Dubster

This is an excellent topic, and reading through all the responses I must say every single one of them is completely valid.

For me personally, however, the answer is simple: I like the person I am when I am sober better than the person I am when I drink/use, in all aspects.

northland

Everyone usually does. But sometimes we don't like ourselves regardless of whether we're sober or drunk. When I didn't care, nothing mattered. I didn't care that I was a drunk. I didn't want help, I didn't need help, because I didn't like myself either way. Once you get a little bit of pride back though, you start to care. It's a turning point in making a decision to turn your life around

Dubster

You bringing up the topic of pride makes me take a trip down memory lane as I remember how I first found that bit of pride, that spark, that made me turn everything around.

I think pride is really essential in any person's life, because the more I think about it the more I see pride as a cornerstone that branches out into other admirable qualities in people.

pascal

Hey Sdsurfn2011,

I saw your message about wanting to drink. I don't know if you did or not, but I want to say thank you for your posts. You have helped me more than you will ever know. All of us with alcohol problems only have today. Today I am not going to drink, and I am happy about that decision. I will leave yesterday and tomorrow alone. Hang in there man - you got a gift with insight and a lot to give. -Pas

ItWillBeWorthIt

There are so many reasons not to drink and it is good to read the reasons over and over, because it helps to NOT pick up that drink. I think to sum up my biggest reasons for not drinking are...

I want to live now, I enjoy who I am now, I can easily look at myself in the mirror now and smile and say........ I am back! Yeah, sobriety is not an understatement, it is critical to happiness.

Thanks for sharing everyone! Hang in there over the holiday season... for me I am going to print and copy this to my computer and fridge... to remind me of the reasons.


Sending hugs to all of you.....

phytoman

1. I can still be a parent after 8:00 PM
2. No hangovers!
3. Extra cash in the pocket.
4. More focus at work.
5. Less guilt.
6. Can remember the end of the movie/tv show/game last night.
7. Liver doesn't ache.
8. Don't have to hide.
9. Can drive at night.
10. etc, etc, etc.....

ViciousCycle

There are too many reasons why not to drink.

My question is "Why should we drink?"

I cannot find a good answer to qualify that question.

Lionne

Because when I drank I turned into this person not even I wanted to be around in the end.

joethemechanic

You are going to be ok kid, When things get bad just hug your kitty and talk to god.

Nice looking cat BTW

imatryinhard

I hugged my cat lots today. I talk to God a lot today too.
Is that your kitty?!

joethemechanic

Oh hell no, I'm not that good looking. That is Bubbles from the Trailer Park Boys on Showcase. He lives in a lawn shed and feeds cats.

My cat is a pretty little pure black thing that showed up as a kitten on my porch. I tried to post a picture, but it said I had to be on the forum for a week in order to post.

Glad to see you made it through today sober. It sounded like a tough day

bonniep

this is a good thread. i started off the day not craving/thinking about alcohol at all... and then tonight i just was craving whiskey so badly.
so it's been good for me to think of these things instead of wondering why i should remain sober.... it's been two weeks today.

here are some of mine that pushed me into this direction of sobriety in the first place this time:

-stay out of trouble with the law
-not crashing my car
-not blacking out and forgetting a huge portion of the evening
-not focusing on walking straight and "acting normal" (isn't it funny how we love(d) to get drunk but then forced ourselves to act not drunk when you were too drunk?)
-having conversations that are incredibly in which i remember.
-looking wasted / having a drink in my hand like it's some sort of trophy in every picture of myself.
-not falling asleep with all my clothes on face down in my own (or someone else's) bed.
-the drunk texting / drinking thing too
-saying things i don't mean
-being overly honest
-hitting on / going home with people i would not do so when sober
-not having alcohol be a crutch in so many of my "relationships"
-having alcohol ruining some of my relationships
-being more prone to doing harder drugs when they are around while drinking
-not being so overly dramatic (i'm emotional enough - but grounded more so when sober)
-saving money when i don't drink (jeez)
-eating like **** the day after a bender
-going to work still drunk or hungover and being irritable and tired with the clients
-mood swings / depression
-not have my mother worry about me so much
-not become miserable the further down the road in my life if upholding same binge drinking patterns.
-the hangovers themselves
-remaining unmotivated to work on other projects while drinking.

northland

thanks bonnie. Every single one of those reasons I can relate to

stanleyhouse

I don't drink because sobriety is awesome. If I ever forget, I remind myself that once I buy a bottle, because I know it would never be just one drink, I will become physically addicted to alcohol. From that point on, my life will be about my next drink.
SH

stephnc

Excellent thread. I don't drink because if I do, I will - in a few hours or days - end up in a hospital with alcohol poisoning, or in detox to dry out. I don't drink because all of the hospitals and detox facilities know me, and should I end up visiting any of them again they will probably send my uninsured @ss to the state mental hospital's treatment program for 28 days - and the food there sucks. I don't drink because I love my son and don't want him to be worried to death about me if he tries to call me and I don't answer my phone for three days in a row. I don't drink because I'm an alcoholic and can't drink like 'normal' people can. I don't drink because by some miracle of SR or AA or a HP, I have now been sober for almost seven months and I don't want to fu(k that up.