Bh28

Was it because of medical condition? Depression and anxiety? Death of a loved one or just that you liked being drunk?

Fly N Buy

Bh28 - Glad you're here!

I started drinking at around 14-15 years old. My experience, like many young people I suppose was that alcohol = pleasure = fun! Who wouldn't want to have the most fun they could???

I drank for many years progressing eventually to an everyday bad habit. For the last few years, there was very little "fun" associated with my drinking. The stress of what I was doing, the risk factors and the ripples of my "drunk pond" was swamping all aspects of my life and loved ones.

The starting drinking question really has become moot for me. I no longer look in the rearview mirror - but, the why I drank for so long question was more pertinent. I drank because I was ill, healthy, depressed, happy, death, birth, love, loss of love - because it was Saturday - or Monday - or Thursday etc.

I drank because my team won, my team lost or my team didn't play! Well, you get the idea. Most of us here just drank for all these " legitimate" reasons and more.

Restless, irritable and discontented - to quote a book. That ahhhh feeling when I drank - take away the pain, for now. Turns out it was all BS - it was not real!!!

Glad I am here, today - and glad I am sober!
Glad you are here as well!!

Did you quit ????

peace
fly

IOAA2

Hi.
My drinking started because I liked the flavor of beer. Then it continued to expand for common reasons and at the same time became more compulsive over maybe 5-8 years when it became a problem. My reason was it helped me feel good and it gave me a feeling of escape from my “problems.”
It turned out to be my main problem and am grateful that was a long time ago.

BE WELL

huntingtontx

I think all the reasons above are there for me too. I drank because it was there. I quit because I wanted my life back. I am so happy to be sober and I am getting healthier every day. I am glad you are here.

least

I started drinking a glass of wine before the kids got home from high school so I wouldn't engage with youngest kid when she got home. Within six months I was drinking all day, every day.

BackToSquareOne

In retrospect I believe I probably always had anxiety and depression to one degree or another. Mood altering substances were so attractive because they did seem to provide very short term relief for the way I felt. It's kind of hard to understand but even when you come to realize that the substances you use to self treat depression actually makes it much worse you can still be lured back into the same trap. I have no idea how common depression and the other mental health issues are but I would say it's a safe bet alcohol abuse is high in this group.

paloverde

Drinking made me feel confident, funny, and gave me the ability to talk to other people because I am naturally shy. I moved to a big city when I was 25 and I thought it helped me blend in and meet new people (really just other drunks at bars). Fast forward 20 years and I no longer lived in the city, but out in what some people would call the "country". I drank more than ever, all alone most of the time. Straight vodka at the end. Didn't bother with fancy mixed drinks or expensive wine anymore. Couldn't stand to be in a bar around people. I hated people. Miserable, lonely, ashamed to make appearances at family events, physically addicted to alcohol to keep the shakes and stomach problems at bay, barely sleeping, just passing out for about 5 hours a day. Paranoid, angry, unhealthy, overweight...

alphaomega

I started drinking around age 6 when I realized it was what was in mommys cup that made her act crazy. When she would stumble to the bathroom, I would drink as much as I could.

silentrun

I'm sorry AO. That never should have happened.

strategery

I started drinking at age 23. At first I drank just to have fun and blend in with people I knew, but it also took away a lot of anxiety for me. I could use it to turn my mind off and not obsess about things, but I had to be drunk to get that effect.

Joe Nerv

I started drinking because I was a socially phobic, anxiety ridden kid with incredibly low self esteem who felt he belonged anyplace other than on this planet which I was tossed onto by mistake. First time I got drunk at the age of 17, all that disappeared and I felt great about myself and everything around me. I welcomed alcohol into my life knowing full well I was about to become an alcoholic. It was worth whatever price I'd eventually have to pay, and I accepted it without reservation.

oak

Euphoria and fun. (never had a hangover or nausea as a teen, just euphoria)

I was more social initially (although very quickly I stopped caring about the people around me, and just cared about alcohol).

As a teen, I was aware that alcohol made the emotional pain go away. I have lots of trauma in my past that I was avoiding by drinking.

To fit in with the kids around me.

Biff123

Wow, can I relate to that. Drinking made me the life of the party instead of the shy, introverted, and socially anxious person I am. It made me feel so great that I wanted it to last forever. Unfortunately, drinking to have fun and loosen up eventually led to needing alcohol to feel normal. This is no way to go through life.

I thank God I am sober today. I am getting to know the real me, and am working on accepting myself as the way I am, flaws and all.

ScottFromWI

I started around 14 or so trying it at parties, sneaking from parents liquor cabinets, etc.

To me it really doesn't matter how or when I started though, it became a problem and when stopped is much more important.

RaiseAnchor

I simply turned 21. I drank underage very occasionally, but never before had I realized the intensity that I would drink was a problem. I thought they were simply underage antics. I also believed that to be an alcoholic, or have a drinking problem, one had to drink in the morning.

Once I turned 21 I began to drink about every night. I don't think there was a rhyme or reason as to why I began drinking so much. My life was pretty good and I was happy at first. But years of drinking did take their toll on my mentally. I had become incredibly depressed and thoughts of suicide were very prevalent during my drunks.

I had no idea what I was doing with my life. Nothing made me happy, except for the first couple of drinks. No hobbies, no interests, no role models, no goals. I was achieving very well in college, but it was all going through the motions. I would get straight A's but they meant nothing as I wasn't proud of myself. I had no real direction as to how I was going to manifest my education into a career.

Looking back I really think I wanted to die. I felt worthless, and I was living a double-life. One part of me falling toward the proverbial bottom, and the other at the top trying to get somewhere. The one at the top trying to pull the one at the bottom upwards, and the one at the bottom trying to pull the other down.

My story is one of those I wish I wouldn't have started in the first place. I am an addict to things that make me feel good until I burn out on them. Unfortunately, it was really hard to burn out on something like alcohol.

Joe Nerv

And wow, can I relate to that .

MattyBoy

It was the done thing for us British youngsters on a Friday night to go out and score some beers and drink them in the local park. I did this from age 14 or so every single weekend.

Not cos I go in with a bad crowd, it's just what young people in the UK seem to do on the weekends. However, from that point I discovered how apparently awesome it was to be drunk (yeah right) and developed a bit of an obsession with it.

Soberwolf

My first drink was around 14 I admitted i was alcoholic at 31 Now im 12 days away from 16 months sober

For me it progressed from drinking with friends to drinking at home with friends to drinking alone on my own

SoberAlky

I started drinking at 17, the summer before college. I don't know why I thought it was fun, with all the vomiting and a memorable physical altercation, but I did. I continued to binge drink through my 30s. In my late 30s, I started to drink alcoholically as I knew I was losing my dream job due to the 2008 recession. I became a recluse and drank large quantities on a daily basis to medicate my anxiety. It also became a trusted means to relieve debilitating insomnia, until my tolerance developed to a point where I began waking up drunk. I am now glad to have an addiction psychiatrist who provides me with healthier ways to treat my anxiety than alcohol, and my therapist and fellow meeting attendees who give me strength when I need it most.

Jwalker

Because it made life easier. I guess the joke was on me!

Jwalker