What's your reminder(s) to NOT go back to the alcohol?
 

Sometimes we forget why got off the booze, so I made a list.

Well it ended up with 50 points.

Here is some of mine:

• The connections you make are not real
• You feel more lonely
• You lie and you have no remorse doing so
• You forget about God and the people who love and care for you
• The hangover is horrible ( stomach pains, sore throat, nausea, diarrhea, heat flashes, and insomnia
• Increases your anxiety

What are yours? It doesn't have to be deep but something that reminds you that you are better then the alcohol.

Lately I remember how I felt on that last morning after I last drank. I wanted to die and I spent 2 days in bed, missing out on some plans I had set up for months. It's odd to say but I am grateful for that episode because it shook me up enough to finally take the action I needed to take! Now I'm almost 5 months sober and I know I will never drink again.

I mostly try to remember the person I was then. A liar and a selfish person who cared about alcohol above and beyond anything else.

I can recognise 'old me' in a lot of posts.

D

My son.

My reminder is my family. I was not the kind of person that I would want them to look up to while I was drinking. I was also not the husband that my wife deserved. I can take comfort in the knowledge that my wife trusts me again and that my son and daughter will never have a memory of their dad while he is drunk. If I drink I throw that away and that is something that I am not willing to do

Now I am able to grow and thrive instead of just "existing."

Alcohol stole my ambition to do anything but simply survive from one week until the next.

That not one single thing was better in my life when I was drinking. Not one.

the biggest for me are the panic attacks I dont want that again.

The other issue is I really love running now and if i where to drink I know the following dahy i'd have a bad run adn then be ticked off about that. Heck if i do much of anything bad i can have a bad run so it keeps me on my toes and behaving in many ways diet, dont smoke, dont take medications that might have adverse reactions etc...

the sad part is if not for those 2 things I often wonder if i'd quickly throw away the mountain of other good things i now have in my life from not drinking and trade them away for just 1 i mean 81938219312893128 drinks!

Great post.

I remember panic attacks. Like waves of fear.

Had them for years while drinking. Probably 35 years plus of these occurrences.

Pretty much gone now. Things don't stick w me Ike they used to. I move on from drama or frustrating situations easier and easier every day.

When I crave now I tell myself....of course you crave, you are a drug addict forever....

Calling myself a drug addict....Booze being my DOC...makes the innocents of having 1 little drink less innocent.

I wouldn't have 1 little snort or cocaine, or 1 little needle of heroin....same thing for me.

Addict....alcoholic.....for life.

Never drinking again.

Thanks.

That and the nightmares. And being so scared I was gonna die at any minute.

Beautifully said! I was simply slogging through each day until I could get to my car and fix a drink for the way home. I lived for the weekend when I could literally have a drink in my hand anytime I was standing on two feet. Or had one eye lid open.

Don't miss that at all!

Others have shared some of the same incentives I have to not drink. Panic attacks, my kids, basically feeling like everything I value was being lost. By the end, I felt terrorized by my addiction. I didn't drink for pleasure anymore, but to stay alive. Drinking was killing me, but quitting felt like I was gonna die much quicker, and in much more unbearable ways.

One word... withdrawals. I've seen enough of that and knowing that it only gets worse is enough to make me not want to drink ever again.

Of course there's about a million other reasons as well. I agree with most of what was already said above.

Thought of a few more:

I had to learn what a normal night's sleep was. Not blacking out and waking up feeling like a cat slept in my mouth.

Afraid something would happen to the family while I was drunk/blacked out (i.e. house would be on fire, etc)

Being able to write legibly the next day!

Drinking two gallons of water before 9am.... and it was still noontime 'til I took a whiz... every day!

The crippling anxiety
Not being able to write legibly the next day
Panic attacks
Tingling fingers and toes
Gout
Absent from my family
Hiding alcohol breath with mints
Brain fog
Waking up at 3 am in panic
Washing sweaty sheets
Losing sight of goals
Stop making goals
Fights with husband when hungover/withdrawing
Unnecessary anger at everyone
Spending loads of money
Drinking at dinner, then lunch, then breakfast
Kids asking why I drank
Throwing up at work
Important memories all fuzzy around the edges
Lost friendships
Worrying loved ones
Neglecting personal hygiene
Missing important moments for others
Waking up wondering how bad the day was going to be
Identifying with people are bars during lunch
Losing promotions
Unable to drive

Obviously I could go on. . . :thanks

1) Hangovers
2) Stories on SR about what drinking can lead to in terms of loss of health, family and friends, and livelihood. I do not want to learn those lessons for myself. I do not want to reach the point where giving up alcohol becomes unbearably difficult.

The sense of clarity and peace I've gained from sobriety. The first drink would end that. The ease with which I feel around people now. My kids, who will not have my drinking impact them in any way now that alcohol will no longer be a part if my life. Living a life more fully now instead of wasted weekend days spent in need of recovery from hangover or a nap. Handling conflict and problems infinitely better sober than in my drinking days. No panic attacks. This one is huge. At the end of my drinking years debilitating and scary panic attacks were part of my life. How could I live life like that? Worries about liver failure, etc. I'm not preoccupied with that anymore. Waking up feeling depressed from excessive alcohol. Always feeling a dark cloud over me. Getting away from negativity. Getting into petty verbal arguments with my wife. I could go on and on. So glad to be out of the trap.

There are many, but if I just visualize waking up the next morning hungover and back to day zero that has been enough to deter any thoughts of drinking.