225 Days, First Post
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Join Date: Aug 2019
Posts: 87
225 Days, First Post
Hi all. First post here to introduce myself.
I have been a long time lurker here. I just realized that when I first signed up, I used an email address that I haven't used in years, so it's been a while.
I am currently 225 days without a drink and that's by far the longest for me in over 25 years. I was drinking a fifth of vodka a day and then some (some weekend days were a bottle and a half) and I knew I couldn't go on.
I feel like I've been a second chance at life since leaving it behind. I am on keto diet now and getting back in shape. I just finished restoring an old mountain bike and am going to start riding. Once I get back in better shape, I will pursue a long term goal of learning Muay Thai kickboxing.
I was really starting to feel old and that life was passing me by when drinking, but now I am starting to feel limitless and with a little work I can do things people half my age can't (I'm 46).
I will start posting here instead of just reading other's posts. I want to inspire and be inspired here at the same time with people who have or are currently feeling the pain I once knew.
SC
I have been a long time lurker here. I just realized that when I first signed up, I used an email address that I haven't used in years, so it's been a while.
I am currently 225 days without a drink and that's by far the longest for me in over 25 years. I was drinking a fifth of vodka a day and then some (some weekend days were a bottle and a half) and I knew I couldn't go on.
I feel like I've been a second chance at life since leaving it behind. I am on keto diet now and getting back in shape. I just finished restoring an old mountain bike and am going to start riding. Once I get back in better shape, I will pursue a long term goal of learning Muay Thai kickboxing.
I was really starting to feel old and that life was passing me by when drinking, but now I am starting to feel limitless and with a little work I can do things people half my age can't (I'm 46).
I will start posting here instead of just reading other's posts. I want to inspire and be inspired here at the same time with people who have or are currently feeling the pain I once knew.
SC
Member
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Arizona, USA
Posts: 1,598
That is great man. Seriously. What a life changer huh? I’m in early sobriety but it feels different this time. 225 days is pushing a year. I can’t imagine how much your life has improved. I think it’s pretty awesome you decided to post. As you know, the people here can really appreciate your accomplishment. I like this site for both the inspiration and the cautionary tales. Whenever I’m forgetting how bad it was I can always find someone just like me only still in the state of suffering. It keeps me grounded.
Anyway, thanks for the post.
Anyway, thanks for the post.
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2019
Posts: 87
Thanks BetterMan.
Surrender was really the key for me. I had a hard time fully accepting my alcoholism and that I cannot and will never be able to drink like other people, but once I did, everything changed.
Congrats on early sobriety. The hardest part (withdrawals, feeling of doom) is behind you. Remember what that felt like and move forward, vowing to never feel that way again.
SC
Surrender was really the key for me. I had a hard time fully accepting my alcoholism and that I cannot and will never be able to drink like other people, but once I did, everything changed.
Congrats on early sobriety. The hardest part (withdrawals, feeling of doom) is behind you. Remember what that felt like and move forward, vowing to never feel that way again.
SC
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2019
Posts: 87
Originally Posted by Dee74 
welcome to the posting side of things SuficintCrlsns 
D
D
It feels good to post and tell my story and unload some things I think my wife doesn't even know. I don't know if she knows to this day how much I was drinking.
I've never been dishonest about it, it just hasn't come up. All she knows is that I was drinking WAY too much and now I'm not and that's good enough for her.
SC
I know you'll find lots of support and good ideas here. 
Member
Join Date: Jun 2019
Posts: 1,614
Dude Congrats on your duece and a quarter. That is superb. Hey I know your feeling . the content feeling from not boozing threw the towel in 106 days ago. And not looking back. Only glance back when the stinky thinking creeps in. Then glance and poof be gone .
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Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: UK
Posts: 782
Originally Posted by Hodd
229 here, so we both gave up at the start of January, Well done 😀
Any more of you out there keeping your January resolution?
Best wishes to all, Forwards.
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Join Date: May 2019
Location: UK
Posts: 3,937
Originally Posted by Forwards
230 today for me. Well done Suficint and Hodd!
Any more of you out there keeping your January resolution?
Best wishes to all, Forwards.
Any more of you out there keeping your January resolution?
Best wishes to all, Forwards.
It was just a coincidence I’d stopped on 1 January as that was the day I took a long-haul flight on which I had one beer. Prior to that I’d cut right down anyway, but I still had urges to drink more and that meant drinking was no longer enjoyable.
In those last months, my drinking routine was to pour my allotted daily half bottle of wine. To my credit, I never exceeded that amount, and that took huge willpower especially as I gulped down the wine and spent the rest of the evening wanting more. But that’s a miserable existence. I didn’t enjoy the wine itself nor did I enjoy that yearning for more. It’d only be a matter of time before my allowance went up to three quarters of a bottle and so on.
And the irony is half a bottle of wine a day is already a huge amount, three times over the UK recommended limit. The chances of becoming ill from that alcohol intake in future are odds on. And I was battling daily to keep to that limit 😀 Madness. It’s by far the easiest option to just quit.
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2019
Posts: 87
My sober date is early January not specifically because it was a resolution. I hadn't drank since November of last year and made it through the holidays, almost. I was off work for Christmas vacation, bored and a little depressed about vacation coming to an end, and I had a New Year's eve slip.
This is a tough time of year for us, because we see everyone else making plans to go party on NYE. I fell into a mindset that 'Everyone else gets to drink today, why can't I?' I promised myself just one bottle, nobody would know, and then I'd quit again.
I think I bought about five or six bottles of vodka over the next few days. This was when my powerlessness over alcohol really sunk in. January 4 will always be an important date for me.
I never previously understood why they talk so much about sober 'birthdays' in AA, but now I get it.
SC
This is a tough time of year for us, because we see everyone else making plans to go party on NYE. I fell into a mindset that 'Everyone else gets to drink today, why can't I?' I promised myself just one bottle, nobody would know, and then I'd quit again.
I think I bought about five or six bottles of vodka over the next few days. This was when my powerlessness over alcohol really sunk in. January 4 will always be an important date for me.
I never previously understood why they talk so much about sober 'birthdays' in AA, but now I get it.
SC
Member
Join Date: Apr 2018
Posts: 211
Hey SC ~ congrats on your graduation from lurker to poster
I've been sober since January 10 of this year and have found this place to be an anchor for sure.
Sounds like you've made some fantastic life changes! See you around.
-Z
I've been sober since January 10 of this year and have found this place to be an anchor for sure.
Sounds like you've made some fantastic life changes! See you around.
-Z
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