honeydont

Hi, I'm Mo, and I'm 17. My reasons for posting here are pretty self-explanitory if you read the title. I have not gone sober yet. I realize that I am very young, a lot younger than most on this forum I would expect, but I know that I am an alcoholic and a drug addict. My father has battled alcoholism for years, and it's been very hard to watch someone who has never gotten past the first step of AA deny his whole life that he is an alcoholic. I drink and party every night, no exception, especially since it is now summer. There is no such thing as drinking one or two drinks, if I have one beer or glass of wine I have to have 12 beers or drink the whole bottle of wine. It's been very scary for my friends, who have to keep me from driving my car every night, which is the scariest thing I do. I do often get drunk and drive home. It's reckless and stupid, but I of course think I'm the best driver in the world when I'm drunk and it's a miracle that I have never once gotten in an accident or gotten a DUI. I also recognize the fact that I am addicted to adderall, and have been for 2 years. I cannot go a day without taking my adderall, and I sometimes take 2 a day and have even been known to crush and snort my adderall. It seems stupid, but I don't think I can live like this anymore. I want to go sober. No more alcohol, weed, adderall, nothing. This is extremely hard for a senior in HS to do, especially during summer when all of my friends are out partying their asses off. I have tried to tell my friends about wanting to become sober, but being the pretty girl who got voted "Party Animal" in her senior superlatives, they can't take me seriously and don't think I'll be able to do it, which is very discouraging. I have not gone sober yet, but I thought I would post here and get some thoughts on my sobriety. I would really appreciate your thoughts on the issue at hand.


Thank you!

Anna

Hi Honey,

Big Welcome!

You are in the right place to find information and support about sobriety and you are making a great decision. Alcoholism is a progressive disease and it will get worse if you don't stop drinking. Have you talked to your dr about the drinking and drugs? I hope so.

Early sobriety is always difficult because it usually means making lifestyle changes. What really helped me was changing routines and daily patterns. For example, I drank alone, at home, so I had to make plans to be doing other things in the evenings. I couldn't be around people who were drinking for quite awhile.

Take a look around and be proud of yourself for taking this first step.

Astro

Hello Mo, and welcome to SR.

I'm sure it would be hard for someone your age to get and stay sober. At 17 I was just starting to hit my stride with drinking, I wouldn't stop for 24 more years. Wish I had though, so many dysfunctional relationships and wreckage was created during that time.

What I know from my own experience is that I had to want sobriety for myself, it wasn't about what my friends or family wanted. So until I wanted it desperately enough, I just kept on drinking my life away.

I've been sober just over 3 years, and I go to AA meetings almost every night. At our meetings we have at least a dozen members under the age of 19, so it's not impossible for someone your age to stay clean and sober. We also have quite a few members with over 15 years of recovery who came into the program in their teens. That's proof that the program works if you really want it to.

It's never too early to quit, but I've seen some pretty sad examples of what happen's when it's too late. Why not stop now?

kmill

You've come to the right place and it's a good start. You can find so much encouragement here. I know I have.
If only I had changed my life at 17. I hate to think of the trouble I've caused, the people I hurt and the money I've spent. The opportunities I wasted.
If your friends don't believe you can do it of won't encourage you then there are people here who will. So look around and you'll see and learn a lot.
Good luck.

adore79

Hi and welcome to SR! Its probably a good thing that you are thinking about this at such a young age, there is no need to keep doing it for years because you will eventually look back on those years wishing you hadn't been drinking.

I took adderall for a couple years for concentration problems but I never abused it or became addicted to it, although I can definitely see how a person could become addicted to it. You should probably talk to a doctor about it and see what she has to say. Good luck!!

DSodaNow

Hi Honey- I am so proud of you to be able to recognize this at such a young age and I am glad that you found this site. I am 29 and have been in AA for 37 days. I have met some wonderful people around your age there that have been so inspiring. One of my women's meetings is chaired by a lady that is 19 years old and a freshman in college. She has been sober 18 month.

That statement is not stupid, but honest. I felt like alcohol was taking me in a big circle that just kept spinning faster and faster which made me more afraid to jump off.

AA really helped me. Have you considered going to a meeting?

tennis71

Welcome to SR,

This is a safe and encouraging environment if you are interested in fighting addiction / alcoholism.

My only advice to start with is to read, surf around this site, ask questions and learn what you can. While your reading over others' experiences and solutions, try to formulate a plan for yourself to get and remain sober.

It can be tough if your friends all use and that is a hurdle that you will have to figure out. The people here can share and give you lots of great suggestions about dealing with friends that use.

Thanks for your post, I look forward to reading more.

