malcolmsloan

For me, I was very similar. I was waiting for the "right time," too, but I knew the problem was serious. I hung on to, "I will, I know I will eventually" for far too many years. Now, I'm going to use a quote out of context and I hope I do not offend anyone with this, but the language is so perfect for our situation as drinkers: "Wait has almost always meant 'never'" MLK said this in "Letter from Birmingham Jail." This really hit home for me, and I knew that I had to act, ASAP.

ActualAlcoholic

I posted something very similar on these forums 2 years ago, while sitting at a bar. I knew I was drinking too much but did not really know if I wanted to, or was ready to stop. Well, I wasn't. I continued to drink and forgot about this website. Over the last year my drinking increased *heavily*. I quickly realized I had totally lost control, and all the things I as telling myself about being young and having fun? I saw them for what they really were: My alcoholic voice trying to get another fix. It no longer became fun, and I started having withdrawal symptoms when I would stop drinking.

This past Christmas I went on a 4 day bender I hardly remember. Finally knew that I was ready to give up drinking, as horrifying as that thought at the time was. I didn't/don't even know what sober people do. I am now 8 days sober from alcohol, and am slowly coming out of the fog. And as I do, I realize, as others have said, how warped my thinking was.

This is just my experience, I figured I would share and see if you relate at all. Good luck in your decision, but it seems something brought you here in the first place. I'm someone who has to learn for myself, I usually learn the hard way, but if I could offer you advice it would be: skip the 2 years. Why not start now?

m4rest88

I postponed my sobriety for about two years. In these first two days - I have never felt as good as I do now for the past six years - and thats only with two days free! One Day at a Time!

Good Luck!

TigerLili

My untreated alcoholism led me deep into debt. The sooner you quit drinking, the sooner your life will get straightened out.

If you are anything like me, you will NEVER be ready to quit drinking. I have had to change my circumstances to make it less likely that I will fall into my drinking routine each evening in order to get the first few days of sobriety under my belt. With every day that passes, it gets easier to not pick up a drink. Getting the first 3-4 days is the hardest for a lot of people.

FreeOwl

just about everything everyone else has said applies to me....

In hindsight - I wish that I'd gotten the message ten years ago, the first time I experienced AA (court ordered at the time).

But, I didn't.

I had to push through those ten years including two failed marriages, a lot of debt, some more trouble with the police and a whole lot of unnecessary suffering to finally 'get it'.

Actually, truth is I wish I'd gotten the message the very first time I remember drinking - at 14 - when I blacked out, got in a fistfight (with a girl) and came out of a blackout very confused and angry in the basement of my house with my mother crying and trying to figure out WTF was going on...... I wonder how glorious my life would be by now if I had.....

But I'm grateful today to be sober and have the rest of my life's joy to look forward to.

malcolmsloan

Dang, FreeOwl, your first experience sounds so much like mine, at 12. In addition, I actually, at 12, after my first night of drinking, said, "oh no, I'm an alcoholic." Just the passing thoughts of a kid? Or some voice within trying to save me? Either way, it took me until age 42, and a whole lotta wreckage along the way, to "get it."