allbrian

That was me before i was done my beer. lol. About 3/4 finished and I'd be looking for the waitress.

dill

Hey Wallo,
Just found this place yesterday, really helpful forums, blogs, chatrooms are full of supportive people also. Don't be too hard on yourself early days and make your recovery number one, thats what I've been told in meetings after I've gone back out drinking. Wishing you the best and enjoy the journey. You accept you have problem so your on the right road. Best of luck

Itchy

You sure came to the right place Wallo. It helped me get sober and stay that way along with AA my docs and hospital and friends and family support.

Hevyn

Welcome Wallo - so wonderful to have you here. I started drinking to overcome shyness & self-consciousness too. It was the worst thing I could've done, since I never grew or matured the way I needed to.

Thankfully, that won't happen to you Wallo (or you, dill, allbrian & scrambled ). I'm so glad you have all seen the light. Wish I could go back 25 yrs. & do the same.

Wallo

Guys, for me its better to just tell myself that "I just don't like alcohol" rather than referring to myself as an alcoholic as it feels a bit demoralizing.

Day 2 sober and I just don't want to have a drink again.

2granddaughters

Wallo, do you go to AA meetings ??

Dee74

Welcome to SR Wallo.

I reckon what you call yourself is not half as important as actually doing something about it

D

IndaMiricale

Welcome wallo

You call yourself what ever you want your the one that lives with it. Myself I sure didnt say as I child I wanted to be a alcoholic , but today I am who I am . And getting totally honest with that is big key to my sobriety.

Keep reading and posting.

Good love, Inda

Cardinalfan

told you I would be checking up on your success Wallo...keep at it "Mate"
Peace to you.

James18

Hi Wallo, a lot of what you said is the same for me. I've been drinking since I was about 13 and it's in a big part due to shyness and being awkward in public. The problem is I always drink too much and make a dick of myself (and it's affecting my health). I'm 33 now and just beginning to realize how much it's affected my life.Drinking makes me really depressed and I have to give it up before it wrecks what happiness I have left. I feel like I'm starting from scratch, learning how to deal with life without booze. I managed to alienate the one woman I have ever had any real feelings for because of drink, along with a list of other crap I won't bore you with! I'm on day 1 today, after falling off the wagon but I'm determined to carry on trying. Anyway, good luck!

P.S. I know what you mean about the "alcoholic" tag.

Itchy

Call yourself anything, don't get hung up on labels. Having a drinking problem some call it, others heavy drinking, who cares? I am with Dee and Inda on that. I decided to quit because I found it even more demoralizing that I was committing slow suicide by alcohol and almost quit too late. See I realized I wasn't suicidal.
Labels were so far off my radar screen at that point, that all I wanted was off the merry go round of daily saying I was going to quit . . .tomorrow.

Good on you and congrats on two days. I had to check into a VA Hospital for a 7 day detox to get that far.

Wallo

Well its day 3 (or day 4 im not actually sure)

This forum has been a great help, I have had some ups and downs over the last few days. Its been a mixture of being so happy that I have decided to quit drinking to being so sad that I have lost the love of my life.

However I accept now she is gone and I have to look forward. Today was the first day I woke up not thinking about her (although an hour or 2 later she was entering my mind again LOL pffff) I am sort of realizing now though that she was not the girl for me as when I opened up to her about my drinking after we broke up she did nothing to help me except leave me in the dumps, thinking back now she was a bitch about the whole thing....END OF THAT STORY FOREVER.

I have just realized now while typing that my hand shaking has almost gone and I have no anxiety I just walked down the town and smiled and said hello to almost everyone I seen...its been such a long time since I done that.

Its only 5 weeks now until I get back on the plane to Australia and I feel so good and excited about it. What a country Australia is and its a place with so much to do without drinking (unlike Ireland).
I got into Kite surfing a bit while i was there last year and I am going to take it as a more serious hobby this time.

While I do love the social part of drinking in the pub at the weekends as its so easy to meet people there - I will have to keep that part of my life only I will just have non-alco beers.

I'll continue to return here and post and keep up with you guys.
Thanks guys for your comments.

artsoul

Just wanted to add my welcome (late as it is!) I'm glad you decided to get sober. Life is still hard (especially going through a break-up), but the depression and anxiety that came with drinking made my life 10 times harder.

The ups and downs are pretty normal - but hang in there.... it really does get better. See you around the forum!