klopper22

There are so many forums & sections here on SR.com and I didnt know if there was already a place for this topic, but I think it would be neat to have some breif summaries of people's breaking/turning points. You know...what finally happened to get you on the road to recovery from whatever? What finally broke you so completely that there was nothing left to do but die or recover?

I saw the "my story" forum, and I think that is awesome. I plan on reading a bunch of those loooooooong stories, but like for people taking their first steps in recovery, I think it would be cool for them to have some shorter, "breaking/turning points" to look at to maybe help them keep walking in the direction taken by the poster when they began recovering. Maybe similarities in their life and the poster's life could help??? Please share your opinions or let me know if there's a place already established for this type of thing.

Peace, love and more of both to you all. :ghug

KenL

I awoke to who I identified myself as and realized that I could change it. So I did. It took a long time to find that (years) and only came about through the help of a friend who pointed it out in one of my PMs. Thank you goddess of Nadir!

Fubarcdn

My wife told me to quit drinking or get out. If it wasn't for that I wouldn't be here.
I found SR the same day and have been here everyday since.
As far as the die or recover part it doesn't apply to me.
I am in better shape than most people 10 years younger than me.
I just liked staying out drinking and partying all night a few times a week and my wife didn't like me doing that and finally got fed up enough to issue the ultimatum.
I love her more than partying so here I am.

weekendbinger

I fell down at a nice neighborhood Christmas party....in front of everyone. Then fell down again at a New Year's Eve party....in front of everyone. The humiliation of that, on top of all the other stupid things I had done drunk before....acting like an idiot, cussing like a sailor, crossing a line I can't even write about and getting away with it.....so, I said ENOUGH. I stopped before it could ruin my marriage and friendships.

Aysha

I am hoping I have reached my breaking point this last run.
I have had alot happen to me as a result of my addiction.
But none of it ever scared me or phased me enough to really change.
I can only take so much of losing everything and starting over so many times.
It seems my whole life has been like that. All I ever do is lose it all and start all over again.
This last time I crossed the line and now half my family is still not talking to me.
Was told not to ever go to their house again. I have never heard those words before.
So after all the loss and near death experiences. Jail and hospital stays.
What has me at my absolute breaking point is losing my family.
That is my worst fear.
It is happening. And will only continue further if I dont stop now.

Future22

Spending a couple nights in the hospital with delirium tremens blood pressure 180/110 resting heart rate at 120, followed by a week of threatening visual and auditory hallucinations, hellish (literally the devil would talk to me in my nightmares). Thought I was going insane and was going to die.

This is a couple months after I was in the hospital for a public drunkeness. Which was preceded by a couple underages where one time I blew a .298 after a i stopped a few hours earlier.

I figure I am still young and have not wrecked to much stuff yet with the monster so I might as well quit now. By wreck I mean family, jobs, etc..But I have sure wrecked a lot of myself.

Believe808

My daughter found me. When I was in emergency room, my daughter was told I was 5 minutes from death. Was on suicide watch for 1 week with 24 hr nurse by my side. Couldn't even go to bathroom alone. I surrendered, I lost my mother to suicide when I was 15 years old and swore I would never do that to my kids.

original

Like Chiyneta, I just got fed up of losing everything. Along with the things I got away with back in the old days, I just don't want that life anymore. And like Fubar, I love my partner more than the drink, a damn sight more. She doesn't deserve to have an addict as a sygnificant other, and I don't deserve to be one. Moving around constantly as a kid growing up, I never really kept any long term friends, and sure as hell didn't have a hometown. Well, I'm HERE now, time to start building that reality, and stop running away from it. thanks for listening to my ramblings!

scaredykat

For me my breaking point was I was tired of drinking and feeling like crap everyday. Day in and day out.

In 2006 my husband and i got a computer and one day I looked up recovery. SR was one of the places i check out. With SR help i was able to go back to AA and start my road to recovery again. I've been in and out of AA since 1991. Now by the grace of God I've been sober since last year one day at a time.

FizzyWater

I've shared this before but ..................

It took me nearly 18 months after this to get sober but Dec 06 I found myself unable to stop drinking while my wife was due to give birth, I kept saying I'll stop tomorrow but I left it too late and had drunk a half bottle of vodka by the time I was due to take her to hospital.

I've never admitted that to her and I got away with it, it was the night I decided I had to sort myself out though as it could have gone horribly wrong, there's a longer version of the story on SR somewhere.

