Mountainmanbob

I couldn't vote in this poll
because it was impossible to pick just one
most all applied to me and my case

Mountainman

Lost3000

I love polls!!

I was black inside. Soulless. I felt like I was ready to leave this life. But I didn't have the guts, so I was in a constant state of turmoil. I just couldn't go on and knew if I didn't do something I might die anyhow.

escapist

Deteriorating health. I was dying. I still have'nt fully recovered.

mngrl

My wake up call was when I saw a picture of myself. I was in denial obviously. I looked a mess, bloated, sad, my eyes had this strange look to them. I finally saw what this poison was doing to my body and decided it was time to take care of myself. I will be forever grateful to my husband for taking that picture. He's been so supportive (he's not an addict) so I lean on him. He's so proud of me... 11 days today.

EternalQ

Pick one!

Kizzer49

I have pretty much blown all money i have made for the past few years. Been behind on bill and ruined my reputation at my job. I am at the point where i got spoken to this past sunday and told if i do not show up for my scheduled shifts I will be terminated. So here i am 3 days later. I have come to the conclusion alcohol and other drugs i have been doing is obviously interfering with my life.

afloatsober

Realised that i wanted to live more than i wanted to die and that i had used up all the blanks in the gun.
The next one would be a live one...........
G

Tides

As others have suggested, I could pick more than one.

I knew, for a long time, the day to stop drinking would come. The hours between 5PM and 8 PM, when transitioning from work to family, making dinner, supervising homework, etc., were the danger zone during which I did most of my drinking.

I finally got to the point of:
- Having too many conversations I forgot having.
- Forgetting what my wife had told me 10 minutes before (one can only ask "How was your day" so many times in an hour without telegraphing that one has been drinking)
- Realizing how much alcohol was affecting my physical response to anxiety. Seriously, at one point, even during a period of relaxation, my BP was 160/80. And although I didn't have it measured when going through a period of stress, I know it was dramatically higher a week before that point.

Physical, mental, you name it. It was all part of the equation.... 30 days in, and while still a work in progress, things are waaaaaaaay better than they were before!

Mentium

Mine isn't on there either. I had had enough of feeling like crap nearly all the time.

EternalQ

Anyone?

seashell2005

None of the above really. I was just tired, anxious and depressed all the time - until i figured that my daily 3-4 glasses of wine was causing all this.

Alysheba

My anxiety went through the roof. I was in a state of panic in a complete nervous breakdown and drinking was making it worse. This brought on not only mental health issues, but a major spiritual crisis, an enormous amount of agonizing clarity, guilt, shame, having to deal with the fallout from my boozing and using as well as almost total financial ruin. Man, it was ugly, well, still is. There was no other way to go. I could kill myself or start building a tiny bit at a time and boy was it and is it painful, but I'm starting to see a bit of progress and also how very much I have lost. It's enough to scare me sober, for sure! I thought I was losing my mind. Thanks for making me think of this and remember! I sure don't want to go back there. I still have a VERY Long way to go, but at least it's not where I was! Ugh.

onedayatime

When my kids became used to me passing out and not being able to wake me.

DoPerdition

This is exactly what happened for me after the death of a family member from alcohol.

CactusJill

I realized, after a HUGE drunken screaming fight with my husband, that I was sinking waay past binge drinking once or twice a week and I was entering into a life I did not recognize or want. I also realized that I would lose my marriage and quite possibly my children - everything I hold dear. It scared the hell out of me.

Soberella66

Losing friends. Calling in sick on life many many times. Missed opportunities from hangovers. Humiliating myself again and again in front of people I respected. Being still drunk from the night before while shopping for art supplies and observing the clerks horrified expression. Hair falling out. Seriously underweight. Continuing the tragic legacy before me. The list could go on forever.

KateL

Negative impact on love ones and health.

tootsl1

I picked deteriorating health, because it was nearer than spiritual awakening. Fact is I spent over a decade knowing that I was destroying myself and my life with drink. Eventually I realised I could no longer make bargains with my sobriety, a week dry, a month dry etc, to be able to look myself in the mirror, to not die in my 50s like my ex, to see my grandson as an adult, and be part of what will make him an adult with knowing, were all part of why I finally decided to quit.
I never hit a bottom, thank the fates, but who knows how low I would have sunk if I hadn't made that decision when I did and came back to SR for the support to follow it.

ClearMind

I voted "Mental health" as it's the closest one to my reason. The true reason I quit was because I was obsessed with drinking, and even when I wasn't drinking, I was becoming obsessed with thinking about the next time I could drink. I was always fixated on it. It really doesn't matter if I drank every night, or only once or twice a week, the point is I would always think about it, and that is the root of the issue. Moderation doesn't work for me. I quit drinking alcohol, and realize I can never drink again, so the buzzing isn't in my head anymore, or at least when it does happen I can dismiss it. A huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

YVRguy

I guess I am in the camp of more than one of these issue and some not listed. I drank long enough to experience all of these and they all played out their part in my realization that recovery was job one and everything else would be second place then and now. After a period of sobriety I see the patterns of dysfunction within me and why I had to change to begin changing and healing.