LibertyorDeath

When I was 16 I wrote a poem about wicked wine...and how it stole my soul. I still have that poem. I chose not to act on what I knew to be true. Sad.

We each have our own road. I hope your path to sobriety does not take the scenic route as mine did! Do it for your future self. She'll LOVE you for it! Drunkenness is many things, but it is not pretty.

I wish you the best!

Liberty~

Daddio

Hey Honeydont. Welcome to a great site. As you poke around all of the places here you will find a lot of commonalities amongst us members. One of those would be the age at which we began drinking and abusing drugs. I am glad that you have recognized that you have a problem and that you have reached out to this site for information. I tell you, the combined wisdom of this collection of recovering drunks and junkies is staggering and could fill libraries.

Do all this for yourself Honey. make decisions based on what you need, not what others expect from or percieve of you. Plus, I don't need to tell you the tradgedy associated with the loss of a young child due to drunk driving. It affects hundreds of people. Please don't be one of them.

As for your friends that want to ecourage you to continue the party lifestyle, well, if they are TRUE friends, then they will support your decision of sobriety. Otherwise, you will need to factor that into your decision as you go forward.

Just snoop around the site, ask as many questions as you need to get an answer and let us know how you are doing. There is a whole bunch of love and compassion here.

Peace.

least

You can get and stay sober if you want it bad enough. Never mind what your friends say, you can do it cause it's your life and it's up to you what you do with it. Please also talk to your doctor about your desire to be clean and sober. Medical supervision is a good thing when you are detoxing. Be safe when getting sober. Withdrawals can be very unpleasant if not actually dangerous.

Do what your heart tells you to do. Your life is in your hands. Be gentle with it.

:ghug2

Tazman53

Welcome to SR Honey, real freinds encourage friends to do what is best for them, if you continue drinking you will discover the difference between a drinking buddy and a real friend.

If someone is a real freind and you ask them to do something with you that does not involve drinking they will happily join you, a drinking buddy won't!

If you want a drinking buddy they are a dime a dozen, just buy a keg and stick a sign on a telephone pole announcing a kegger, you will have more drinking buddies then you could imagine and they will not leave you........... until the keg is empty!!!

I am in AA and we have a large number of members in my area 20 and under, we have one young man who is 15 and just picked up his 6 month sober chip, we have a young lady who just finished her freshman year in college who has 3 years sober, so if you are considering going to AA do not let age be a factor for you.

Stormy1119

Good for you realizing you have a problem at such a young age! Wish I would have recognized my problem that young, and I would have saved myself a couple years of heartache and devistation.

I'm only 24, and I was worried about there not being any young people in AA. I thought it was just going to be a bunch of old men. Imagine my surprise when I got there and in a room of about 50 people, at least 1/2 were college age and younger. At the womens meetings I go to, at least 3/4 of the ladies are under 30.

You will get some of the older people (at least in my experience) that will act as if you don't belong there because you are so young. BUT many more of the older people will come up to you with support and tell you that they admire you and wished they had gotten sober at your age.


I notice you are in GA- if you are in the Southeastern portion I would be more than happy to let you know which meetings the younger people tend to go to if you are near my area..

Astro

I'm one of those "older" (44) people, and while some might think that the younger folks aren't as "seasoned", it frightens me to see how the peer pressure & designer substances seems to speed up the progression for your age group. Crack and meth were pretty much unheard of in my teens. I admire those of you who stay clean and sober, and pray for those who are suffering.

Stormy, I'll be in the Roswell/Woodstock area in a few weeks. I don't know if that's southeastern but if you know of any good meetings in the area I'd be grateful for a few suggestions.

Stormy1119

Astro, thats actually near Atlanta, so I have no idea. We've got a girl in our group who has moved back to the Atlanta area.. i'm not sure what part though, but she's been attending meetings up that way. She's down here on a few days visit, so I'll ask her if I see her tonight.

mikedshadow3

Hey Honeydont - from my experience I wish I had just done something about it when I was your age. I'm now 39 and the sober date is TBD, but it took me until just a few weeks ago to acknowledge to myself that things were out of hand. Back when I was 17-20 I was drinking weekends (and some weekdays, most, really) and I was also using other things, pot being primary with occasional dips into coke, LSD, X, etc. I had no trouble quitting the other (illegal) substances, but kept on with alcohol since it is "legal".

Bassed on that thinking (that I had no trouble quitting the other substances) I justified drinking for far too many years. If you feel a need to quit then just go for it, or anyway, that's my 2 cents worth. Hope this helps...

DSodaNow

Astro- My stepmother is in recovery in Atlanta. I will ask her about any good meetings and get back to you!