24 Hour Club Sign Up Sheet, Part 58, All Welcome!
Member
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Gulf Coast, Florida USA
Posts: 5,731
24 Hour Club Sign up Sheet Part 58, All Are Welcome!
Hi! Please join us as we commit to staying clean and sober for the next 24
hours. Just post your local time and commit!
We are so glad you are here!
Please sign in only once daily as this is mainly a sign up sheet. Thank You!
Welcome To Our Newest Members- Softjazze - GwenCummings - pupkin -
RevivingOphelia -CommunityDawn -lablife- tazzle
Welcome back to those returning!!
Congratulations!!
kellbell123 1 week!
lablife 1 week!
BigShoe 30 days!
hiddenzebra 2 months!
airwick 2 months!
adams 2 months!
Lucy777 3 months!
Gilmer 6 months!
AG2013 8 months!
If I missed your special day, my apologies. If you slipped or relapsed,
please just come back!
Roster will be posted 12 hours 21 min from now at 10 pm EST USA 5/16.
Google USA Eastern Standard to see how your local time translates.
I have asked Heartfan82 to share her story. She has been through more than I think
I could handle but continues to do it clean and sober. Heartfan82 will be clean and
sober 1 yr 2 months on May 23rd!
Hi, My name is Heartfan82,
I was born and raised in San Jose, CA. I had a typical middle class upbringing, and my parents gave me and my younger brother and sister lots of love and fun times. I never saw my Dad or Mom drink alcohol; my Mom was a preachers’ daughter, and we were raised in a very strict Christian home.
My Dad got me a guitar when I was 13, and I taught myself how to play by using a chord sheet. I would literally spend hours practicing, playing that guitar ‘til my fingers and arms ached. I found my niche with music. That’s how I met the love of my life, my future husband; he worked the sound system for the church I was attending, and his pick up line worked. He said he was a bass player, and if I ever needed back-up, he’d like to play for me. Well, we started making beautiful music together, and I still remember the moment I fell in love with him.
We were married and became very close. We were invited to dinner at one of his customers’ home, she served wine with dinner, and it was such a warm, fuzzy feeling I’d never felt before. I liked that feeling a lot. I’d had beers and wine coolers sometimes in my teens with some friends, but those times always ended up with me being sick, puking, and not a whole lot of fun. “Now”, I thought, ”this is how it’s supposed to be, a few drinks before dinner, to set the mood, get you all warm and cozy, and a good time is had by all”….(right?)
We moved up to Northern California. There we started drinking a lot more, and it became the way of life when we’d barbeque, go camping, weekends off, anyone’s birthday party…..uh, pretty much any reason to party… it soon became an everyday thing.
I stopped drinking when I found out I was pregnant, and we had our first baby boy on New Year’s Day. He brought a lot of joy to our lives, and I talked to my husband about not drinking anymore, or just cut down a lot. That’s when I realized alcohol was a serious problem. It was too powerful to just stop.
I stopped drinking while I was pregnant with our second baby boy, and there was a lot of fighting, breaking up, divorce, getting back together, lots of drunken mistakes, etc. after that, for quite a few years…
During this time my husband was getting into a lot of legal troubles from drinking and driving, ended up doing jail time, and eventually got badly beaten in jail, which ended up with him in a coma for three weeks, and then he died. My world as I’d known it was changed forever. I turned to alcohol to numb the feelings, and started drinking rum very heavily.
Raising my boys alone, I’d work, send them to school, and babysitters, then do chores and dinner at night, and slam down the rum and coke….I was just getting by, stifling my pain, and trudging along.
Over the years since then I’ve seen many family members die from alcohol related issues; turns out alcoholism runs deep in both our family’s history. Instead of thinking of alcohol as an adversary to be wary of, I used it as a coping mechanism. How crazy is that?
A few times I quit just for the he!! of it, to see how my body felt, and how my life would change…..but I never gave that a chance, really. I would give myself a deadline, then be grumpy and feel like a kid who doesn’t get dessert. As soon as that time was up (I went for a year once, and 6 months a couple of other times), I’d be sitting there with a wine bottle and cork in hand, counting down to the minute like a New Year’s Day countdown clock….
After yet another hangover morning in March of 2013, I decided to quit for my own good, and for my sons, who were having mental health issues throughout the last ten years. My oldest has been diagnosed with schizo-affective disorder, and we have been through the ringer dealing with medications, hospitals, suicide attempts, and disruption to our regular life.
Many times I look back and think, “If I hadn’t been drinking , could I have done something different to help him?” I have alot of guilt associated with all those “lost years”.
While looking for other people dealing with alcoholism, I came across this SR website online. I feel that it was another profound, life-changing moment. I found a wealth of information and support that gave me a new hope, and reasons for quitting. I read about books that could help, and I went to the bookstore, ordered online, or read excerpts. I learned about the “Addictive voice”, and realized that’s what I’d been fighting with all along.
My last drink was on March 22, 2013. I feel a difference this time quitting alcohol. It’s like there’s a calmness, a feeling that I’m really on the right track, there’s a purpose, a resoluteness (is that even a word?) and I’m feeling genuine happiness again!
I was able to ride the wave of my son’s last refusal to take meds, which ultimately resulted in a suicide attempt, and hospitalization, all the fear of the unknown unpredictable behavior that comes with it. He is now doing wonderful, with therapy, and I am enjoying and appreciating all the little things in life, those are the most important in the long run.
I appreciate deeker so much for starting this 24 hr. thread, I’ve been posting here since it began, over a year ago. At first I was scared to say never again to drinking, I mean, seriously, the rest of my life? But now, to tell you the truth, I feel more afraid of ever taking a drink again, ‘cause I know where it would lead me. I cannot be a moderate drinker, I have come to accept that, so my only option is to never start up again.
I have lost about twenty pounds, my taste buds work very well again, so food tastes as good as I remember when I was a kid. My boys say I laugh a lot more, and I’m goofier now than I ever was while drinking, and they truly enjoy being around me. I love that I can drive anywhere at night now if I want to, and if I lose a few hours of sleep, I’m still okay during the day, not hungover. Love this sober life! Thanks to all of you, my sober buddies, for going through this journey together, it’s sooo worth it!
Peace,
~Heartfan
Thank You so much Heartfan82, your story is heartbreaking and inspirational at the same time.
P.S. You got your beach! : )
*Song For The Day- Catch A Wave - Beach Boys
If ever unable to locate the 24 Hour Club, Go To Search on Blue Tool bar and
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Behold the power of NO
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: WA
Posts: 7,764
7:17 am and I am in for another sober 24 hours.
Thank you so much Heartfan for sharing your story. You are such a strong woman and I am glad that we have you here on the 24 hours club **{hug}}
Thank you so much Heartfan for sharing your story. You are such a strong woman and I am glad that we have you here on the 24 hours club **{hug}}
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