checkmate1

I came to the conclusion that I was a bad drunk even at 17 when my parents sent me to a alcohol counsellor. I did everything I could to prolong the drinking career. I moderated and drank light beer for a few years. I had a LFT before I quit and knew I needed to quit but didn't know what to do or how to go about it. I had already had a 2.5 month period of abstinence. My friend got diagnosed with diabetes and I was worried to what I could be doing to my body. The doctor said I would end up with cirrhosis and liver cancer if I continued drinking. I also had many other mental health issues so i decided to get sober and it's the best decision I have ever made. 3.5 months sober and I like it so I will continue not to drink.

Terminally Unique

I came to the same conclusion. I tried everything - except quitting for good. In hindsight, I can see it was all one giant procrastination.

Supercrew

The reason I didn't quit earlier was because I didn't want to. I still thought I liked it, and I didn't think I could live and enjoy my life the way I wanted to without alcohol.

Even as I was ruining my health, my marriage and my life with my drinking my subconscious was telling me, life is about enjoying it, and you can only enjoy life with alcohol. That was a tough ingrained 27 year belief/lie to overcome.

I truly wish I never picked up that first 6 pack at 15 years old, and I wish a parent or a mentor or a friend could have warned me as to what the consequences would be from that point on.

Don't get me wrong I lead a great life, but I will always ask, "what could have been?"

TwelveSteps

Yep. And I put off plenty of things in my life becauseI knew they would have to wait until I had stopped drinking. Can't get that time back, but nobody can stop until they are ready...

GG

BennyHill

I have not for one second ever thought "what if I had quit drinking earlier."
I truly loved to drink. It was such a part of my life for so many years.
I quit out of spite, under threat of divorce.
BUT, three and a half years later, sobriety is now as important to me as the drink used to be.
And I maintain it for myself, and everybody wins!

ru12

Drinking was how I coped with the stress of life. And it worked for a very long time. Drinking was better than just ending my life. But, it eventually became less and less effective and the consequences kept increasing. I had to find different methods to deal with life's issues. And I did.

It would have been nice to quit earlier, but I just don't think I had the emotional resources to do it until last December.

Peter

I estimate that twenty years of drinking has set me back 10 years in life. I wont be able to retire until im about 70.

wheresthefun

If "ifs" and "buts" were candies and nuts, we'd all have a Merry Christmas.

ElvisInASkirt

I guess I never felt mentally strong enough to deal with my problems without alcohol until now.

It's been a tough year what with a death in the family but I've emerged stronger and now I know that this is it. I can deal with those problems now on their own level.

I look at it in a positive way. I could have been 37, 47 or 57 instead of 27 when I realized this.

Peter - that's pretty powerful stuff about your retirement being set back.

Stang

Didn't want to admit a little chemical had kicked my a$$! Well it did!!

Symmetry

Years? In like 10? 20? Just curious.

I think the same. I always knew I was a predestined alcoholic and with that knowledge picked up my first drink. Why did I do that??? I've seen peoples' lives and families destroyed by drugs and alcohol my entire life. Why was that not enough for me to completely avoid alcohol?

I didn't quit until I was sick of it. Not only sick but scared. You just finally got sick of it. And be grateful it was sooner than later.

SSIL75

This was my experience, also.

I just didn't want to quit because as troublesome as alcohol was becoming for me, the alternative seemed SO BORING. I really couldn't deal with the thought of a 'dry' life.

wheresthefun

So, what did you find with your "dry life" that has kept you sober? Was it as "BORING" as you imagined it would be?

I ask, because that is where my wife is at.

Supercrew

It's not boring, but it is different. You have to learn to enjoy different things. I get a rush from completing things and being active. I still socialize with drinkers, I just leave parties and functions at a much earlier time now instead of closing them down. I go to bed earlier and get up earlier feeling great. I follow through on plans I made the night before. I relax by taking a nap or watching the sun rise or set while I am out walking with my wife. I have learned to appreciate alot of the things that I didn't notice the last 27 years of drinking.

When drinking is all you know, and the only way you know how to have fun or relax, not drinking does sound boring. But the key is to find other things to fill that time that you will learn to appreciate and enjoy. For me not drinking has not been boring, because I won't allow it to be.

SSIL75

I think the main thing was to realize that my thinking was flawed. It was just the alcohol talking. It makes no logical sense that sober people don't live fulfilling lives. My husband's friend doesn't drink for religious reasons and he lives a very vibrant, exciting life. Jennifer Lopez (who I don't particularly like) doesn't drink. It doesn't make sense that me that a (then) fat suburban mom had a more exciting life than JLo simply because I drank up to 8 glasses of box wine a night.

It had to be then that sober people were having fun.

Thinking that life would suck without alcohol was a symptom of my alcoholism. Once I saw it that way I began to heal.

Sober life isn't boring at all. I have way more fun now. Spending every waking hour either drinking or salivating at the thought of it... THAT was boring!

Mark75

It's hard to believe that you can still have fun, do cool things, all that, while not drinking until, well, you quit drinking!!

bmwcycle

I echo and amplify!!! Couldn't have said it any better..

and to the answer the question;

I was too drunk to realize i should and too scared to think I could for a long time until I finally took it seriously enough to quit...

wheresthefun

Thanks all. I get it, but she has yet to.

Our "quit" day was 7/25/11. She did not drink that day, and maybe the next, but she was worse than a three year old being told to go to bed..."this sux...I'm bored...". I said, we Tivoed Entourage, we can watch that? "Oh, can we really? I don't know if I can handle all that excitement...". (Side note, it's one of her favorite shows.) That's what I'm dealing with. She says she's happy, and proud of me, for what I've been doing, but...

I guess she said it all, the other day, when she said, "you're committed". I guess she was saying she's not.