Epiphany for Quitting ?
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: BC
Posts: 8
Epiphany for Quitting ?
Apologies in advance if there is already a thread on this.
Did you have an epiphany that made you want to stop drinking? What was that "aha" moment where you realized you could no longer continue down that route?
I'm in a difficult place right now and I need some motivation and to hear other people's stories on the defining moment they realized they needed to stop drinking full stop.
Thanks.
(PS Hoping to post a proper introduction at some point in the next few days. Loving the forum so far, it is very inspiring to read about people like me being able to conquer this.)
Did you have an epiphany that made you want to stop drinking? What was that "aha" moment where you realized you could no longer continue down that route?
I'm in a difficult place right now and I need some motivation and to hear other people's stories on the defining moment they realized they needed to stop drinking full stop.
Thanks.
(PS Hoping to post a proper introduction at some point in the next few days. Loving the forum so far, it is very inspiring to read about people like me being able to conquer this.)
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,436
Being a stubborn man (back then, to the point of stupidity) my epiphany was nearly dying, dreamin.
Whatever your difficult place is right now, I can guarantee drinkings not making it better.
If you stop drinking I think you might just find some exits open up for you
D
Whatever your difficult place is right now, I can guarantee drinkings not making it better.
If you stop drinking I think you might just find some exits open up for you
D
Last edited by Dee74; 04-09-2012 at 10:00 PM.
Member
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Seattle, Wa
Posts: 114
My epiphany
Im 36, I have liver disease. Went to the doc for abdominal pain, thought I had an ulcer. Turns out I have a very large fatty liver. If I don't stop I will most likely die young. I thought nothing could ever happen to me. I thought drinking 10-12 bottles of wine a week and a 12 pack of beer was normal for most people....I actually had myself convinced this was ok behavior. I have lapsed 4 times in 4 weeks even after the aha moment. It's been that hard to quit for me. So I guess what I'm saying is at least for me even obvious signs haven't helped. I need to make a decision and stick to it....Good luck to you my friend!
Member
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 737
Welcome!
I had many aha moments. I would quit drinking after each one and then soon start up again. This went on for years until I stopped waiting for that moment and just quit. I knew I would drink again unless I set up some kind of support system (SR, books, face-to-face support) which included a daily commitment to staying sober. I knew this because I had failed so many times not doing it and observed so many succeed by doing it. Now, that it's been a few months, I don't feel like I need to remember to stay sober each day but I still do something daily as a reminder of where I am and where I could have been had I kept drinking.
Keep reading and posting. Life is so much better sober.
I had many aha moments. I would quit drinking after each one and then soon start up again. This went on for years until I stopped waiting for that moment and just quit. I knew I would drink again unless I set up some kind of support system (SR, books, face-to-face support) which included a daily commitment to staying sober. I knew this because I had failed so many times not doing it and observed so many succeed by doing it. Now, that it's been a few months, I don't feel like I need to remember to stay sober each day but I still do something daily as a reminder of where I am and where I could have been had I kept drinking.
Keep reading and posting. Life is so much better sober.
dude in recovery
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Gulf Coast, TX
Posts: 1,504
A week (plus) of not being able to hold anything in my stomach... desperately still trying to get a buzz, I even tried huffing some seriously bad stuff I had in the garage (vommit). On the 21st of September I crashed, slept all day and when woke up I was completely sick of it all. One thought hit me like a ton; "You do not 'have' to do this anymore.", but for once that thought did not involve putting a gun to my head.
I saw a much 'bigger picture' than I ever did during my drunken moments of clarity and began to feel purpose and real hope for a future free of the bondage. This forum has helped immensely in my sobriety, planted the seeds in my brain throughout last year and when I hit that last desperate bottom, the answer was clear; Quit Now.
I saw a much 'bigger picture' than I ever did during my drunken moments of clarity and began to feel purpose and real hope for a future free of the bondage. This forum has helped immensely in my sobriety, planted the seeds in my brain throughout last year and when I hit that last desperate bottom, the answer was clear; Quit Now.
Member
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 1,422
Hi Dream, it's nice to meetcha
19 years of trying to moderate my drinking. I had gone from drinking in the morning to only in the afternoon (I know! achievement, huh? ugh) Then I helped a guy here through his withdrawal from opiate painkillers. He posted saying how amazing he felt, how clear his beautiful wife's eyes were, how he was going to be a better husband and father. I realised I'd helped him get clean, but I was going home to beer and coke. Wake up.
