View Poll Results: True or false: quitting is the hardest thing you have ever done
True: quitting is the hardest thing I've ever done
23
28.75%
False: something else has been more difficult
57
71.25%
Voters: 80. You may not vote on this poll
True or false: quitting is the hardest thing you have ever done
Recognizes the Beast
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: In the kitchen, cooking up a storm
Posts: 704
Well it took me 18 years to put down the bottle, my entire adult life, so it can't be that easy.. Millions upon millions of people suffer from alcoholism. If it were that easy to quit then this site wouldn't be nearly as popular as it is. However, once I reached a place where I decided I had had enough, and didn't want to keep living the same way, then stopping was not that difficult, despite the physical and mental ups and downs. Hard place to get to though.
Member
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Rogersville, Tennessee
Posts: 2,659
Originally Posted by wakko 
Quiting while difficult was not impossible. Staying quit is work every day. It is good work and rewarding but it is hard work. I plan on continuing to do the work necessary to stay sober today with the goal of dieing sober
Re-Member
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado
Posts: 7,583
Quitting was not the hardest or really hard compared to how hard it was before quitting, being sick, tired, isolated, and under the influence 24/7. Living through that when combined with chain smoking, was ugly. I had two choices, quit, or die now. It was easy once I realized the reality of death at my own hand. I was surprised to survive with as little permanent damage as I did. Living and healing isn't as hard as the breakdown of dying is.
Nothing is impossible!
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: EAGAN
Posts: 792
Originally Posted by Deckard
I considered this question recently and kind of surprised myself by answering "false."
Not to say that sobriety is easy, of course....
But I went through a period during my training that took every kind of emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual resource to get through, and I look back on that as actually more difficult than quitting alcohol.
I wonder if I am in the minority on this...
Not to say that sobriety is easy, of course....
But I went through a period during my training that took every kind of emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual resource to get through, and I look back on that as actually more difficult than quitting alcohol.
I wonder if I am in the minority on this...
Member
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: UK
Posts: 5,678
I am surprised, I think I am one of the few that said true... I haven't done anything else hard, apart from my drinking my life has been pretty plain sailing, a few traumatic deaths but that wasn't something I had any control over. Quitting drinking I feel was the first really positive step I made in my life that I did purely for me, and it definitely was the hardest thing I have ever done. Not the sobriety, that's actually kind of fun and I have enjoyed the process, but putting the drink down to start off with was so tough. I felt like I had to really force myself to not drink and it was certainly a white knuckling thing for the first week or so. It seems like it shouldn't have been a big deal looking back now but I won't forget how I felt at the time.
Mini Novel Post Writer
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Maine
Posts: 3,649
I pondered this because I can think of a few things that have been pretty hard in my life. However, once I considered the hardest thing that I have ever done that had the most impact nothing matches this.
It's not that I struggle with staying sober every day, it's that it's consistent and long term work.
For that reason I chose true.
It's not that I struggle with staying sober every day, it's that it's consistent and long term work.
For that reason I chose true.
Member
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Lakeside, Ca
Posts: 10,208
(some cases way early)
life is full of so many trials and tribulations
that I think for most getting sober does not even come close
to being the hardest thing that we have ever done in our lives
so many things come before getting sober
loss of loved ones
etc etc etc etc etc
but
for sure
sobering up can be one heck of a challenge
after we are sober for a while and look back
we see
that in order to grow up
we had to sober up
it's a natural order of events for the one who lives long enough
because the facts are
most drunks and addicts die just a little early (some cases way early)
before they get a chance to sober up and grow up
Mountainman
that I think for most getting sober does not even come close
to being the hardest thing that we have ever done in our lives
so many things come before getting sober
loss of loved ones
etc etc etc etc etc
but
for sure
sobering up can be one heck of a challenge
after we are sober for a while and look back
we see
that in order to grow up
we had to sober up
it's a natural order of events for the one who lives long enough
because the facts are
most drunks and addicts die just a little early (some cases way early)
before they get a chance to sober up and grow up
Mountainman
Laozi Old Man
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Detroit, MI
Posts: 6,665
Originally Posted by SoberJennie
But to answer this poll in the best way... I'll probably choose "True" because in retrospect, I can't think of anything in my life that was so hard as facing an addiction honestly, and then deciding it wasn't ok to continue in that addiction, and being ready and willing to do whatever it took to get and stay sober.
Member
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: FL
Posts: 25
Originally Posted by BarbieKen
Surrendering to my higher power on 11-12-12, came quick and out of "Nowhere". What I thought would be impossible came very easy to me.
The hardest to live through was the daily DENIAL by thinking I was in control, by thinking I wasn't hurting anybody but myself, the lies of my thinking. So my vote on this poll: False, something else was harder, that something was me.
The hardest to live through was the daily DENIAL by thinking I was in control, by thinking I wasn't hurting anybody but myself, the lies of my thinking. So my vote on this poll: False, something else was harder, that something was me.
Member
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: London.
Posts: 54
Not picking up the first drink today, which I see as the battle I have to wage with the booze, ? Well it has its easy days and its harder ones. When it gets harder then I break it down into hours and even 5 minute segments. But those grow few and further apart. But in itself, no, its not the most difficult.
Where I am struggling is the stuff that follows. Dealing with the reasons as to 'why' I drank in the way that I did. The ongoing battle with the 'ism'. And thats a much more difficult proposition on all sorts of levels.
Life on lifes terms. Thats the real 'jihad' for me.
Where I am struggling is the stuff that follows. Dealing with the reasons as to 'why' I drank in the way that I did. The ongoing battle with the 'ism'. And thats a much more difficult proposition on all sorts of levels.
Life on lifes terms. Thats the real 'jihad' for me.
Member
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Australia
Posts: 11,351
Absolutely and unequivocally YES. i seem to be in the minority here ,but for me this is such a struggle. Good days, bad days for the rest of my life. Time will tell but i HATE living with this disease i really do. It just messes with my head.
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