Woomby

Hi everyone, I'm new here and last night I scared myself. I have said many times before 'I'm going to stop drinking' or 'I'll just drink in moderation' but today I really feel as though I actually have to do it or I will end up in a very bad place. I'm 21 years old and starting a career as a Teacher and I'm a musician, I have a loving family, great friends etc etc but I seem to always make excuses to drink...I can't stop!
So recap last night:
I started at a bbq with sixpack of beer, went to another persons house and drank half a bottle of whiskey and then we went out. I dont remember what happened and this is what scares me! All I remember is knocking back plenty of beer and then I woke up today feeling like I am going to die. My phone no longer works, my clothes are covered in mud and gum and all kinds of stuff, and apparently I was still up at 5am! I called my mate who I was out with and he said he put me in a cab and gave me some money to get home at about 1am. I also had food scattered around the place!!!
I feel absolutely horrible that I was that drunk that I don't remember this.
Seeing as I'm from Australia I have had a relationship with alcohol since I was 18 and I fear its now a real problem with me. I'm constantly broke, I spend money on beer rather than fuel for my car, I have been arrested for drink-driving, I can't go out without drinking, I can't stay at home without drinking...

I hope that I have found a place where I can get through this and straighten out, because I can't do it anymore.

Chy

Congratulations to you on making that decision to quit! I wish I had that much courage at your age. Took me 22 more years from where you're at. As a vetern teacher this is the best thing you can do for your future students. Teaching sucks when hungover and if you're as passionate about kids as I am then each day you walk into your classroom you'll want to give them the best learning opportunities you can provide. You've worked hard at your education to get where you want to be don't screw it up out the gate. Wait until you see all the money you save! Good for you!

Anna

Hi Woomby,

Welcome!

You're making a great choice to stop drinking and get your life in order. I would do things and say things that I couldn't remember the next day, and it was such an awful feeling. You have come to a great place for support.

Woomby

Thanks for the kind words guys...

I tried to tell my parents but I couldn't.

All my friends drink, all my family drinks, my grandmother is the only person in the family who doesn't touch alcohol... The thought of being social without alcohol scares me.

Dee74

Hi Woomby...

good to see another fellow Aussie muso !

like Chy says, it's great you made it here at 21...I'm nearly twice that and I've just been here a few weeks...

yeah, I know the Aussie ethos is hard to beat...in my twenties, all my friends drank, my family drank (all often to excess) and, on top of all that, I was a muso !...with all that, it's really hard to go against the expected social requirement to drink... but, looking back, I see it was a lot harder to do what I did to myself...I ended up drinking every day and pretty much nothing else...and still denied I had a problem.

I haven't told my family either, but then I'm estranged from them, they live in different parts of Oz, and they don't figure largely in my life...but I have told my friends of the extent of my problem, and the love and support I've gotten back from them (and here) is amazing...

I wish you well, mate
D

Woomby

Hi Dee,

I think the hardest thing I have had to face is exactly that! the peer pressure, the fact that the lifestyle I lead being a muso means late nights, lots of socialising...

I also worked in a pub for 5 months and it really opened my eyes. I met and sort of became friends with a lot of older alcoholics...guys who would come in at the same time each day and sit on the same stool... I never wanted to admit it, but I am the same, just I don't sit at a bar, I'm all over the place, often not knowing how I got to some places etc.

What part of QLD are you from? I'm from Toowoomba (dont laugh :P)

Dee74

...and invariably lots of drinking etc...!

It took me a lot longer to realise it was a problem, so you're streets ahead of me...I thought for years I couldn't be an alcoholic cos I didn't do the all day pub thing...


nah, I liked Toowoomba the few times I saw it as a kid...I'm a Brissie boy though !

hope to see you around here - the advice here has really helped me to sort some things out...at long last !

D

Woomby

You're right, there is always an excuse to have a drink...sometimes it's because I'm happy, sometimes depressed, sometimes my environs...

Also the longer this hangover lasts, the more I want to clean up. I've been awake for 12 hrs now with the worst hangover I've ever had! (why can't I fall asleep and it be tomorrow already!?) If I didn't find this forum and say that to myself this morning I would be drunk again right now, because it's so much easier than dealing with the hangover...

nolongerdrunk

I have to agree with the other teachers that say teaching sucks when you're hungover. I've done it more times than I should have. I should have learned. Read my post if you want to read another horror story involving teaching.

I'm glad you're deciding to quit... I'm in the same place you are. Realizing that I cannot keep up this lifestyle and be a good teacher. Good luck.