Question to those in recovery..
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2017
Posts: 42
Question to those in recovery..
I'm not sure if this would be the correct place to post this. I was wondering, for those that wouldn't mind sharing. If there was a certain reason, what was it that finally made you decide to quit drinking? Thanks!
under new management
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Posts: 2,339
My initial reason was for my health. I had liver enzymes that tested out of range. That kind of coincided with feeling sick and tired of feeling sick and tired. That was my starting point.
Forum Leader
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Wisconsin, USA
Posts: 16,945
Welcome imaj79. Certainly an appropriate question, and you'll get lots of answers I would bet. My personal reason for quitting was because I simply became sick and tired of all the problems alcohol was causing me and those around me.
Member
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: New York, NY
Posts: 6,262
It was three weeks before Christmas. My brother brought a beautiful tree to my apartment and I decided to decorate by opening a 1986 Bordeaux. Next thing I knew I woke up in the emergency room, half my face black and blue, stomach pumped. In a blackout I decided to take around 60 Valium and to this day (25 years later), I have no idea why. A friend, who lives a few blocks away called and when I didn't answer, let himself into apartment to find me unconscious. I was a blackout drinker and it was obvious I couldn't control my actions.
Fear still keeps me going to meetings, helping others recover so I can stay sober.
Fear still keeps me going to meetings, helping others recover so I can stay sober.
Member
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 5,229
there where problems but i never felt at the time it had anything to do with drinking.
I quit because the panic attacks where getting out of control and i had read that quiting drinking could possibly help. I was mad I didnt want to quit and i figured i'd just try it for a week or 2 or something and then jsut start up again when it didnt work cause surely it wasnt going to improve my life to NOT drink.
anyhow i never picked up after. my life got better and i'm honestly too scared to drink again.
I quit because the panic attacks where getting out of control and i had read that quiting drinking could possibly help. I was mad I didnt want to quit and i figured i'd just try it for a week or 2 or something and then jsut start up again when it didnt work cause surely it wasnt going to improve my life to NOT drink.
anyhow i never picked up after. my life got better and i'm honestly too scared to drink again.
Member
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 1,645
Five big reasons:
1. I can't have a couple. I go on four day benders.
2. Because I can't take the withdrawal / hangovers. I always end up in detox after a binge. Usually taken by ambulance from the emergency room.
3. I never want to send out of control drunken messages to friends and family again.
4. I'm a liar when I drink. I don't want to be a liar.
5. I'm a good person sober.
1. I can't have a couple. I go on four day benders.
2. Because I can't take the withdrawal / hangovers. I always end up in detox after a binge. Usually taken by ambulance from the emergency room.
3. I never want to send out of control drunken messages to friends and family again.
4. I'm a liar when I drink. I don't want to be a liar.
5. I'm a good person sober.
Behold the power of NO
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: WA
Posts: 7,764
It was on my day off. I had almost finished a tall can of beer and was ready to go get another one and realized that I was just sick and tired of the same old crap and the constant depression (like living inside a very dark cloud).
I dumped the beer left in my can and quit on the spot.
I know it sounds a bit anti climactic. No deep bottom, no traumatic event, no mind blowing insights. I just decided to cut that crap out of my life and acted upon it immediately.
It was 4 years and a half ago and I am really glad I did.
I dumped the beer left in my can and quit on the spot.
I know it sounds a bit anti climactic. No deep bottom, no traumatic event, no mind blowing insights. I just decided to cut that crap out of my life and acted upon it immediately.
It was 4 years and a half ago and I am really glad I did.
Member
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 1,095
Their are thousands of posts on this topic in these Forums.
Today I am over 7 months sober after 27 years of drinking every single day.
In the early years of my drinking it was a lot of fun; but as I got older it became less and less fun and more about needing alcohol in my body to function.
Over the last 15 or so years of my daily drinking I hated it - but I had resigned myself to the fact that I was an alcoholic and I was just going to drink and live this depressing life forever. I wanted to stopped drinking but I feared stopping, and didn't know how. The only time I felt half way normal was when I was drunk. Once my drunk wore off I was consumed with anxiety, panic and barely could function until I had another drink.
By October 2016 even when I took a drink the alcohol wasn't taking away the anxiety and panic anymore - I knew then that I had to either stay drunk 24/7 until I died or get help. I went to my doctor and cleaned up my act. It hasn't been easy but with the help of AA and God I am doing ok.
Today I am over 7 months sober after 27 years of drinking every single day.
In the early years of my drinking it was a lot of fun; but as I got older it became less and less fun and more about needing alcohol in my body to function.
Over the last 15 or so years of my daily drinking I hated it - but I had resigned myself to the fact that I was an alcoholic and I was just going to drink and live this depressing life forever. I wanted to stopped drinking but I feared stopping, and didn't know how. The only time I felt half way normal was when I was drunk. Once my drunk wore off I was consumed with anxiety, panic and barely could function until I had another drink.
By October 2016 even when I took a drink the alcohol wasn't taking away the anxiety and panic anymore - I knew then that I had to either stay drunk 24/7 until I died or get help. I went to my doctor and cleaned up my act. It hasn't been easy but with the help of AA and God I am doing ok.
bona fido dog-lover
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: SF Bay area, CA
Posts: 99,775
There was no single reason, no "ah ha, light bulb moment". I was just finally sick and tired of living in hell. Waking up each day feeling horrible and hating myself. 