Plus my coke use was going from once a year to once a month, to once a week (or twice? we've got the money... just on the weekend then. or mondays if I'm really hungover...)
I realised I was on the edge.
Good luck hun - keep reading, and keep posting.
xx
19 years of trying to moderate my drinking. I had gone from drinking in the morning to only in the afternoon (I know! achievement, huh? ugh) Then I helped a guy here through his withdrawal from opiate painkillers. He posted saying how amazing he felt, how clear his beautiful wife's eyes were, how he was going to be a better husband and father. I realised I'd helped him get clean, but I was going home to beer and coke. Wake up.
Plus my coke use was going from once a year to once a month, to once a week (or twice? we've got the money... just on the weekend then. or mondays if I'm really hungover...)
I realised I was on the edge.
Good luck hun - keep reading, and keep posting.
xx
Member
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 1,146
You're waiting for 'IT', sure that when it comes around all will fall into place and things will change because you then will understand. You're sure that those who have stopped have had that moment and you need to wait for yours.
All false ideas to allow you to stay on the drinking side of the fence. There's no IT and it will never arrive no matter how long you spend drinking and waiting.
All false ideas to allow you to stay on the drinking side of the fence. There's no IT and it will never arrive no matter how long you spend drinking and waiting.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 1,126
My epiphany?
Waking up with open wounds on my wrists from the restraints that held me in a hospital bed three weeks after I quit drinking and swallowing benzos. I could remember the first 18 days and the hell I went through detoxing, but couldn't the life of me figure out why I was in the hospital. I guess it was because of the seizures and psychosis from benzo withdrawal and a host of other things.
Perhaps you don't want that kind of oh-wow moment?
Waking up with open wounds on my wrists from the restraints that held me in a hospital bed three weeks after I quit drinking and swallowing benzos. I could remember the first 18 days and the hell I went through detoxing, but couldn't the life of me figure out why I was in the hospital. I guess it was because of the seizures and psychosis from benzo withdrawal and a host of other things.
Perhaps you don't want that kind of oh-wow moment?
Professional Drunk
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Toronto
Posts: 465
My 'a-ha' moment came during a stay in a jail cell after my GF called the police. I was charged with domestic assault and after 14 hours in a cell, I was handcuffed in a 'chain-gang' with the other drunks and herded into a transport van and driven to the local courthouse to face a judge. I was in a holding cell at the courthouse with common criminals and drug dealers for a couple hours before I was released. The charges were dropped, but it was an eye-opener and still a source of great shame for me....
Member
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: South East England
Posts: 8,009
Forcing myself to drink until I was completely drunk even while it was causing stomach pain and heartburn to the point of throwing up, waking up the next day and wishing I had died in the night.
Canine Welfare Advocate
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Norfolk, VA
Posts: 10,962
Originally Posted by dreamincolour 
I need some motivation and to hear other people's stories on the defining moment they realized they needed to stop drinking full stop.
I spent ten years or longer convincing myself that I didn't need to quit. Don't waste that much time getting sober, please. Something brought you here, seeking information and support. That sounds like an epiphany to me.
Choosing Life
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Montana
Posts: 1,435
I had plenty of moments that should have been epiphanies all by themselves ...
Getting drunk, picking a fight with my husband, hitting him, and then calling the police and telling them that HE hit ME. I was rewarded for that with a night in jail and two months of the "silent treatment" from my husband and kids ...
Going into a drunken rampage on Christmas Eve, then falling on a table and breaking a couple of ribs ... nice Christmas that ended up being ...
Waking up in the middle of the night or first thing in the morning with the shakes so bad that I had to take a couple of shots of whiskey to either get back to sleep or just to function at all ...
Finally reaching a point where I couldn't even get off my couch and realizing that the only way out was detox and then quitting for good.
There are many, many more that all added up to one big "AHA!!" Too bad I'm such a slow learner that there had to be so many.
Getting drunk, picking a fight with my husband, hitting him, and then calling the police and telling them that HE hit ME. I was rewarded for that with a night in jail and two months of the "silent treatment" from my husband and kids ...
Going into a drunken rampage on Christmas Eve, then falling on a table and breaking a couple of ribs ... nice Christmas that ended up being ...
Waking up in the middle of the night or first thing in the morning with the shakes so bad that I had to take a couple of shots of whiskey to either get back to sleep or just to function at all ...
Finally reaching a point where I couldn't even get off my couch and realizing that the only way out was detox and then quitting for good.
