brit789

I'm 26 and have been drinking since I was 15 with the exception of a couple years after high school. When I was in high school I only drank in weekends, not every weekend. But when I did I drank A LOT. Didn't know a thing about liquor and all my friends drank a lot of it so I did too. In my early twenties I usually just drank on weekends, usually a lot but just beer and sometimes wine. I learned that anytime I drink liquor the **** hits the fan and I make a fool of myself and felt like death the next day. The last 2 or 3 years my husband and I have been drinking every weekend- usually 6-8 beers with there usually being one or 2 nights a month ill go all out and drink 15+ beers. We've also started drinking 3-4 weekdays 3-6 beers. Last summer we moved and the beer where we are now is stronger than what we were used to but we continued to drink the same # of beers. So of course we started really feeling terrible and wanting to cut it out and we do pretty good during the week but have yet to make it thru a weekend. SO here I am on day 5. Friday. 3 day weekend coming up and I'm nervous. I don't want to drink this weekend. I'm finally starting to feel better but every time I feel better I forget how bad I felt at the beginning of the week. Right now my resolve is good. I don't feel like drinking at all at the moment but I am certain this time tomorrow I will want to. I am scared I have damaged my body already and I really want to quit while I'm ahead. I know I should probably try to make it to a meeting but I don't know anyone where we live and I am really embarrassed that I am so young and have this problem. Any tips would be appreciated. Sorry for rambling.

justinJustQuit

Tonight is my day 6. I am with you. My wife is away on her girl's night and I find that to be the hardest night for me to be sober. We can do this if we do it together though so please don't forget that.

My record is like 12 days, and I felt absolutely fantastic. You can too. I know I plan to!

Hevyn

Welcome brit. I'm glad you came here to talk about it - we all understand.

Five days is a great start - but you're wise to be wary of the weekend. So many triggers - & the old habits die hard. Being here and posting as much as you want should help with the anxiety. Justin's right - we can do this together. (Great job on your 12 days Justin.)

PurpleKnight

You gotta get a plan together brit!! . . . simply sitting in doing nothing Fri and Sat and leaving things to chance is playing with fire!

All the time spent drinking at the weekends by simply taking out the drinking, your only going to be left with plenty of time.

At the start I planned my weekends like it was a military exercise, a list of activities to keep me occupied, you have to create a new lifestyle, not just simply take out alcohol and carry on, as that just leads to sitting around thinking about drinking.

Now it doesn't need to be major, my first weekend was watching TV, going for a walk, playing some online games, but it was structured, I went to sleep sober and I woke up Sat and Sun fresh!!

After that as the weeks passed, I moved up a gear to reading a few chapters of books, visiting relatives on my Fri/Sat evenings, cinema etc etc but that'll come later.

You can do this!!

brit789

Thanks guys. I know we can do it. Thank God my husband is doing it with me. If he was out drinking-no way-I'd probably be with him! So props to you! And 12 days sounds great. The last time I've gone that long is bc I had to- surgery, sick,etc. But thanks for the support. It's helpful to read everyone's posts and know that I am not alone.

TigerLili

Do you want to quit, or cut down? If you want to exploring quitting, maybe try and AA or a SMART recovery meeting. If you want to moderate or cut down, there are groups for that, too.

KateL

Best of luck. It is great that you are supporting each other - really special xxx

brit789

Knight- I do have a few activities planned but I have a tendency to rebel against myself sometimes and do whatever I feel like at the moment :/ That is going to be the tough part. Thank you tho! Maybe I need to adjust my plans to something I can't get out of.

brit789

Thanks Kate!
Tiger- While it would be nice if I could just cut down I just don't see that happening. I don't get drunk every time I drink but it seems it always building up to a drunk*** weekend and I'm sick of feeling like I'm dying every sun-tues. I need to quit. The idea of forever is intimidating so I'm currently telling myself 30 days and see how I feel.

Jayelle113

I want to give you some advice since you're only 26. I'm 38 and just found this place today. I haven't had a drink since Sunday. It breaks my all time 2-day record. I have been an alcoholic since I was 18. I can't begin to tell you the things I've missed out on. I don't even remember most of my adult life. My 20's and 30's completely wasted. My face is always red. I have black circles and bags under my eyes at all times and I've gained 75 pounds (going from a size 5 to a size 20) ALL DUE TO MY DRINKING. People from my past don't even recognize me. PLEASE don't end up like me in 12 years. You don't want to be me. I'm so happy that you have decided NOW to change your life. We can do this!!!

PurpleKnight

That's a good idea, I have 2 "must do" activities each week, I have a great aunt that had a stroke a while back, and her medication is under lock and key, so my dad's side of the family were looking for a volunteer to go around and give her the medication every Tue night, the rest of the family do it the rest of the week, but I threw my hat into the ring after becoming Sober, so basically it's a "must do", I leave work at 5.30pm, by the time I come home I'm ready for bed after the round trip to my aunt's, and a few cups of tea

The other one is my mom was looking for a volunteer to count the church collection on a Thurs night, I don't go to this church, or any church for that matter, but I thought, sure why not, again it takes up my evening.

Soo by not sitting in doing nothing thinking about drinking, my Tue and Thur nights are covered!!

brit789

Oh wow jayelle. Thanks so much. My last drink was Sunday too. I am afraid of wasting my life away. I just can't let that happen. And I'm glad to hear you're going strong into the weekend too. We can do this together!

brit789

That's awesome knight! I moved away from my family last year but I live in a great community and I'm sure I can find something to get involved in. I haven't yet bc I didn't want to have to worry about being hungover/not drinking that night but now that I am really serious about this I think I must. Thank you

zombiegirl

With the money that u will save I would find something I really want and set myself that as a target.
Also go to the gym, cook, enjoy your husbands company sober.
I play with my kids more as I can now stress less about them been little buggers at times.
Whatever u want to do we are here for u.
As you can see we all have our hard times but we come here to our online support team and work it out xx

soberclover

In my early recovery I made a point to be home and to not go out once I was home from work. My home was alcohol free and I knew it was/is a safe zone. I found simple pleasure in reading again and eventually was able to sleep for longer chunks of time. I found eating ice cream really helped kill a craving by eating something sweet...granted I have worked to reign that in! I kept saying the Serenity Prayer over and over again as well as telling myself I would not drink...no matter what. Keep up the great work!