Emr

Hi, new here. Want to say hi and get things rolling.

I'm upper 30's. Been drinking since high school. In my 20's I did weekend binge drinking. Nothing during the week. In my early 30's I stopped binge drinking every weekend but I started drinking more regularly. In the past year or so I've been drinking most every day. Most nights I'm drinking about a half bottle of scotch.

I can't think of one aspect of my life which hasn't been effected over the years. I've been telling myself for awhile I need to stop drinking. Last night I got pretty tore up. I didn't black out but I was fairly out of control and the night is fairly fuzzy.

So anyway, it's time. I'm tired of living this drunken life. Unfortunately every one of my friends drinks. So it's going to have to be a fairly big lifestyle change. I'm not sure how I'm going to do it yet but I thought I'd start here. Maybe stop by an aa meeting tonight to get the sober life rolling.

Skye2

Emr

IOAA2

Welcome Emr. You describe progression into alcoholism fairly well. When I got to the point your at I didn't know what I didn't know. Fortunately somehow I was directed to AA as this was before the internet or the mouse! For me there was a long information gathering period but when I finally surrendered to the fact I could not drink in safety and accept that as fact, things (me) got better. One visit here or to AA will not help much as it's a lot of work to stay sober on a daily basis especially in the beginning.

BE WELL

Emr

I went to an aa meeting a few years ago. It was a bunch of older individuals. I really felt out of place. Are most aa meetings like this or if I search around will I most likely find do a younger group?

soberclover

I found that it was helpful to try out a number of meetings to try to find a group that I could relate to....keep up the search!

Beanie25

Hi and welcome. Keep posting and reading around. Lots of support and information that helped me for sure.

KateL

Welcome and best of luck to you xxx

Bruce292

Welcome. Most of my friends were drinking/using when I finally managed to get sobriety to stick. I just decided that nobody and nothing was going to stop me.

least

Try different meetings. Or you might call the AA hotline and ask if there's any young peoples' meetings going on.

Opivotal

Emr!

I had to make a new plan if drinking was involved...especially in early recovery. You'll find out who your true friends are during this process.

Best Wishes To You!

Emr

Day 2. I'm thinking the first few days will be simple. Not drinking for a few days or a week isn't too much of a problem for me. But then comes a day where I make up for not drinking all in one night. I'll have to face that night when it comes.

Now I'm trying to clean the house up and start cooking at home. Gym tomorrow. This stuff is also fairly easy. The problem is trying to come up with something which will replace drinking at night. My fear is I'll be able to make some changes which will be good short term changes. I need some real lifestyle changes that will last.

What are some things you guys have done?

IOAA2

"What are some things you guys have done? "
I got immersed in meetings where the people understand me. I'm talking about probably 500 the first year. Getting involved with the program also helped, making coffee, setting up chairs, cleaning up and going on commitments helped me in ways I couldn't see at the time but it kept me healthy busy every night, and this from another softer easier person.

BE WELL

Emr

Day 3. I was really hoping I'd be much more energetic about everything. I actually think this winter weather has me a bit depressed. It's something I battle every winter. Hopefully I snap out of it soon.

Of course last night I was sitting back enjoying a glass of lemonade and in comes the text wanting me to go out and drink.

doggonecarl

Long term I knew I needed a spiritual component to my recovery. So I added a lot of study and prayer.

I also read everything I could on addiction, alcoholism, recovery, and so forth. Read and posted to SR a lot.

Reflected, as objectively as possible, on my own drinking so that there was no way I could later try to convince myself that 1) I wasn't an alcoholic, and that 2) I could learn to moderate my drinking.

Learned to accept that quitting meant no drinking...forever.

Went NOWHERE where alcohol was present.