When was the time?
Member
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: KC MO
Posts: 980
I tried to quit many many times for many many reasons. But the last time (the one that worked). I think the thing that was the straw that broke the camels back. Was I realized i was averaging 8 beers on a 45 minute drive home from work. Thats somewhere around a beer every 5.5 minutes. I had a "WELL DUH" moment and realized there was no wonder I couldn't do anything. I realized I was a slave or like in prison,and all I had to do was stop.
Yea right,thats all I had to do
But i did it.
Yea right,thats all I had to do
But i did it.
getting that power back.
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Texas
Posts: 67
I knew for a long time, but I hit an emotional bottom that I couldn't drink away. no amount of drinking could take it away; in fact, it made me worse. I turned into a person I wouldn't like if I met me and the shame became too much to carry on my own.
Member
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 2,775
Originally Posted by Bh28 
When you finally had enough and said "I will not drink from this day on." And stuck to it?
However, March 6, 93 I left an AA meeting for the first time and felt as I walked down the street the desire to drink was gone.
Of course, I didn't tell anyone outside of my wife I was in AA because I honestly didn't know if I would stay sober.
But I have done just that one day at a time.
Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 10,912
January 25, 2014. I think my obsessiveness came to my advantage then because I had some things in my life that I was so attached to, I could not bear the thought of losing them. That, and I could not look at me in a mirror (including my internal one) anymore. I think the proverbial "cognitive dissonance" kicked my a$$ enough times and painfully enough so that I had to get some serious butt surgery. And then I liked the new look, and now I'm attached to sobriety 
A Day at a Time
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Grand Rapids MI
Posts: 6,435
It may not politically correct but I eased my way into sobriety. I had become physically dependent on alcohol and suffered a serious withdrawal that landed me in the hospital.
In the beginning all I knew was that I could not continue like I was or I was going to die but even then the thought of drinking again was still an option in my befuddled mind.
I went to professional treatment and AA. At about 6 months the fog had cleared enough that I admitted to myself that I would never be able to drink like other people and that if I started drinking again I would be right back to where I started. It was at this point I started seriously considering never drinking again but that thought was just too scary. My logical mind was screaming you moron if you drink you die. My alcoholic mind was saying there may be a way if we can just figure it out.
At about the one year mark I started working the steps and saw just how powerless I was and how unmanageable my life had become. It was then that quitting drinking forever seemed like the only real solution.
Even though I plan on never drinking again I only work on today. Maybe I will drink tomorrow maybe not but tomorrow has not come so I will do what I need to do today to maintain my sobriety.
First full day of sobriety 7.24.2009
In the beginning all I knew was that I could not continue like I was or I was going to die but even then the thought of drinking again was still an option in my befuddled mind.
I went to professional treatment and AA. At about 6 months the fog had cleared enough that I admitted to myself that I would never be able to drink like other people and that if I started drinking again I would be right back to where I started. It was at this point I started seriously considering never drinking again but that thought was just too scary. My logical mind was screaming you moron if you drink you die. My alcoholic mind was saying there may be a way if we can just figure it out.
At about the one year mark I started working the steps and saw just how powerless I was and how unmanageable my life had become. It was then that quitting drinking forever seemed like the only real solution.
Even though I plan on never drinking again I only work on today. Maybe I will drink tomorrow maybe not but tomorrow has not come so I will do what I need to do today to maintain my sobriety.
First full day of sobriety 7.24.2009
Member
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 5,229
i had bad panic attacks. it went on for a good while before i realized what they really even where I just thought I was dieing all the itme when it happened. and I'd imagine the casue of death to be any number of htings but death was always an imenant and terrifying feeling. I tried this and that to get those panic attacks to stop.
Then i read that drinking could cause them and as a last ditched effort to fix the panic issues i put down the bottle. I figured it wouldnt work or I wouldnt be able to stick with it. Or i'd just quit for a month and then maybe drink moderatly or something.
But here i am almost 4 years later still sober and rarely have panic attacks anymore.
Sure i had a ton of other problems and reasons to quit but I think i woulda let my life burn down around me before i ever gave up drinking the panic attacks however hit home. Thank god for them.
