Tuckerthet

Hello all, I'll try and keep this brief...
I'm 22 and in my senior year of college. Since I turned 21, I've been slowly drinking more and more and more. I started out as a typical "college" drinker. Drinking heavily on the weekends but not during the week. Lately, my drinking has gotten to an extremely negative level. I drink alone, miss time and school and work, and cannot think about just getting buzzed--I want to get drunk. Last week, (from Sunday to Sunday) I spent about 90% of my waking hours drunk or buzzed, with the majority of that time spent drinking alone. Today, I haven't touched a bottle and want today to be the day I begin a sober life. However, I'm in college. All of my friends drink, and most do so heavily and consistently, and I am around alcohol constantly. I'm sure you all know how it is. I'm scared for this drastic life change and am talking myself out of sobriety by saying "Oh, I'll just quit once I graduate. I can't quit in college, I'm around it too much". I know what I have to do but I'm scared. I'll take any advice I can get. Thanks everyone.

Coldfusion

Welcome, T!

You're not alone!

Have you sought out AA programs at your college?

Tuckerthet

There are actually no meetings on my campus, but some very close to where I live. So, I will try one of those.

Rennet

Personally I could not keep the friends I had while drinking and quit drinking. Drunks tend to attract another drunks, in fact out of all my good friends, ever, we never stopped at just a beer. I think without realizing it that's a qualification we have for friendship. If the guy you're hanging out with stops at one beer, that means you don't get to have two, three, four, etc.. guys "not fun" to hang out with, so you stick with your drunk friends. Everyone else does the same thing and you've got yourself a little alcoholic group of friends.

I'm an alcoholic myself so I shouldn't dole out advice, but the world to a drunk looks like a world of drunks because that's who he's surrounded himself with.

hypochondriac

Rennet is so right in this. This is something I have thought about a lot Tuckerthet cos I drank a lot in college. I wondered if I could have done it any other way. But I figured out that I had a drink problem before I got to college, it was just a bit more off the rails with no parents around, and I definitely sought out other drinkers. Thinking back now there were quite a few people who didn't party much. And I can't quite believe I am going to say this but ... if everyone else jumped off a cliff...? I hear a lot of people say I can't be sober because everyone drinks, but everyone has this problem whether they are in college or not. I am 31 now and I had the same problem. It makes no difference when and where we are because we will always just surround ourselves with other drinkers. It is really helpful to avoid other drinkers in early recovery but once the dust settles there will be people around you who drink and you may have to be with someone drinking and not drink. Just because everyone else is doing it doesn't mean you have to. But while you are in college, why not limit the parties and join in with some non drinking activities. I only went to a tiny college but there were loads of daytime groups I could have gone to which didn't involve alcohol. Sorry, I'm waffling now. I guess I just don't want you to do what I did and carry on that 'college drinking' at home, in secret, alone for another decade after you leave. Welcome to SR x

gameofthrones10

Are there any organizations at school that focus on sobriety? Do you have a student health facility you can go to for help?

Rennet

Sorry for using the word "drunk" so much.. it's demeaning. I was just feeling a bit down on myself this afternoon and I think it showed through in using that word

trachemys

Don't apologize for truth, Rennet. You are dead on in your comments.

I started drunking and drugging in high school. It was never 6 guys splitting a twelve-pack while fishing. It was 4 guys getting two cases solely to get drunk. I noticed back then that people gravitated to like people. I chose my buddies, even girlfriends, for their enabling of my desired behavior. I got so good at it that the theater group recruited me to play Muff Potter, the town drunk, in Tom Sawyer. Needless to say, I was convincing.