1. How old were you when drinking became a problem for you?
Drinking became a form of escape for me once I had children so 27.
Drinking became an obvious problem for those around me when I was 33 or 34. It wasnt until I was sober long enough that I saw how fast and deep I slid.
2. How old were you when you quit drinking for good?
Quit drinking at 35 16 months thus far

3. What, if anything, did you do or experience that motivated you to quit for good?finding SR was the catalyst for my change. I had viewed sobriety as a punishment after all I was asked to stop by my husband. The relationships I made here kept me guided, distracted and eventually led me to a mirror to actually see who I was. It's been like a great domino effect. My whole world is changing, because I have changed. Now what keeps me sober is never wanting to be invisible again, or compromising that light inside me. I'm chasing my dreams again. I'm in the infancy of going back to school something I put off and feared when I was drinking. Without sobriety I'd still be on an island of self isolation, watching the ships pass by. I have goals and a 10 year plan and drive and inspiration. I will without doubt have my Psy.D. by my early 40s (look out EndGame :herewego ). Knowing everyday my actions dictate my outcome keeps me sober and thrilled about it!

Late 20s.
53
Falling apart physically and mentally

1. I admitted it was a problem in my late 20s, but there was a clear progression from the first time I got drunk at aged 12yrs old.

2. Quit drinking at aged 30yrs old.

3. My life was on a downward spiral of chaos, some would say I was "functioning" but on the inside I couldn't continue on the same path, something had to change, also my health was starting to be more noticeably affected!!

Started drinking at 13, never drank normally but major problems started around 25.

Quit at 43.

I was blacking out, driving drunk, and was regularly wasted around my kids.

1. Had my first drink when I was was 8 or 9. It was a bottle of cough medicine which in the 1960's was full of alcohol and codeine. Was always in trouble at school. Got kicked out of two high schools and was in a therapeutic community at 16.

2 I got sober when at 22.

3. I was living in a halfway house and was on welfare and going to AA meetings. I thought my life sucked and more days than not I wanted to die. I took some suggestions. I got a sponsor who got me into working steps and doing service. Sometime in those first six months and without me knowing exactly when, life didn't suck, I didn't want to die and the my obsession with alcohol was lifted. it wasn't all rainbows and unicorn farts, but it was better in a way I couldn't have understood the first day I was sober.

1. How old were you when drinking became a problem for you? I always drank differently from my peers so drinking was periodically a problem from the first time I drank. I can remember as a teenager my friends and I would find someone to buy us a case or two of Mickey's Big Mouth beer to drink while we drove around town or the back roads. When we got the beer I would count out how many each person would get and in my mind be thinking about who might not drink all of theirs so that I could have more because it never seemed like there was enough alcohol for me. That was a problem for me. Drinking though became a serious problem in the last 5 to 10 years of my drinking and an inescapable problem in the last 2 years.

2. How old were you when you quit drinking for good? I was 35

3. What, if anything, did you do or experience that motivated you to quit for good?
The guilt that I would feel when I could not lie to my daughter when she would catch me at the door each time I would leave the house and beg me not to drink. That combined with the realization that my drinking was just a slow suicide which was not only killing me but also everyone around me who loved me or cared about me, like my children. I knew I could no longer go on living like that. I actually had planned on killing myself because I had tried and failed so many times before to stop drinking. I am very fortunate that someone from AA reached out to me and helped me find a long term solution to my alcoholism before I followed through.

1. How old were you when drinking became a problem for you?
~16

2. How old were you when you quit drinking for good?
25

3. What, if anything, did you do or experience that motivated you to quit for good?
Lost job, lost friends, serious health issues, waking up covered in vomit and bile, headache so bad I could barely move, still drunk every morning, started drinking as soon as I could. Realized it was going to kill me soon.

1. How old were you when drinking became a problem for you?2. How old were you when you quit drinking for good?3. What, if anything, did you do or experience that motivated you to quit for good?:) Be Well.

1. 22
2. 48
3. I had to choose between everything else I loved or alcohol.

1. How old were you when drinking became a problem for you?
the moment I took my 1st drink at about 13

2. How old were you when you quit drinking for good?
36 and hope its for good.

3. What, if anything, did you do or experience that motivated you to quit for good?
desperation.