I have never regretted my decision to get sober and only wish I'd done it sooner. I am so much happier now.
I have never regretted my decision to get sober and only wish I'd done it sooner. I am so much happier now.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 1,183
I finally ran out of alternatives. I knew that it was the end of the line, if I didn't stop then my wife would leave again, and I'd be left alone to keep drinking, lose everything, and almost certainly die. I didn't want to do that. By that point, it was actually a relief, in a way, to be backed into that corner, though I knew it would be the detox from hell (it was) because I had been drunk for several weeks.
Member
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 2,578
I'd been contemplating it on and off for maybe a year. There wereally no big events, just realized I was drinking 3/4 of a bottle of wine almost every day, sometimes a whole bottle, along with a single painkiller. I knew that wasn't right. I'd had two work events where I drank more than I planned ... nothing happened, but I could have damaged my career. I drove home drunk from one of these events and realized I could have killed someone. My mood was chronically dark and grouchy. I just guessed deep down that the answer was quitting for good, so I did. Despite fear and ambivalence.... I grabbed onto sobriety and threw myself into it. I don't regret my choice.
Member
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: northern michigan. not the U.P.
Posts: 15,281
i think it might be important to understand a person doesnt have to get in as serious shape as many. its possible to see the problems alcohol is causing early on and stop before alcoholism progresses.
heres the intro to the 2nd set of stories in the big book of AA. whether someone may be contemplating AA, cant stand AA, or just might not think theyre bad enough YET, its a good read for all:
We think that about one-half of today's incoming A.A. members were never advanced cases of alcoholism; though, given time, all might have been.
Most of these fortunate ones have had little or no acquaintance with delirium, with hospitals, asylums, and jails. Some were drinking heavily and there had been occasional serious episodes. But with many, drinking had been little more than a sometimes uncontrollable nuisance. Seldom had any of these lost either health, business, family, or friends.
Why do men and women like these join A.A.?
The twelve who now tell their experiences answer that question. They saw that they had become actual or potential alcoholics, even though no serious harm had yet been done.
They realized that repeated lack of drinking control, when they really wanted control, was the fatal symptom that spelled problem drinking. This, plus mounting emotional disturbances, convinced them that compulsive alcoholism already had them; that complete ruin would be only a question of time.
Seeing this danger, they came to A.A. They realized that in the end alcoholism could be as mortal as cancer; certainly no sane man would wait for a malignant growth to become fatal before seeking help.
Therefore, these twelve A.A.'s, and thousands like them, have been saved years of infinite suffering. They sum it up like this: "We didn't wait to hit bottom because, thank God, we could see the bottom. Actually, the bottom came up and hit us. That sold us on Alcoholics Anonymous."
heres the intro to the 2nd set of stories in the big book of AA. whether someone may be contemplating AA, cant stand AA, or just might not think theyre bad enough YET, its a good read for all:
We think that about one-half of today's incoming A.A. members were never advanced cases of alcoholism; though, given time, all might have been.
Most of these fortunate ones have had little or no acquaintance with delirium, with hospitals, asylums, and jails. Some were drinking heavily and there had been occasional serious episodes. But with many, drinking had been little more than a sometimes uncontrollable nuisance. Seldom had any of these lost either health, business, family, or friends.
Why do men and women like these join A.A.?
The twelve who now tell their experiences answer that question. They saw that they had become actual or potential alcoholics, even though no serious harm had yet been done.
They realized that repeated lack of drinking control, when they really wanted control, was the fatal symptom that spelled problem drinking. This, plus mounting emotional disturbances, convinced them that compulsive alcoholism already had them; that complete ruin would be only a question of time.
Seeing this danger, they came to A.A. They realized that in the end alcoholism could be as mortal as cancer; certainly no sane man would wait for a malignant growth to become fatal before seeking help.
Therefore, these twelve A.A.'s, and thousands like them, have been saved years of infinite suffering. They sum it up like this: "We didn't wait to hit bottom because, thank God, we could see the bottom. Actually, the bottom came up and hit us. That sold us on Alcoholics Anonymous."
Member
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: Northwest U.S.
Posts: 778
After a long and sordid road, I could no longer explain away my lies and deceit with more lies and deceit. So, for once, I was honest and admitted that all of the lies, and there were a lot, were tied directly to my drinking problem. Once I admitted all of that, and admitted that I was addicted to alcohol, it was a massive relief.
Member
Join Date: May 2017
Location: SoCAL
Posts: 152
treated my 9 yr old son like crap after he had a bad performance for a sport he absolutely loves ,I made him cry 3 separate times in a 4 hr period and it felt good at the time , I was hung over, or maybe just mentally not with it cause of alcohol the only real loser was me that day , not him.
Not sure where the crazy dad behavior came from , but first and last time in my book......completely unacceptable and I found this place that night , thank god!
Not sure where the crazy dad behavior came from , but first and last time in my book......completely unacceptable and I found this place that night , thank god!
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