Fluffycloud

I know there are a lot of people who've successfully overcome struggles with alcohol. I'm looking for a bit of encouragement as feel I'm the person who just can't quit 😪 Or at least stay quit. I've gone through withdrawal so many times. Feel like I just can't go through it anymore

Ghostlight1

Well, I don't know if I'm a success story, but I haven't drank alcohol in ten and a half years.
I know how you feel. I, too, felt like a person who just couldn't quit. And oooooh, how I tried. For ten years I tried to quit drinking. Seriously. Ten years.
I was either procuring alcohol, drinking alcohol or recovering from alcohol.

I went through withdrawal two or three times a week. And that was after stopping drinking for a day. One day. Then back at it. Ten years.
It finally became obvious I was dealing with a problem bigger than myself, and that I couldn't quit on my own.
One particularly hungover morning, I called the AA number.
I met with a man who drank like I did. Worse. And understood where I was coming from.
I went to a meeting. Still drank. But a bug had been implanted in my thick skull.
Here were people successfully not drinking and many of them had been just like me. I came here. I wanted what these sober people had.

It took me awhile, but after I had six months sober, I felt I really could stop drinking.
And on a Christmas Eve those ten and a half years ago, I had my last drink.
This, believe it or not, is the short version of my story.
But I hope you get the idea even in it's brevity.
I no longer drink. One day at a time.
After thirty five years of drinking alcoholically, I haven't had a drink in ten and a half years.

You can do it too. It may take work, it may take help and it may take doing things you don't want to do right now, but you can quit.
I was a bad drunk. Now I'm not.
You're not alone.

biminiblue

There are quite a few stories in the Stories of Recovery subforum:

https://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/stories-recovery/

Fluffycloud

Thank you Biminblue for taking the time to share . I'll check out that thread

doggonecarl

When you say you can't quit, or stay quit...what are you doing--recovery wise--to support your decision to quit?

There are no shortcuts. Everyone who quits will face withdrawals of some sort, the roller coaster of emotions, anxiety, cravings, misery. Then after early sobriety there is learning to cope without alcohol, learning to live and love the sober life. Others have mental issues to address.

Everyone who is successful at sobriety has gotten through the early challenges and discomfort and has ingrained recovery into their lives.

You can too.

Callas

There is simply no easy way to stop and stay stopped. Prepare for hard work and then some. I am working at it all the time.

SoberRican

As you have read here on this post . we can have victory over this disease. Once you surrender. Healing begins once you have a real taste of what sobriety feels like . you are going to always want it. Why? Cause it feels great. I'm at 75 days . still green but taking it one day at a time. Keep coming back

Fluffycloud

Thanks for the replies. Got an appointment with the addiction centre near me. I've got support now from my partner which I didn't have before. He likes a drink and didn't want to lose his drinking buddy. Being a normie he didn't get why I can't just have a couple but he does now. The acute withdrawals were horrible but relatively mild compared to what some go through but I didn't feel great even after a week. I'm also going through the menopause which doesn't help so lots of symptoms later might have been due to that.

jimmyJlover

https://www.soberrecovery.com/forums...ober-life.html (Alcohol problem = plan for sober life)

Here's mine. I would call it success every 24hours.

NYCDoglvr

If it weren't for AA I couldn't have quit. There's no way I could stop on my own without the support of other drunks. I had the "gift of desperation": thanks to a near brush with death because of booze it was clear I had to quit or I would die.

Now I hated going to AA at first, I saw it as God's way of punishing me for my drinking, lol. But it worked and now I'm sober 27 years. I'm still an agnostic (GOD = group of drunks) and that works too.

SoberCAH

Great question, Fluff.

We're glad you're here.

Many of the sober people on this forum have picked a plan of recovery and worked it fastidiously, as the saying goes, one day at a time.

The good news is that you only have to get detoxed, or go through withdrawals, one more time.

Please step on over to the good side and don't return to the darkness and misery.

Ringo123

"I" didn't overcome any struggles, alcohol-related or otherwise. All the credit goes to a Power greater than myself, AA and some stubbornness on my part (smile).

SoberCAH is right when he says 'worked at it fastidiously...one day at a time'. Every day I take action to support my sobriety. My disease doesn't take a day off, neither does my sobriety.

Find what works for you, AA or some other method, especially if it includes finding a Higher Power which will solve all your problems; you'll never regret it!