It was May 08 before I finally got sober, that evening in Dec 06 was my bottom though.

yeahgr8

I'd started to wonder why i don't kill myself, not in your morbid let's write a poem sort of way but objectively looking at my life. I was kind of erring towards cut throat razor and standing in front of mirror, if you gonna do it do it right i thought (actually can't take credit for the idea, when i was younger i worked in real estate and had to price up a house where the husband had lost his wife and did it that way as he just wanted to be with her rather than live alone). So i thought i would contact a professional first to see whether they thought that i could change and to try and get an understanding of the success rate of someone in my position. 5 months sober now and grateful to be sober! I found a kitten in the road dodging cars about a month before i got sober, funny how i could not care less about the effect it would have had on my family but i was concerned who would look after trixie if i wasn't hear, even rang my exgf to see if she would look after her if i wasn't here! Lot of coincidences last year, real weird!

I won't write anymore on this subject suicide is bad and there are always other options that you might not see at the time, but if you have really been there yourself you will read this in a different way than the majority of people (rightfully so) who will gasp at the word suicide and shake their heads in disbelief.

Oh yeah and i earn 6 figures, drive a porsche, go into work when i want, do what i want when i want and my future is so bright shades would be appropriate and still...wow isn't booze just a ******* great thing!

ps i had planned to do it sober, not hungover, not drunk, at least i would have had that!

Mark75

Ultimately, I needed an intervention... (long story), but my moment of clarity came last May. I was in a near blackout (had to be reminded, only then did I remember) when I became verbally abusive to my youngest son (13). I was sooooo ashamed of myself, all my other kids witnessed it. I love my children and they me.

It took until September, the intervention and a Rehab, but now I am 6 months C&S. I don't have to live that way anymore.

Have you read "Moments of Clarity" by Christopher Kennedy Lawford? c.2009. Might have some stories you'd be interested in.

Mark

Latte

My neighbor had to give me rescue breathing and the cops shocked my heart with one of those new portable difibulators. My kids were there and I was charged with child endangerment six months later (I had been clean and sober for six months when the DA finally got around to charging me). I spent the night in the hospital. In April I will have two years.

ImagineMe

Personally, I had a few. The first was an "inkling" that something was not right. I was the wife, business woman, and mother who had wine every single evening. Finally something clicked in my brain; perhaps it was my higher power speaking to me or what have you but I just knew something was not right. I knew it was not normal to want to drink every day. I also knew it could not be good for my body either.

Then I had 60 days under my belt and I encountered a situation that I did not handle well and I had some wine. That was all it took. My body recoiled against the alcohol and I was sick for a day or more. My head hurt and I could not recall ever feeling so awful after drinking.

I've never been a hang over girl, never binged, never even drank in the daytime. But there I was sick as a dog from half of what I used to consume.

That was enough for me.

BKP

After 12 days of drinking over the Christmas Day Holidays. Seeing my drunk mom in tears because my behavior was a reflection of hers but I did something about my own. That was the point where I decided I had a problem a solution and continue the struggle every day.

C23

After reading an email from my wife TODAY that said, either you quit or me and the kids are gone. I have know for about a year that I had a serious problem, but didnt care. I was always trying to stop for other people, but today I am quitting for myself. Day 1 is almost over, and day 2 will be even sweeter!

Antone

I put a lot of work into graduate school and finally got the job a wanted. A few months into the job I had been drinking quite a bit for me, several nights a week. A couple of weeks ago, I missed a day of work due to a hangover. I said, "That's it, I'm quitting drinking."

SHawk25

My fiance who completely loves me left me due to my drinking habit..

dedubya

I am 47 yr old career oriented person with a great job that our office just closed. Have been intoxicated every night (99%) since around 26 yrs old when my jobs got stressful. Its just time - bottom line. I know I could be doing so much more with my life if I was sober.. So i stopped 2 days ago. ended up in ER yesterday with near stroke (BP was 200/119) and they had to defib me after medicating me- wife started crying when they rushed in all the drs with the alarms going off. So- I would like to stay alive and see what beautiful things are out there - alcohol isnt beautiful. its very ugly. and my friends and family deserve more.

TTOSBT

I knew that I needed to quit. I told my husband that I thought I had a problem and needed help. He said he did not think I was an alcoholic, that I just needed to slow down.
Well, the next night I wrecked my car with my daughter in the vehicle with a .13 BAC.
I spent the night in jail (hopefully the one and only time). I have not had a drink since.
I still shake thinking about how lucky I am that my daughter was not hurt.