There are many, many more that all added up to one big "AHA!!" Too bad I'm such a slow learner that there had to be so many.
Powerless over Alcohol
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Trudging the Road to Happy Destiny!
Posts: 4,018
I knew for many years. But I guess the final straw was serving time for my third dui and detoxing so badly that I was hallucanating and trying to kill myself in the cell. I had no idea. Then two days later woke up in the ICU and was told what happend I had wet brain , but some way I came out of it for the most part. Their is damage but as long as I dont pick up the demensia should stay away.
Member
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Boston, MA
Posts: 92
It took many tries of convincing myself I was fine and that I could drink normally and waking up with horrible shame, unexplained bruises and guilt. I don't know when, but at some point it went from
1) I'm fine, I just need to try harder (I repeated this step many times)
2) I'm not fine and I don't know what to do
3) quitting and getting help and not being happy about it
4) being goddamn happy that I am committed to not drinking and to stop trying to prove that I can.
1) I'm fine, I just need to try harder (I repeated this step many times)
2) I'm not fine and I don't know what to do
3) quitting and getting help and not being happy about it
4) being goddamn happy that I am committed to not drinking and to stop trying to prove that I can.
Member
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: UK
Posts: 5,678
An epiphany or aha moment sounds so positive. For me it was lots of little moments of utter despair.
It was fear that made me want to quit. Every other night I'd promise that I'd never drink again if I made it through the night. I think I was in the land of constant panic attacks for a long time. I have no idea why I carried on drinking. If the next day I was happy or sad I would generally just keep drinking. I know people say that early sobriety is an emotional rollercoaster but it's nothing compared to the extremes of emotion I had before I quit.
6 months after joining SR I finally quit. Again, I have no idea why I waited so long, stupid
I guess if there was any epiphany it was just the final realisation that nothing was going to get better if I carried on drinking and that it was going to cause me serious problems.
The relief of sobriety is somewhat overwhelming.
It was fear that made me want to quit. Every other night I'd promise that I'd never drink again if I made it through the night. I think I was in the land of constant panic attacks for a long time. I have no idea why I carried on drinking. If the next day I was happy or sad I would generally just keep drinking. I know people say that early sobriety is an emotional rollercoaster but it's nothing compared to the extremes of emotion I had before I quit.
6 months after joining SR I finally quit. Again, I have no idea why I waited so long, stupid
I guess if there was any epiphany it was just the final realisation that nothing was going to get better if I carried on drinking and that it was going to cause me serious problems.
The relief of sobriety is somewhat overwhelming.
Saved By Grace
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Oop North, Furtlin' me Ferrets
Posts: 410
I've had so many of those monents when I knew my using was going to end up screwing me over at some point, but I think being young it makes it easier to say f it, I want to feel good right now. There's always tomorrow to quit, and I know the future will work things out on their own. So I told myself what i just wrote and lived in denial for newrly ten years and ignored the signs that I was truly an addict and kept climbing up the ladder trying stronger booze, stronger drugs, etc. and then it would crash down around me so I'd go move back home with my parents and rebuild my life and when things got good again I'd feel I needed to celebrate so I'd score booze or drugs and then the cycle repeats and repeats and repeats year after year after year. Anything... And I mean anything... To avoid living life on life terms and sober. I think it only gets harder the longer u wait and th deeper u get into addiction and that habit of self medicating and mood modifying. It becomes a living hell and usually that's when im forced to consider quitting. When I'm broke, in debt, unhappy and sick and tired of the chaos of being an addict. That's what's it's like for me.
Saved By Grace
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Oop North, Furtlin' me Ferrets
Posts: 410
I've had so many of those monents when I knew my using was going to end up screwing me over at some point, but I think being young it makes it easier to say f it, I want to feel good right now. There's always tomorrow to quit, and I know the future will work things out on their own. So I told myself what i just wrote and lived in denial for newrly ten years and ignored the signs that I was truly an addict and kept climbing up the ladder trying stronger booze, stronger drugs, etc. and then it would crash down around me so I'd go move back home with my parents and rebuild my life and when things got good again I'd feel I needed to celebrate so I'd score booze or drugs and then the cycle repeats and repeats and repeats year after year after year. Anything... And I mean anything... To avoid living life on life terms and sober. I think it only gets harder the longer u wait and th deeper u get into addiction and that habit of self medicating and mood modifying. It becomes a living hell and usually that's when im forced to consider quitting. When I'm broke, in debt, unhappy and sick and tired of the chaos of being an addict. That's what's it's like for me.
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