid

I don't regret quitting, every time I encounter a drunk person I only reinforce that belief.

Zencat

I have no regrets quitting the destructive path that I was on with AOD. I'm a happy go lucky guy compared to the absolute hell my life was before recovery. Addiction had me running amok for decades. One calamity after the other...constant drama. Man I glad that mess if finally over.

bellakeller

I can't think of a single regret. Every day I find a new reason or two to thank god that I am sober. My life is so much richer.

Isaiah

No. No regrets.

I suppose there are days when I miss the oblivion of alcohol. That's all drinking was for me at the end. It was the shut off valve, made me not feel anything. I told my therapists and family that alcohol was for me a means of "temporary suicide." I could become dead to everything for a time. But even though I go through a lot of pain dealing a severe mental illness, mostly I would rather suffer than be oblivious to life altogether.

SSIL75

I agree with those who said that I miss the ability to switch off, etc. But I can miss that without regreting getting sober. And from my brief (3 month) experience... even processing pain and getting some rest is more satisfying than getting wasted.

I replapsed in the past because I really didn't believe that sober life could be fulfilling. I thought it was all so dull and lame.

Ninsuna

I no longer even regret the fact that I had to quit (you know, the why can't I be a normal drinker thing).

I don't miss the things I was so scared I would miss. Now when I drive past those places or run into those friends I'm simply grateful I'm not trapped in that life anymore. I do miss what Isaiah talks about, but it gets less and less with each month.

Toronto68

Reggie, I think the experiences will vary according to the depression levels out there. But most people would probably say they are glad they quit.

I don't regret quitting, but I did notice after a few weeks that certain capabilities seemed to have vanished. For instance, I didn't have the same gumption, felt more timid and took ages to do the simplest task for fear of getting it wrong or just plain fear. Lethargy. Some of the things I didn't have to deal with that much during the drinking career came back, like insomnia and anxiety (if I know what that is) to some extent. The insomnia was not ongoing. A lot of times it was my fault for not getting enough exercise or for maintaining crappy schedules or drinking too much tea.

Of course I had issues when I was drinking too, but I guess that was alcohol doing its job of creating illusions and diminishing feelings some of the time. The things I mentioned got better, but there is some more work to be done.

Around Labor Day, I felt a drop into depression but it got a little better briefly. Seems like it's been hovering around again though. A week ago I was obsessing over it and even got on an OCD kick (wondering if that was one of my problems). I am probably going to tick off a couple of people for not getting it looked into yet, but there is this notion that I am feeling good and bad spirits at the same time or back to back (2 weeks good, 2 weeks glum, for example). I suppose I inherit a stubbornness from my father in that I don't want to deal with it and I would rather chalk it up to just being scared and the need to adjust and get more confident.

See what I meant about specific and varying experiences? That's only a slice out of my book of answers I could give too, because I have felt elated lots of times too. Sometimes just thinking on any old day that I am free from the bondage of drinking; other times because I am willingness to soak in a good day.

Toronto68

Sorry: "...HAVE a willingess to soak in a good day."