Augustus

Good evening, folks, I'm 29, ACoA with 15 years of pretty solidly alcoholic drinking under my belt. My father has been sober for roughly 20 years and I've been exposed to AA for a long time. I've known what the score was just couldn't bring myself to believe it.

Went into the rooms briefly after my second DUI ten years ago, but it didn't stick. Been a mostly functional alcoholic since then.

I'm engaged to be married next year to an incredibly smart and compassionate woman. I know all too well how that will eventually end if I keep drinking and that thought makes me sick to my stomach. Plus, I'm hung over and literally sick to my stomach.

There's a lot of sort of interesting details that ultimately don't matter, what matters is I'm incredibly tired of feeling like I'm just barely hanging on and that the wheels could fly off at any time. I'm ready.

Thank you for being here for people suffering like I am.

deeker

Make it stick this time

Hevyn

Welcome Augustus! You're making a wise move by joining us and admitting that things need to change.

At 29 I saw the warning signs too. I did nothing. My world became chaos. Finding SR gave me the courage to begin a new life. You're not alone - we're all in this together. I think being here will really help you.

Verte

Hi Augustus,

Welcome to the forum. You can do it!

Ruby2

Welcome Augustus. What are your plans to get sober? I'm AA and here, on SR. Together they help me through the rough patches.

Tamerua

Welcome Augustus! Glad you're here!

Augustus

I've seen AA work for my father by being actively and consistently involved with the program. I believe getting a sponsor and working the steps ASAP is my best shot at finally being rid of this burden.

I'm in an unfamiliar place this summer for an internship, don't know anybody, have no drinking buddies, and I don't see how tomorrow isn't the best time to start.

There's a young person's meeting here tomorrow night. I think I'll be there.

deeker

That's the spirit!

Discovery14

No better day than today to start a sober life.

Chicagoan

We are ready when we know we
are ready. It sounds like you are
ready.

I started drinking at a very early age also.

"Wasted days and wasted nights".

gettingbetter64

Everyone starts at day 1

firstymer

So, time to make a change, huh? You have come to the right place. Welcome to SR. I am glad you are here with us. Let's roll up our sleeves and get busy.

Dee74

Welcome to SR Augustus - sounds like a great plan

D

Hope2014

Hi Augustus,
Make today your day 1 and keep moving forward- you never have to feel this way again. You can write your future- good or bad. It's up to you.

Augustus

Day 2. Tired as hell cause I couldn't sleep, but I still hate alcohol.

Have a great day.

IOAA2

Hi. Boy do I hate it but I identify too closely with your feelings when I came around the program. After too long a period I became sick and tired of being sick and tired. I had a great sponsor but only I can get me sober. Finally one day some of his words that were repeated in the past stuck. I was told I needed to get honest with myself about my drinking which was harder than expected as I did too much rationalizing. Next I had to admit that I could NOT drink in safety as my track record proved and I needed to accept this as fact. Things, me, started to get better in a relatively short period as I started following directions such as are on these forums. Still going to meetings after many years sober and life is good if I stay out of the way.

BE WELL

Tiptree

Glad to have you here. Never too early or late to get on board. Keep us posted.

LBrain

welcome Augustus. Sounds like you are ready for this. Even though your drinking buddies won't be around, you may find yourself being "alone" at times. Don't let that distract you from your mission - don't pick up that drink. Do what you can to keep busy and keep your mind off it.
Glad you made it here. For good this time!

Augustus

Thank you all for the support.

The thing I've been struggling with for months is wondering how to deal with long time friends that are also drinking buddies, as well as "normals" who are afraid of the word alcoholic.

For the former I assume the answer would be I have to do what's good for my sobriety, even if it's painful to lose friends. For the latter, for instance my future in-laws, I'm just going to tell them I'm on hiatus or sabbatical. I'll have to come up with something more clever to justify not having a champagne cheers at my wedding. Maybe I can sneak sparkling cider into my glass.

snowbunting

So glad you came here Augustus. I'm 29 too. I don't have any answers about how to deal with old friends and in laws, but drinking buddies will almost certainly have to go unless you can forge some other connection to some of them that has nothing to do with alcohol. I can see how it would be awkward pretending to drink champagne at your wedding so as to avoid having to use the word 'alcoholic', but at least you won't end up with the bruises I got on my wedding day after I fell over drunk several times in our room and accidentally smashed one of our wedding gifts. Looking back, I wish I could have been sober on my wedding day, but at the time I was in denial and didn't see it as an option.

You could try the 'I've given up drinking because it's bad for me' route? Lots of people can relate to that. Or you could say that you don't drink anymore because witnessing your dad's problems put you off. There are actually more non-alcoholic tee-totallers around than you think - not everyone sees abstaining as weird, it just seems so weird at first from the point of view of us alcoholics. You'll find something. Good luck.