Then i read that drinking could cause them and as a last ditched effort to fix the panic issues i put down the bottle. I figured it wouldnt work or I wouldnt be able to stick with it. Or i'd just quit for a month and then maybe drink moderatly or something.
But here i am almost 4 years later still sober and rarely have panic attacks anymore.
Sure i had a ton of other problems and reasons to quit but I think i woulda let my life burn down around me before i ever gave up drinking the panic attacks however hit home. Thank god for them.
Member
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: northern michigan. not the U.P.
Posts: 15,281
When the pain of getting drunk exceeded the pain of reality.
Although I didn't say Ill never drink again, I did say if I don't stop drinking and get help I will kill myself.
It doesn't have to get that bad and I hope and pray yo don't let it.
Although I didn't say Ill never drink again, I did say if I don't stop drinking and get help I will kill myself.
It doesn't have to get that bad and I hope and pray yo don't let it.
Member
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 76
Originally Posted by Bh28
When you finally had enough and said "I will not drink from this day on." And stuck to it?
Member
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Ohio
Posts: 3,785
Originally Posted by Bh28
When you finally had enough and said "I will not drink from this day on." And stuck to it?
For me, it was very simple. It was a moment of clarity, a feeling that was so real and very simple. I surrendered. I knew I could not live like that anymore and remain, what I thought at the time, was sane.
I called AA and as soon as I walked into that meeting I knew it was finally over. A feeling of relief washed over me and I felt for the first time at peace. I was home.
I have remained sober one day at a time. My sobriety date is 03/24/2013.
Behold the power of NO
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: WA
Posts: 7,764
January 19 2013, I was sitting in the dark drinking and feeling very depressed and suicidal. I was like: "screw that, I m tired of that crap". Something clicked in my head and I saw clearly that I had two choices: quit and get back in recovery or kill myself.
I finished my beer and did not go out for more, I went to bed early.
January 20, 2013 is my sobriety date.
I finished my beer and did not go out for more, I went to bed early.
January 20, 2013 is my sobriety date.
Another Day in Paradise
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Upland, CA
Posts: 900
October 15th 1999. I couldn't live that way anymore. I had an insurance agent who was in the same office complex that I had my business offices. We had played golf a few times and at the 19th hole he ordered a diet Coke. I had asked why and he told me he was an alcoholic and no longer drank.
I went to him and he took me to my first AA meeting the next day and the rest is history. I can say this with certainty, when I would walk out of a bar at 1AM and knew I was going to feel like hell in the morning or I left with someone that wasn't my children's mom, I would mumble to myself, "I have to stop doing this!"
Since that day in October I have attended more than a few AA meetings, some great ones and some I really didn't care for, but I have never said, "I have to stop doing this." So whatever has worked or not worked over these past years I do know overall my life is much better without booze.
Just my experience.
Good Luck,
Jon
I went to him and he took me to my first AA meeting the next day and the rest is history. I can say this with certainty, when I would walk out of a bar at 1AM and knew I was going to feel like hell in the morning or I left with someone that wasn't my children's mom, I would mumble to myself, "I have to stop doing this!"
Since that day in October I have attended more than a few AA meetings, some great ones and some I really didn't care for, but I have never said, "I have to stop doing this." So whatever has worked or not worked over these past years I do know overall my life is much better without booze.
Just my experience.
Good Luck,
Jon
getting that power back.
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Texas
Posts: 67
Originally Posted by GracieLou
I never said that, I felt it though.
For me, it was very simple. It was a moment of clarity, a feeling that was so real and very simple. I surrendered. I knew I could not live like that anymore and remain, what I thought at the time, was sane.
I called AA and as soon as I walked into that meeting I knew it was finally over. A feeling of relief washed over me and I felt for the first time at peace. I was home.
I have remained sober one day at a time. My sobriety date is 03/24/2013.
For me, it was very simple. It was a moment of clarity, a feeling that was so real and very simple. I surrendered. I knew I could not live like that anymore and remain, what I thought at the time, was sane.
I called AA and as soon as I walked into that meeting I knew it was finally over. A feeling of relief washed over me and I felt for the first time at peace. I was home.
I have remained sober one day at a time. My sobriety date is 03/24/2013.
xo.
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