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-   -   What WON'T you miss about drinking? (https://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/newcomers-recovery/283455-what-wont-you-miss-about-drinking.html)

AlisonW 02-06-2013 06:03 AM

What WON'T you miss about drinking?
 
I'm in one of those moods today like how you get after a breakup where you want to sit around with your friends and trash talk your ex, thinking about all the stupid things he/she did over the years. But today the ex is booze!

I will not miss hangovers. OMG, the lost days stuck in bed, feeling nauseous and dizzy. All the crappy "hangover food" I ate - greasy breakfast sandwiches or McDonalds - because I told myself it would somehow make me feel better. It didn't!

I will not miss blackouts. Seriously - the worst feeling in the world. Vague little glimpses of a night, spending the next day desperately trying to put it all together. What did I say, who did I meet? Did I call or text or email someone - better check my phone! Not remembering driving home, checking the garage to make sure my car is there and no new dents.

I will not miss talking to random strangers, getting all friendly and telling god knows who, who knows what. And even worse - the one night stands, waking up and thinking, who is THIS in my apartment? I'm lucky I never got raped or murdered.

I will not miss the wild mood swings, sobbing hysterically over something that happened years go, getting angry over nothing, picking fights. I almost ended my engagement one night while drunk, convinced that he "didn't understand me." Yeah, because he's not a drunk like me!

I will not miss random bruises, wondering what happened to me. I will not miss making a complete ass of myself in front of friends, coworkers and strangers alike. I will not miss hiding empty beer bottles when friends or family would come to visit. A few times I hid empties in my car and then threw them away at a coffee shop or dumpster, so my husband wouldn't see how much I'd had. Not proud of that one at all.

I feel like I could go on and on? What about you? What won't you miss about the drinking and using days?

Xune 02-06-2013 06:12 AM

For me, replace 'won't' with ' don't'.

I don't miss how my life was out of control, how alcohol came before my family and how I was slowly killing myself.

I don't miss the horrific self destruction.

P.S. my favorite breakfast on earth is at McDonald's.

peaches71 02-06-2013 06:22 AM

ALL the above to the T!

jazzfish 02-06-2013 06:29 AM

I won't miss saying "just 10 more minutes" to my kids.

I won't miss the look on my kids' faces when they know I am making empty promises.

I won't miss waking up at 2am hung over with insomnia, fighting through a day of no sleep, and then feeling just good enough to do it all over again.

I will not miss recognizing that I am the butt of someone's joke, but being to inebriated to formulate a coherent defense.

I will not miss shuffling around a dark kitchen at 5am to get rid of all the bottles so I can pretend to be normal in the morning.

I will not miss the self-loathing and hopelessness that each morning brought.

Nonsensical 02-06-2013 06:31 AM

Lying to people I love.
Wondering if the cashier can tell I am smashed.
Thinking I am OK to receive an unexpected phone call only to hear, "Have you been drinking?"
The disappointed look on my wife's face when she sees I am smashed again.
The possibility of getting a DUI.
Wasted hours being wasted and unproductive.
An overflowing recycle bin.

Soberween 02-06-2013 06:46 AM

One thing I despised about drinking was the procurement of the wine. I HATED that feeling around 5pm of not having any wine in the house and then saying I need to run to the store for some "groceries" and then spending $10.00 a bottle for that poison. Now when I'm in the grocery store, I see other women (mostly women) with their wine in their cart at 5pm and think oh thank goodness that I don't have to do that anymore.

SasaKay 02-06-2013 07:49 AM

Smelling like a frat house
Fighting like a 'Real Housewife from New Jersey'
Being drunk enough to let that creepy dude put his hand on my knee
Paying my bar bill
The anxiety of a near empty glass
Drunk texts, emails, postings

oinobares 02-06-2013 07:58 AM

Waking up at 3 AM unable to sleep, knowing that I am going to puke, counting the
minutes until it happens. Puking again and again (if I opt out of force-feeding myself more booze to quell the nausea) so that the capillaries around my eyelids rupture and create really awful red raccoon eyes that somehow need explaining to an inquisitive public.

Following this physical torture, the absolute worst anxiety and existential dread and feeling as if I am walking around in a living hell. Unable to do anything at all but agitate, move, maybe talk on the phone to some concerned family and friends.

Bigndfan175 02-06-2013 08:00 AM

the lying and deceit - trying to remember conversations with my wife and kids the following morning

duane1 02-06-2013 08:01 AM

Insecurity. Seemed it was getting worse with each passing day.

oinobares 02-06-2013 08:03 AM


Originally Posted by jazzfish (Post 3807535)
I won't miss saying "just 10 more minutes" to my kids.

This is so poignantly true, and I never realized what a poor lesson in life it was providing to my kids when I uttered those same words hundreds of times.

jazzfish 02-06-2013 08:21 AM


Originally Posted by oinobares (Post 3807683)
This is so poignantly true, and I never realized what a poor lesson in life it was providing to my kids when I uttered those same words hundreds of times.

