youngone24

Hi all,

I am new to SR. I am almost 24 and have begun to admit I am an alcoholic. I want to quit as alcohol has brought nothing but trouble to my life. My issue is how to quit when people around me my age all drink alcohol in nearly every social event. Even dating seems like a challenge because most dates revolve around alcohol (even though most of my relationships have ended because I was a drunk.

Any advice about how to face this challenge?

Coldfusion

There are a lot of activities and places to meet people that do not involve alcohol. It's just a matter of shifting your attention away from bars and the drinking scene.

I am sure Memphis has a young persons' AA meeting--that would be a great place to find others who are in the same situation.

GnikNus

I was digging around the App Store the other day for a sobriety counter and other resources and saw several sober social apps. Depending on where you live you might find lots of like minded folks who don't include alcohol in their lives.

sva777

I would try AA meetings and who knows maybe an app. I believe the longer you are you are sober you will realize not everything and every event revolves around alcohol as we sometimes think.

LiveItFull

I think you're still not an alcoholic but it doesn't change the reality that you are a problem drinker.

Weatherman77

Just wanted to give you kudos for recognizing that this may be a problem and reaching out. I knew I was an alcoholic at 24 and denied it for the next 13 years. You don't miss anything by quitting young, you just spare yourself years of emotional and physical problems when the bill finally comes due. Best of luck!

MythOfSisyphus

Welcome to SR, youngone24! I'm glad you stopped in and posted. I can sympathize with you a lot. As a young guy I was kind of shy and socially awkward; booze loosened me up and made me feel comfortable around people. But it didn't take long for me to become a problem drinker, getting ripped every nite just for the sake of being drunk. I knew on some level already by age 22-23 that I didn't drink like "normal people" but I didn't want to admit it, didn't want to give up that crutch that I grew to depend on. If I had quit when I first considered it though I might not have gotten divorced, etc.

I didn't have to face my youth sober but fat lot of good it did me! The drinking of my youth put me in a hole that I'm only now, in my forties, starting to dig out of. Booze isn't the panacea it seems, it's just false comfort. If you spend a little time at it you'll find that there's a parallel sober world out there just as rewarding and normal as the one you know as a drinker.

kinzoku

I'm 24.

I don't think there is any easy solution. This is my longest sober period since I started drinking. Rounding on two months.

Your friends will pressure you. They just will.

Events will be held at bars and alcohol will be around. It just will.

Edit:

I find that meeting women involves drinking often, but dating? No way man. Dates are so much more fun outside a bar. Trust me, women really, really, appreciate a sober guy who is in charge of himself and can plan a fun date that revolved around more than a bottle of wine and some stodgy restaurant --> bar --> whatever.

I spent the last month avoiding people, just focusing on sobriety. This weekend I went to a bar for the first time since this quitting attempt. Went pretty well, wasn't easy, but wasn't awful and after people realized I wasn't drinking and filed it away they stopped caring.

I think you have to come to accept that there ARE inherent difficulties in quitting at a young age, and you just have to realize that's the price of sobriety. And its a price that is worth it.

Berrybean

There are plenty of people who don't drink (or don't drink MUCH) anyway. I was quite surprised to notice that when I stopped drinking and went to my first few major social occasions. Because I'd surrounded myself with heavy drinkers and gone only to places where heavy drinkers drank (after all, I wouldn't have wanted to embarrass myself!!) I'd kind of convinced myself that this was the 'norm'.

I'd strongly suggest making friends with some people whose lives don't revolve around alcohol. Bars and drinking to drunk are actually only a very, very little part of life, but if you only hang out with people to whom that is their world then you're going to continue to miss out.

Soberwolf

Welcome youngone

PurpleKnight

Welcome to the Forum Youngone!!

FreeOwl

WELCOME!!!

I suspect it's a fair measure harder at 24 than at 40 in terms of feeling the pressures of youth to drink and party.

I know that at age 24 - though alcohol had brought me TONS of trouble already, I was convinced it was all just bad luck and I did not have a problem. Took another 16 years for me to get serious about sobriety.

On the other hand, if you embrace the choice of sobriety at your age, there's a tremendous world of opportunity ahead for you. You get a chance that SO many of us wish we could go back and be given.....

Make a list of everything you've ever thought would be fun to try that doesn't involve drinking - then start going to do those things. Along the way as you try new experiences and build new, non-drinking memories, you'll encounter others who are interested in doing things other than drinking. From there you can build community and a new life model that is focused on living your life richly and fully.

You've landed here - a good place to start for support and ideas.