Help?
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Toronto
Posts: 1
Help?
Hi everyone,
Well I am drunk as I say this but I realized I am an acholic tonight.
I am 22 and this is hard to realize. Tried to visualize my life without it.?
Can't do it. I don't know where to start. At all. How do you give it up?! As
I am what I like to consider a functional person.
Help? Please.
Well I am drunk as I say this but I realized I am an acholic tonight.
I am 22 and this is hard to realize. Tried to visualize my life without it.?
Can't do it. I don't know where to start. At all. How do you give it up?! As
I am what I like to consider a functional person.
Help? Please.
Member
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: San Diego
Posts: 611
Welcome to SR. This is a great place to find support / guidance in early sobriety. I don't have much clean time myself, but as I have been sober before for a while, I can tell you that if you're truly an alcoholic it won't be easy to quit but it CAN be done. Tomorrow could be your first day of a brand new life free from substance abuse! True!
In my experience, in order to stay sober and be HAPPY I have to do some serious work. Nothing truly worth having in life comes easily. This will be a challenge, but you can do it if you are WILLING to go to any lengths. Also HONESTY and an OPEN mind. Accept that life will be "weird" for a while. You might need to change a lot of your old habits, distance yourself from drinking buddies, avoid bars and clubs, etc. especially in the beginning. You may also want to check out some local support groups for help. AA and SMART recovery are good ones to check out; if you are like me you can't do it alone!
I hope you keep coming here and wish you luck on this journey.
In my experience, in order to stay sober and be HAPPY I have to do some serious work. Nothing truly worth having in life comes easily. This will be a challenge, but you can do it if you are WILLING to go to any lengths. Also HONESTY and an OPEN mind. Accept that life will be "weird" for a while. You might need to change a lot of your old habits, distance yourself from drinking buddies, avoid bars and clubs, etc. especially in the beginning. You may also want to check out some local support groups for help. AA and SMART recovery are good ones to check out; if you are like me you can't do it alone!
I hope you keep coming here and wish you luck on this journey.
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,432
Hi streetvelvet - welcome 
I think a lot of us, regardless of age, find the idea of not drinking utterly inconceivable and totally terrifying - so much so that we drink until our very lives fall apart...and sometimes beyond.
That's not a road you want to go down.
Look around - you'll find hundreds of people here living sober happy lives...you'll find a fair few young people too (I am not one of them LOL)
Feel free to check out our young adults thread
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...ecovery-5.html
and our Class of November thread for all those quitting this month.
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...-part-3-a.html
Read around and post as much as you like - see how possible it is to do things another way
D
I think a lot of us, regardless of age, find the idea of not drinking utterly inconceivable and totally terrifying - so much so that we drink until our very lives fall apart...and sometimes beyond.
That's not a road you want to go down.
Look around - you'll find hundreds of people here living sober happy lives...you'll find a fair few young people too (I am not one of them LOL)
Feel free to check out our young adults thread
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...ecovery-5.html
and our Class of November thread for all those quitting this month.
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...-part-3-a.html
Read around and post as much as you like - see how possible it is to do things another way
D
Member
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Australia
Posts: 55
Well all I can say is don't wait until you are 43 to do anything about it.....kidneys and liver tend to not like the punishment....I am sure you will figure it out. At 22 even if I knew I was an alcoholic I wouldn't have cared so at least you are starting the searching and awareness early...
Not Alone
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: South East UK
Posts: 1,513
Hello Streetvelvet,
The first step of recovery is admitting that you have a problem. Your post suggests you have done this. I think my first admission that I was an addict was in the middle of a particularly bad using binge. You have to put in a lot of work to stay clean and sober. In my personal experience I found that stopping, although horrible, wasn't the hard part. I've always found staying stopped the hardest part. I've found recovery in the rooms of Narcotics Anonymous and attend Alcoholics Anonymous sometimes as well. However I understand that not everyone likes the sound of God, or a higher-power. There are other recovery programs and methods that have already been suggested in the previous posts.
The only piece of advice I can give you is that if you really want sobriety the best thing you can do is put exactly the same amount of effort into your recovery that you did into your using. It's a rocky road. As in life, recovery is not all roses and pink clouds. Sometimes it is hard, but the gift of recovery makes me able to deal with the hard parts in my life without picking up a drink or a drug. But saying that the last 6 months have been the best 6 months of my life. I'm 23, you're never too young to get clean and sober. I wish you the best of luck in whatever you decide to do.
Natom.
The first step of recovery is admitting that you have a problem. Your post suggests you have done this. I think my first admission that I was an addict was in the middle of a particularly bad using binge. You have to put in a lot of work to stay clean and sober. In my personal experience I found that stopping, although horrible, wasn't the hard part. I've always found staying stopped the hardest part. I've found recovery in the rooms of Narcotics Anonymous and attend Alcoholics Anonymous sometimes as well. However I understand that not everyone likes the sound of God, or a higher-power. There are other recovery programs and methods that have already been suggested in the previous posts.
The only piece of advice I can give you is that if you really want sobriety the best thing you can do is put exactly the same amount of effort into your recovery that you did into your using. It's a rocky road. As in life, recovery is not all roses and pink clouds. Sometimes it is hard, but the gift of recovery makes me able to deal with the hard parts in my life without picking up a drink or a drug. But saying that the last 6 months have been the best 6 months of my life. I'm 23, you're never too young to get clean and sober. I wish you the best of luck in whatever you decide to do.
Natom.
Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 3,550
Streetvelvet:
Hi! You've got a big thing going for you right at the start. You're only 22! I wish. when I was 22, that I'd been able to say what you've just said- that you realized you were an alcoholic and that you want to stop drinking. You say you cant visualize your life without it. Just keep reading stuff on this SR website and you will begin to see what it's like. I think you will find it awesome. It's hard to get going on recovery at first but you can get lots of help, like from folks on this SR website and also in your community from AA or other programs, counselors, your doctor, all sorts of people. It's all up to you. And it will make you happier than you've ever been. Count on it. It takes awhile but it happens. So hang in there and good luck. All the best!
W.
Hi! You've got a big thing going for you right at the start. You're only 22! I wish. when I was 22, that I'd been able to say what you've just said- that you realized you were an alcoholic and that you want to stop drinking. You say you cant visualize your life without it. Just keep reading stuff on this SR website and you will begin to see what it's like. I think you will find it awesome. It's hard to get going on recovery at first but you can get lots of help, like from folks on this SR website and also in your community from AA or other programs, counselors, your doctor, all sorts of people. It's all up to you. And it will make you happier than you've ever been. Count on it. It takes awhile but it happens. So hang in there and good luck. All the best!
W.
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