When I heard my older daughter tell my younger one not to get her hopes up because something would likely never be a priority on our "later" list, it cut right through any numbness and broke my heart.

grandma12 02-06-2013 08:42 AM

i wont miss asking my son to borrow money to pay the elect bill because i spent bill money on vodka and wine. Il have 60 days at midnight.

Grace2 02-06-2013 08:43 AM

I don't/won't miss anything about drinking, anything at all, and I wont/dont miss the old me, the lying, cheating, deceptive, secretive, insecure, irrational old me, not for one minute

least 02-06-2013 09:37 AM

I don't miss waking up feeling like hell and hating myself.:(

soopy99 02-06-2013 10:06 AM

Among other things, i won't miss spending 30 dollars on a bottle, drinking too much of it and deciding at the end of the night I am starting a new life and pouring the rest down the drain, only to repeat that process at 5:30 the next day when work ended and the hangover faded.

YouRmySunshine 02-06-2013 10:38 AM

So funny that you would post this today, I haven't logged in here in a couple days. I am still staying sober (Day 23 today) and working my outpatient program. My homework today is to write a Good Bye letter to (My Drug of choice) Which is alcohol!

Thank you Alison for posting this. I look forward reading everyone's responses!

YVRguy 02-06-2013 10:45 AM

Not to be Missed in Sobriety

Lying
Cheating
Stealing
Fears of anything/everything
Physical , mental , emotional and spiritual bankruptcy
Loneliness as I need never be lonely again
My inflated ego which did me no favours
Humiliation as now I can be humble
Hopelessness as there is always hope in sobriety

jkb 02-06-2013 12:09 PM

Trying to pretend I didn't black out the night before.
Pretending I "feel fine" in the morning despite internal shaking, red eyes, horrible anxiety, and nausea.
Saying hateful things to the people I love.
Hating myself for "relapsing".... AGAIN.
Being "that drunk girl" in the bar.... not an attractive "drunk"... but, the one everyone avoids.
The look in my childs eyes when she sees the beer in my hand even though I swore I had quit... as she walks away to spend the night in her room to avoid me.
Feelings of terrible guilt, dispair and shame at my actions.

Nonsensical 02-06-2013 12:22 PM

I won't miss berating myself in my car on the way to work.

Carlotta 02-06-2013 12:25 PM

I won't miss

Isolating myself
Planning how to commit suicide
Knowing that this is my nasty secret that no one knows and being scared to be exposed for the hypocrite I am
Spending money on booze instead of investing it in my home business
Passing out and being completely useless
Wallowing in self pity
Puking in the morning before having to get a "hair from the dog that bit you" which of course ended up in drinking all freaking day and night
Obsessively brushing my teeth and biting in onions
Going to work at my regular job feeling like crap because I had not yet started to drinking before or during work
Having to go get booze first thing in the morning
Feeling like crap both physically and mentally

PippoRossi 02-06-2013 01:00 PM

Holy hell, Alison! I just loved your post. I say "DITTO" to all of it!

AWOL 02-06-2013 01:06 PM

I will not miss:

Falling into the swimming pool instead of finding the front door.
Parking my car in someone else's driveway and then reporting it stolen the next morning.
Waking up in the cupboard instead of in my bed.
Walking into a wall and then apologizing to it.
The black hole of the chapter that was the night before, and the bruises that can't remember the story.

jkb 02-06-2013 01:09 PM


Originally Posted by AWOL (Post 3808013)
I will not miss:

Falling into the swimming pool instead of finding the front door.
Parking my car in someone else's driveway and then reporting it stolen the next morning.
Waking up in the cupboard instead of in my bed.
Walking into a wall and then apologizing to it.The black hole of the chapter that was the night before, and the bruises that can't remember the story.

Thank you for this... it made me laugh... only because I can relate

PippoRossi 02-06-2013 01:10 PM

Alison - it is posts like yours that make me come back to these forums for support again and again. What an amazing eye opener to read everyone's reasons and say to myself, "Check, check, check. Yep, that's what I won't/don't miss!" Thanks, again, for your post. :scoregood

Pondlady 02-06-2013 01:20 PM

I don't miss feeling disappointed in myself.....not one bit !!!!

tallcactus 02-06-2013 01:34 PM

The handcuffs, the court appearances!!

AlisonW 02-06-2013 01:48 PM

These are great, love reading everyone's responses. I pretty much relate to all of them! I will definitely revisit this list next time a craving should hit!

Halzuzu 02-06-2013 02:06 PM

All of the above and I will not/do not miss the white elephant in the room or killing myself slowly and painfully.

Fitness1234 02-06-2013 05:32 PM

The insecurity
the shakes
the headaches
the hangover
the embarssment
the fights
blackouts
black and blues
throwing up
gaining weight
depression
guilt
hiding/lying about drinking
hiding bottles!
thinking about it non stop (not sure when that will happen)


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