This is harder than I thought it would be...
 

I just joined SR and I'm hoping it will help me alot. Last week I went to my first AA meeting, it was not my choice to go, I doubt I ever would have went of my own accord. I drank last Monday, got a little crazy/emotional and spilled my guts to my parents about my drinking. They already knew that I drank too much, I knew that I drank too much/too often also, but I guess I thought I could handle it. My drinking has been a long-running joke to me. I guess, as long as I was laughing about it, I didn't have to face the seriousness of it. I'm not a hardcore alcoholic, but I definately have a drinking problem. I didn't think I belonged at an AA meeting, but honestly, when I left that meeting I felt so much better about my situation. It gave me hope. And, yes, I have given in and drank since, but, it's still early days. I won't beat myself up about it. It's so much harder than I thought it would be though. I just want to hear other people's experiences with trying to give up drinking...

Welcome to SR! Lots to read here! Stick around!

It is alot of work, keep going to meetings and find a sponsor. It gets easier and life is awesome sober!

Welcome to SR, I'm glad you're here.

Are you planning on getting sober?

Welcome to the family.:hug: Quitting drinking is just the first step. After you've quit you've got to work on your self, your life, to get yourself to a place, a mindset where you no longer want to drink. AA can help you in that regard, also counseling can be very helpful to get at the cause of your drinking, which helps to eliminate it.

I don't do AA but I see my addiction counselor once a week and I come here every day, and between the two I've been sober for almost two years - two happy years.:)

Another thing I did of great importance to staying happily sober is practicing gratitude every day. I had to force myself at first as I was newly sober and still feeling the emotional fallout from my drinking. AFter a while it became a habit and now I'm grateful for so many things, which shows me all I could lose if I drank again.

There are lots of ways to stay sober - find what works for you and work it as if your life depended on it... because it does!

Yes, Josh, that is my plan. I just didn't realize the hold that alcohol had on me. The other night I wanted a beer sooo bad, I got upset because I knew I shouldn't. But the urge was terrible...I can't believe it's come to this.

Thank you Least. I know that there's an underlying reason for my drinking. It feels good to finally talk to other people who understand. It's like therapy
:-). I need to fix myself but it's hard to do. Alcohol abuse can change you in so many ways. Bad decisions/choices seem like harmless/good ideas, until you wake up the next morning like "What the hell was I thinking?!"

Welcome!

I'm glad you know that there is more to recovery than stopping drinking. I had a lot of issues and feelings that I had buried for so very long and I knew I was going to have to deal with all of it. But, it's so worth it.

What are you giving up? NOTHING - You're QUITTING what had control of your life.

When you say that you want to "give up" something, it's saying that you're losing something by not having it anymore. You're not losing a single thing, you're getting your life back together and you're giving yourself a whole better life.

If it were easy to quit drinking everyone would probably just do it and we wouldn't such things as AA and this website.

True. I didn't think it would be EASY, I just didn't know it would be as hard as it has been.

Carly - It's great to have you here with us. Not feeling alone with the problem really helped ease my anxiety about quitting. I hope you'll find it gets easier as you go along.

Be proud of yourself for dealing with this now, before alot of damage is done. You can have a beautiful, sober life - you don't need that stuff. Congratulations on your decision.

Thank you Hevyn. I am glad that I've finally decided to do something about this. And the encouragement I've gotten has been a real help. It actually surprised me that people were happy and proud of me for making this step. I don't know why...I guess I never really thought about it before, about their reactions to me admitting that I have a problem and trying to get help. Now, I think many of them already knew and were probably just waiting on ME to realise.

Welcome to our recovery community...:wave:

Yes you too can win over alcohol....I'm glad you are heading into a sober future....:yup:

It can be hard to quit drinking, not just getting past the physical addiction, but the mental obsession also. But boy oh boy is it ever worth it.:) I can't convey in words how good I feel these days.:) I wake up happy and feeling good (most mornings, except for the occasional headache) and go to bed the same way. And inbetween I'm happy and grateful for all my blessings.:)

It was hard for me to quit and stay sober. I had lots of failures and starting over, but when I finally 'took off' I felt so free.:)

The encouragement that this website provides is great. I found that I also needed some face to face support and I've gotten that from AA. I try to get to about 3 AA meetings a week. I'm on SR pretty much everyday. It's been a combination that has worked for me.

Encouragement, support, someone to talk to.....all helps. Being an alcohol abuser can be very lonely. Alcohol becomes your friend. It's there to console you when you're unhappy, confused, bored...but it's NOT really your friend. It tricks you into believing that, until you think you need it and you're drinking for no reason, that you know, at all...and by that time, it's difficult to quit.

Welcome! I can identify with your parents already knowing you drank too much I was so embarrased when my grandmother said "stop drinking so much honey" Unfortuanitly thats not what got me sober! I had to get 2 dui's and almost have my son in an institution so please please think about putting the drink down now!!! I promise its worth the work!!!;)

Thank you Heather for the advice. I'm sorry that it came to that for you. I've had a change of mind since I went to AA. I'm not better yet, but I believe that it can be acheived. I'm just so sick of feeling the way I do, and not remembering the crazy things I've said/done while drunk. It's a sad state of affairs when you feel sorry/ashamed for things you don't even remember doing!

Hey, read my posts, I have been waiting to be admitted to rehab, this will be my fourth admission, I am 35, it has only gotten worse for me.