Some notes I took..
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Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 15
Some notes I took..
Recently, someone on social media posted that they wanted to shuck their adult responsibilities and just be a kid again. They got replies that advised them that the way to do that was to get drunk. They agreed.
I refrained from replying.. but I did not agree. When I think back to the good times in my childhood.. of course.. they were all sober times! Those times being out in the woods, or at the waterfront, marveling at all of the things that were new and interesting to me. And of course my childhood revulsion at alcohol as something that yucky adults did.. Hell, to this day, I still hate beer and never drank more than a little of it throughout my 20s and early 30s.. (my thing was hard liquor and wine.)
Also.. in not-drinking, and waking up earlier without hangovers on my days off.. I take note more of the little things that went by the wayside before. The prettiness of the woods outside my window (even if it is still coated in snow.. we need springtime yesterday..) The activities of my nights-off changing (instead of considering the steeped-in-alcohol-and-drugs "bar scene" or feeling deficient if my social anxiety kept me from joining it...) I now find myself spending those nights at home with my husband (who is also a recovering addict, just not a recovering alcoholic, and is living clean..) or with any of several friends who are not into drinking. I am able to filter true friends from "former drinking buddies" in this way:
My one friend and I would get rip-roaringly drunk together about 2x a week in the past year. We would get silly, watch videos/movies, etc. Now, when he comes over, he is completely fine with not drinking, and does not even allude to it. We fill our time with arts and crafts, or with going out for some really great dinners. (he is gay; this is not a romantic relationship.) I have several other friends who either refrain from drinking when we hang out, or just don't drink on their own anyway; these are the people that I really want to stay in my life and grow closer to.
In not drinking, I am experiencing a level of fulfillment and joy that I daresay I've not had since my preteen years, and I am 33 now. I tried my first drink at age 13 and since then, have not gone a very long time between drinks too often. Maybe a few weeks here and there.. or maybe even a few months in my teen years.. but you get the idea. My drink cessation for two months still left me with a tolerance level at which that "slip-up" drink did not even give me the faintest buzz.. I wish that I could count those two nice, clean months into my nondrinking time, but I feel bad about that, so two weeks it is now.
My husband kicked an addiction to Lortab that had gone on for over a year. He did it cold turkey, and I rode it out with him through the night "kicks," the withdrawal, the inability to feel joy without the drug too. I had a front seat to addiction recovery in that way, and I would daresay that my quitting is not as overtly physically-draining on me.. but it is still a hard mental habit to break the "sure, I'll come over for drinks later" mentality. But it is starting, and it feels GREAT TO NOT DRINK.
I refrained from replying.. but I did not agree. When I think back to the good times in my childhood.. of course.. they were all sober times! Those times being out in the woods, or at the waterfront, marveling at all of the things that were new and interesting to me. And of course my childhood revulsion at alcohol as something that yucky adults did.. Hell, to this day, I still hate beer and never drank more than a little of it throughout my 20s and early 30s.. (my thing was hard liquor and wine.)
Also.. in not-drinking, and waking up earlier without hangovers on my days off.. I take note more of the little things that went by the wayside before. The prettiness of the woods outside my window (even if it is still coated in snow.. we need springtime yesterday..) The activities of my nights-off changing (instead of considering the steeped-in-alcohol-and-drugs "bar scene" or feeling deficient if my social anxiety kept me from joining it...) I now find myself spending those nights at home with my husband (who is also a recovering addict, just not a recovering alcoholic, and is living clean..) or with any of several friends who are not into drinking. I am able to filter true friends from "former drinking buddies" in this way:
My one friend and I would get rip-roaringly drunk together about 2x a week in the past year. We would get silly, watch videos/movies, etc. Now, when he comes over, he is completely fine with not drinking, and does not even allude to it. We fill our time with arts and crafts, or with going out for some really great dinners. (he is gay; this is not a romantic relationship.) I have several other friends who either refrain from drinking when we hang out, or just don't drink on their own anyway; these are the people that I really want to stay in my life and grow closer to.
In not drinking, I am experiencing a level of fulfillment and joy that I daresay I've not had since my preteen years, and I am 33 now. I tried my first drink at age 13 and since then, have not gone a very long time between drinks too often. Maybe a few weeks here and there.. or maybe even a few months in my teen years.. but you get the idea. My drink cessation for two months still left me with a tolerance level at which that "slip-up" drink did not even give me the faintest buzz.. I wish that I could count those two nice, clean months into my nondrinking time, but I feel bad about that, so two weeks it is now.
My husband kicked an addiction to Lortab that had gone on for over a year. He did it cold turkey, and I rode it out with him through the night "kicks," the withdrawal, the inability to feel joy without the drug too. I had a front seat to addiction recovery in that way, and I would daresay that my quitting is not as overtly physically-draining on me.. but it is still a hard mental habit to break the "sure, I'll come over for drinks later" mentality. But it is starting, and it feels GREAT TO NOT DRINK.
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Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 15
Some benefits that I have noticed already:
-clearer eyes and a more alert appearance. The bags under my eyes are gone. I feel more alert generally and am working on the procrastination behavior that has been mine for awhile; namely, working on getting up earlier and arriving to work on time. In my drinking days, I would fall into drinking on worknights timetimes, and always rationalize it with the whole "oh, I'll have 6 hours of sleep.." night goes on.. "okay, 5 hours of sleep will be enough.." and awaken exhausted with bags-under-eyes. That physical symptom is dying down.. now it is time to work on procrastination issues.
-less anxiety. I still have it, but any and all drinking anxiety is gone. Not necessarily the "I want a drink" kind.. But the kind that comes from worrying about getting enough sleep.. about spending money on alcohol.. about fretting at not going to bars and being a recluse because of fear about how I would drive home. I never liked bars anyway and really only went to 2 in the past year.
-no hangovers. That. Is. Awesome. I never think that this will get old.
-clearer eyes and a more alert appearance. The bags under my eyes are gone. I feel more alert generally and am working on the procrastination behavior that has been mine for awhile; namely, working on getting up earlier and arriving to work on time. In my drinking days, I would fall into drinking on worknights timetimes, and always rationalize it with the whole "oh, I'll have 6 hours of sleep.." night goes on.. "okay, 5 hours of sleep will be enough.." and awaken exhausted with bags-under-eyes. That physical symptom is dying down.. now it is time to work on procrastination issues.
-less anxiety. I still have it, but any and all drinking anxiety is gone. Not necessarily the "I want a drink" kind.. But the kind that comes from worrying about getting enough sleep.. about spending money on alcohol.. about fretting at not going to bars and being a recluse because of fear about how I would drive home. I never liked bars anyway and really only went to 2 in the past year.
-no hangovers. That. Is. Awesome. I never think that this will get old.
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Originally Posted by newwestdork 
If becoming a child again involves peeing at inappropriate times, then I certainly rediscovered my inner child when I was drinking.
I pooped my pants so bad, so many times, in public, its not even funny.
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