Mirage74

I'm in an IOP, and about 80% of the people in there were forced there by the courts. Meaning, once they complete the program and stay sober to avoid jail, they will likely go back to using/drinking. My issue is, these people cannot understand why I would go there by my own choice. I had one guy tell me today, who has gotten 4 dui's, he can't believe I'm here on my own. I explained to him that even though I've never gotten one, I easily could have, and I'm just sick of my own consequences (we all know what those are - the usual). I'm posting this because voicing those opinions kind of ticks me off. Like, oh you haven't gotten 3 dui's? Well keep drinking. Or you haven't been busted for coke possession? Why quit?

I'm just wondering how many people sober up because they are simply tired of it vs. being forced to by the law.

ScottFromWI

I did it by my own choice. And it was one of the best choices I've ever made.

Pondlady

Ditto.

aasharon90

Family intervention back in August 1990.

28day instay plus 6week outpatient aftercare.

23 yrs. sober.

Olive1

I was never in trouble with the law. But I was pretty darn close to being dead if I didn't quit.
It was my choice, if I wanted to live.

LivingFree52

It was my choice to quit drinking. I got tired of the way I was feeling and knew that if I didn't quit and soon I would be digging my own grave. Best choice I ever made.

Mirage74

I'll go ahead and say, for me, I'm like Olive. Never had much legal trouble. Been pulled over twice while wasted for another violation, cops let me go both times with a warning. Got waved through a sobriety checkpoint once, I was wasted. Closest I've come to DUI. I'm very lucky in that regard, but feel terrible about the number of times I've driven drunk.

But like Olive, I realize if I don't quit, I'll probably die, or at least wind up in jail. That scares the **** out of me.

dadman

I'm here by choice. I've been VERY lucky. No DUI's, ever (although this is definitely luck -- I know I've been behind the wheel when I was very over the limit). Never lost my job (but my work has suffered). No liver problems (yet, at least according to all the blood-work I've had due to my chronic hypochondria).

I'm a textbook "functional alcoholic". But it has taken several episode of excessive drinking, and the anxiety that ultimately hits me as the "good" high starts to wear off later in the evening -- typically as I am watching TV with my wife, and I am mess, and realize, I have a problem...

I think my wife is more in denial at this stage than I am. She think I can just cut back and moderate. I have been trying to gently tell her that if I was capable of doing that, I would have been doing it.

So, for me, it's a choice. While I'm still lucid and lucky enough to be able to make the choice myself.

alphaomega

No one could force me to do this. Not even my own child crying and begging me to stop.

Couldn't bear to face a single more day living under the excrutiatingly painful prison in alcohell.

jazzfish

I am doing this by choice. I was tired of the misery and lack of control.

Mirage74

It's good to see that everyone is here by their own choice. I just wish I could explain it to those punks who wear their dui's and time in prison on their sleeve like a badge of honor. Wait, I thought we all wanted to avoid those things. I guess I value my freedom. Sorry for the harsh words, but it's how I feel.

ChefUK

I could never succeed if it were forced.

EndGameNYC

You go because you want to live a better life. They go because they have to go in order to continue drinking/using drugs. Your freedom has been restricted by your drinking. Their freedom has been, is now, and may forever be restricted by the criminal justice system.

(Palms up, weighing your situation versus theirs.)

Mirage74

Yea EndGame, I guess I'm just frustrated because I feel like it takes away from IOP. It would be great if more people were there because they wanted to be rather than had to be. Maybe I'll look into some other options.

jazzfish

It's funny, because I hold a bit of jealousy for those people who can continue to drink and seemingly remain oblivious to their own suffering and self-destruction. It would have made things so much simpler, at least superficially. Don't get me wrong. I am very grateful that in spite of everything, something inside made me ask myself "does it really have to be this way" and search out a new life.

longbeachone

Absolute shame and humiliation were the driving forces for me to stop.

LuLu13

Choice, never had legal trouble but the effect it was having on my life just was too much. I want to be sober and become the person I know I can be. Heck, the person I was before I started drinking 4 years ago.

EndGameNYC

Part of the stigma around alcohol and drug use is that many people carry the mistaken belief that we're "getting away with something." They should only know.

Ladybug2

I also quit by choice because I felt like something awful was just waiting to happen. You can only get away with irresponsible behavior for so long. I have a wonderful husband and 3 yr old daughter - too much to lose if I continued to drink like I did.

LadyBlue0527

The 2nd time I quit on my own was when I got a DUI where I managed to escape going to jail and instead paid a huge fine. Mandated alcohol counseling where I had to remain sober for the 7 weeks that I was going. Within one week after leaving counseling the contract expired and I was drinking.

This is my 4th time and this time it's FOR ME. There was no rock bottom that lead me back to Day One like other times. I was simply sick and tired of being sick and tired and not living, merely existing.

Wow, what a revelation, I don't know how many times in the last few years the words "I'm not living, I'm merely existing and I'm sick of it" crossed my lips. Not once have I said that or felt that way since I quit 80 days ago. Sobriety has given me back my life, I'm not just a zombie looking for the next drink.

The world of sobriety is an entirely different place when you truly understand that it must be for you.