Sarah1975

I've spent a lot of time examining why I started drinking and how/why it changed from 'normal' to excessive. I feel that knowing these things help me to focus my giving up - ya know, finding other ways to alleviate social anxiety, to cover loneliness, to aid sleep, to deal with hardships & indeed simply be.

My reasons for giving up are simple: health, and increasing next-day blues that were overwhelming. That weighed against not even remembering the night before left me with the logical argument of why do something that I don't even know if I enjoyed or not when it is making me poor, ill & depressed?!?! With that in mind, you would think it would be easier to give up...

MelindaFlowers

Health reasons and hangovers. I received scary news after a checkup. Continuing drinking was no longer an option. I had done some pretty serious damage by 32.

I also started to have daily withdrawals which, as I'm sure many can relate, are one of the lowest forms of hell known to man.

It was one day when it turned. I was sitting at my desk at work and I could NOT sit still. I could barely read the computer screen. My heart was pounding and beating irregularly. I had to pace around the room so I wouldn't let out a scream. I knew the only way to calm myself down would be to drink that night after work and I did. The exact same thing happened the next day and the next, and the next, and the next, drinking at night to calm the withdrawal. Pure, unfiltered hell.

Day 65 here and the above physical torture is gone.

MelindaFlowers

My reason for staying sober is that everything I want to accomplish and experience in life can't be done with nightly blackouts and daily hangovers.

DisplacedGRITS

The first time i quit drinking it was because i was scared. A few relapses later, i quit because i realized that i didn't want to die. A few relapses later, i quit because i didn't want to be lonely. A few relapses later, i quit because i realized that my God was desperately reaching out to me and i found the courage and clarity to reach back wholeheartedly. I pray every day for guidance and so far, God has taken away my desire to drink. Today, i want to stay sober because i have found serenity and i will do anything to preserve it. I feel useful, i feel connected, i feel grounded, i feel free, i feel loved, i have the capacity to love, i feel emotions, i experience life and i realize that i don't have to be angry, frustrated or discontent anymore. My emotions are no longer ruled by exterior forces. My self worth is no longer dictated by other people. I am content for the first time in my life.

Soberwolf

My gf left me in the 3 months I was trying to give up

Rightly so !!!!

Somehow I done it I never thought in a billion years I would ever be writing this msg

Now I try to make it up to her every single day

PaleMale

I was a frog in a slowly heating pot. It took a long time for the water to get hot. I didn't notice. By the time it was approaching a boil, I had run out of excuses to justify drinking. I had run out of apologies to my loved ones. I was on the brink of a supreme loneliness that was terrifying.

I had not noticed that drinking had changed me, that I couldn't stop even if I tried. Sometimes when I drank, I would become a real jerk. Saying nasty things that hurt people. I no longer knew what I would do or say when I drank. I no longer trusted or liked myself. Tears in my drunken eyes, I stared in the mirror and said to the reflection, "You're an alcoholic. You can't stop even though it's ruining everything. You are not who you think you are any longer." I had said that same thing to my reflection a number of times, before I really knew that more drinking would bring ruin. I found help. First here, then in-person.

Another reason? I calculated my annual drinking and smoking bill. It came to $16,000 a year!

Another reason? My liver was swelling. I was developing pancreatitis. My skin was flakey. My eye's and face puffed up. I could no longer hide it on anyone.

Another? My wife was preparing to leave.
Another? I came close to snuffing it. I never thought of snuffing it when not drunk. But we do stupid stuff we can't take back when we drink...

I'm sure you know your reasons! They are good ones.

Good luck to you! It's worth it. You will not miss drinking for long.

least

I stopped drinking cause I was sick of waking up feeling like hell and wishing I were dead. I also quit cause I wanted to take better care of my critters. Now that I'm sober they get the best possible care.

iam2antsy

my reasons for wanting to quit:

tired of more & more sleepless nights (alcohol doesn't make me sleep as i see many it does). tired of spending more & more days so nauseous. tired of days feeling like a fool from emails to family sent in the middle of the night, putting my feelings out there. i dwell on the harm i'm do'n to my liver.

and staying sober?? i don't know...

Ptcapote

Hi Sarah, great topic, I've really enjoyed reading the responses so far. Thanks for starting the thread!

For me, it was a little or a lot of most reasons that others have listed above. I also got a very clear flash of where my life was headed (very clear, like lightening-strike clear) and it wasn't pretty at all.

That said, alcohol is like a parasite that attaches to your body, mind and soul. It is physically, mentally and emotionally highly addictive. It eventually invades all parts of you so you just forgot how to live without it. Ultimate parasite.

But once it's gone (the physical goes first, the mental and emotional need more time and are a constant work in progress), life becomes so much better and so much less stressful that you'd honestly do anything to preserve that again. Trying to deal with normal stressful things drunk/hungover versus sober is so different. Life still is full of drama. Thing is now, I'm not. It's a much nicer combination.

Hang in there. Don't feel guilty or question why it was so hard to give up or why you might miss it.

Just know that a few weeks of drunk-free drama and actually serenity and peace? If that's not enough to set you on the path, I don't know what it...

ANewDayNYC

I feel like alcohol causes my life to spiral or at the very least it prevents me from being the person that I want to be. It makes accomplishing my goals far more difficult - I worry about my job if I have to call in sick frequently and when I attend work I hate being hungover. Financially, I spend so much money going out that is simply the same as flushing money down the toilet - I would rather spend my money on something positive. Alcohol hasn't helped my relationships with people. Drinking also makes my fitness goals harder to accomplish and will eventually do a toll on my health. Alcohol is also progressive so I would rather quit now while I still have a chance to get off.

Indenial618

Hundreds of reasons for both. I quit because I was tired of waking up feeling absolutely terrible every morning. Sweating, heart racing, shaking, anxiety, irregular heartbeat, not remembering what I did the night before or how I made it to bed. Food all over the bed, myself and floor from my nightly black out binge. Bruises all over from god knows what. Grabbing my phone in the AM to make sure I didn't write any stupid texts, emails or make an as* out of myself with some stupid Facebook status. The ridiculous amount of money I spent on alcohol but never bought myself things I needed like clothes etc. because you know, I didn't have money for that but always had money for booze. Not being a good mom, meaning I was always feeling like crap. Too hungover to go to the park. Life was so chaotic. Nausea and diarrhea everyday. And like someone previously mentioned, life is already so full of drama. Dealing with that while drinking all the time is a horrible mix.

My drinking got to the point I was blacking out every night. My biggest fear was that I wouldn't wake up the next morning and I one of my kids would find me or my husband. I love my family with everything I have and the thought of not being around to see my kids grow up scared me. I was drinking myself into an early grave. I came from a broken home, I didn't want to make mine one as well. I just recently had 8 months and have slipped the last three weekends. I'm back here to stay on track. Post. Post more and learn what I was lacking in my recovery to lead me back to where I have tried so hard not to be.

Jake1961

I got tired of waking up and immediately starting to plan my drinking for the day.

Too many drunk purchases on eBay and Amazon. I have spent several thousand dollars on stuff I don't need and often never used.

Had enough of the look my wife and teenage kids would give me as I was half passed out by 8 or 9PM.

Done with of the headaches, the occasional puking hangover, feeling like crap, head in a fog feeling I had nearly every day.

Sick of spending at least 80 dollars a week on alcohol.

Finally came to the realization that drinking did absolutely nothing positive for me. It only gave me the temporary illusion of feeling OK but in reality made me feel lousy and put me on a path of self-destruction that would have ended up with me seriously ill or dead.