Thumpalumpacus

I'm a middle-aged guy in the middle of quitting drink. I've had a helluva time finding help, because I'm not 12-step material, but I found a program run by the County here (no, I'm not court-referred), and they encourage finding an outside group, so here I are.

artsoul

Welcome, Thump - this is a great group of people and there's lots of information here, too. Glad you've decided to quit drinking. Not much good came from my years with alcohol and things keep getting better the longer I stay sober.

Make yourself at home!:ghug3

coffeenut

Welcome!

Dee74

Welcome to SR Thumpalumpacus

You'll find a lot of support here

D

Kmber2010

Welcome Thump and you have our support. There are many options to recovery and for me SR has been a key piece to my journey.

Glad you are here.

Lilly03

Welcome!! This is definitely a great place to be during your recovery.

Thumpalumpacus

Thanks, everybody. Just prowling through the threads, I'm finding an awful lot to like.

least

Welcome to the best recovery site everywhere!! There are lots of ways/methods of staying sober. Just find what works for you and put all your heart and soul into it. The rewards for living sober are endless!

jamdls

Hi Thumpa! welcome to SR. There are lots of different recovery options and lots of us here that are not "12 step material", hope to see you around.

Thumpalumpacus

Heh, that'll change soon enough. :P

Thumpalumpacus

After a long relapse, I'm back.

Dee74

Welcome back

5 years is a long time...whats the plan now thumpalumpacus?

D

Sean30

Welcome to SR thump

Soberwolf

Nice to meet you Flump

Delilah1

Welcome back Thump, glad you are here.:-)

Bird615

Welcome back, Thump!

SoberinSyracuse

Hi, Thump. I've been trying to quit drinking for at least a decade, probably more. I'm on my third try.

Glad to see you're trying again. What is your plan? I relapsed twice because I didn't have a plan.

biminiblue

Five years.

Wow. I'm glad you survived. I also quit drinking and went back to it for about five years.

No better time than now to quit. Hang around on this site, it was a life-saver for me. Welcome back.

PurpleKnight

Welcome back!!

Thumpalumpacus

I'm 12-stepping my way one day at a time. I went to my first meeting last week. Before that, I spent the last three months backing down my drinking, learning to enjoy the clear-headed mornings, and analyzing my own behaviors. I discovered that I detested the person I'd become -- a high-falutin' hypocrite. My addiction, my personal failings, have cost me the woman I love.

So I decided that I must quit. Made great success cutting back, but just as the last mile in the marathon is the hardest, so too I found I not only couldn't reach the finish line, the sonofabitch was running out ahead of me. The admission that I cannot do this by myself -- something this prideful man was loathe to admit -- is what fueled me to set aside even my lack of faith in any higher power and seek help wherever I could get it.

To answer your questions more succinctly -- the plan is accept responsibility for my behavior, to deal with reality on its own terms, to attend meetings regularly so I can build and maintain a support network, and to address the underlying issues which have led me to where I am today.

Thanks for the warm rewelcome. Y'all are right, it was a goddamned long weekend for me. I never drank so much that my life was in danger, but I never went a day without my six-pack.

I stopped drinking 16 October, made it more than a month, fell off and climbed back on a few times before I realized that I damned well needed help with this. My sobriety date is 1 January: I toasted the New Year, and that's it.