Memories of Early Morning Drinking
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Join Date: Sep 2019
Posts: 223
Originally Posted by stargazer016 
I remember waiting for my wife and kids to head out in the morning during the week, and then start drinking. Later in the afternoon, I would start chugging coffee to reasonably sober up enough to talk to the kids and wife when they got home. Then after pleasantries were exchanged, I would have my "first" drink of the day, everyone presumed, while I was making dinner. I felt "lucky" that I had the house to myself most of the day so that I could drink in peace. What a horrible existence.
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Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: Vancouver
Posts: 268
Brrrr....I don't remember exactly when I started drinking first thing in the morning. I started to get really depressed when we moved to a new town...I felt pretty isolated, the kids were young and I wasn't working.
I would take them to school then hit the liquor store. One night I got really wrecked, fell down the stairs and broke my leg. I had surgery and was in the hospital for 3 weeks, forcibly sober.
When I got out...I couldn't put weight on it or drive. I still managed to get in a wheelchair and wheel myself the couple of miles to the liquor store for when it opened...it horrifies me to think about it. How pathetic can you get... 😵
I would take them to school then hit the liquor store. One night I got really wrecked, fell down the stairs and broke my leg. I had surgery and was in the hospital for 3 weeks, forcibly sober.
When I got out...I couldn't put weight on it or drive. I still managed to get in a wheelchair and wheel myself the couple of miles to the liquor store for when it opened...it horrifies me to think about it. How pathetic can you get... 😵
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Join Date: Dec 2018
Posts: 68
I would always pre-plan for the next morning. If I thought I was going to run out or if someone came over and drank some of my beer and leave me without my usual number for my morning trip I would have to run into town for something in the afternoon. Heaven forbid I not have enough in the morning. Although I have made the morning trip to the little country store at 7 for beer. Would always have some excuse like I was prepping for the game or had friends coming over to help split wood for the cashier. WOW.
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Join Date: Mar 2018
Posts: 201
It’s frightening thinking back 
I remember I used to think I was functioning having a half bottle of vodka every night and living with the shakes & hangover until 6pm the next eve when I could drink again ... progression took me to drinking 24x7 drinking vodka when I first woke up and stumbling round the park walking my dogs to then go to the supermarket or various local shops to get more vodka .. Sunday the worst if I’d run out and had to wait until 10!!
Thank god I’ve embraced sobriety and early days but I sure don’t miss that hell!
I remember I used to think I was functioning having a half bottle of vodka every night and living with the shakes & hangover until 6pm the next eve when I could drink again ... progression took me to drinking 24x7 drinking vodka when I first woke up and stumbling round the park walking my dogs to then go to the supermarket or various local shops to get more vodka .. Sunday the worst if I’d run out and had to wait until 10!! Thank god I’ve embraced sobriety and early days but I sure don’t miss that hell!
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Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Warwick RI
Posts: 1,276
I love this thread because it is a great reminder of the hell I was in...same as many here...planning to save some for the morning but most times over drinking the night before and then staring at the clock for 8am to arrive to get to the liquor store...the pity that the cashiers would look at me with..because I never hid the fact that I couldn't wait for that door to open.
On Sundays when the store opened at 10...dropping my Dad at church telling him I forgot something at home...just so I could drive to the liquor store and sit outside church neglecting my Dad (he needs help with the bulletin) and just drinking until church was over...driving my Dad and another lady home when I was technically drunk.....
And then the worst...the more I continued on my binges the less I was able to be "around" at all...I like this thread because it is a brutal reminder of what was and what can be again if I want to pick up a drink.
On Sundays when the store opened at 10...dropping my Dad at church telling him I forgot something at home...just so I could drive to the liquor store and sit outside church neglecting my Dad (he needs help with the bulletin) and just drinking until church was over...driving my Dad and another lady home when I was technically drunk.....
And then the worst...the more I continued on my binges the less I was able to be "around" at all...I like this thread because it is a brutal reminder of what was and what can be again if I want to pick up a drink.
Giving up is NOT an option.
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Western Wisconsin
Posts: 7,808
While I generally don't like to dwell on the war stories of the past, every so often I like having a little kick in the teeth (this thread) to remind me that life is pretty darn good these days, compared to the hell of the past. I've been feeling quite sorry for myself the past few weeks, and I need to gain a little perspective on how much better in general life is now, and that my current complaints are nothing really all that big, in comparison. A little gratitude is going a long way for me this morning.
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Join Date: Apr 2018
Posts: 524
Towards the end of my drinking, my daily routing was to wake up at 5am in the morning, heart racing, covered in sweat or stone cold, feeling nauseous, shaking, with weird dreams and even occasional auditory hallucinations. I would lay there repeating to myself I can't drink today, I will not drink. I need to sort myself out and get sober. But I would feel so so horrific, that I would relent. I'd get out of bed, and retch repeatedly but nothing would come out. I'd walk downstairs and open a bottle of wine, and drink it as quickly as possible to try to make me feel better.
The thing is, it didn't ever make me feel better. It would stop the shaking and panic and anxiety for a bit, but then I'd fall into a depressed state for the rest of the day trying to stop myself from withdrawing. I'd then have to keep myself topped up with booze for the rest of the day. Pass out drunk at night and the whole thing would start again the next day.
I used to hate the mornings when I was active drinking, because it was the time when drinking alcohol was forbidden by society, so I felt very ill at ease. I used to watch the morning news, seeing normal people go about their business and it seemed a world away, I used to wonder how did these people do it. I didn't feel a part of society, I felt like an outcast.
Many times I would walk over to the off license for wine at 8am, the looks I used to get from the cashier. I had to rotate my morning visits.
A timely reminder of what it used to be like. Now I love mornings, exercising and afterwards drinking coffee.
The thing is, it didn't ever make me feel better. It would stop the shaking and panic and anxiety for a bit, but then I'd fall into a depressed state for the rest of the day trying to stop myself from withdrawing. I'd then have to keep myself topped up with booze for the rest of the day. Pass out drunk at night and the whole thing would start again the next day.
I used to hate the mornings when I was active drinking, because it was the time when drinking alcohol was forbidden by society, so I felt very ill at ease. I used to watch the morning news, seeing normal people go about their business and it seemed a world away, I used to wonder how did these people do it. I didn't feel a part of society, I felt like an outcast.
Many times I would walk over to the off license for wine at 8am, the looks I used to get from the cashier. I had to rotate my morning visits.
A timely reminder of what it used to be like. Now I love mornings, exercising and afterwards drinking coffee.
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Join Date: Sep 2019
Posts: 45
I'd pass out at night, say, by 9. Up at 1 to drink shots. Well, not really. But I was awake, you see. Pass out again by 4:30-5. Up by 9. Eat only so I could continue to drink shots all day. Blacking out regularly. Repeat. This was on my days off. If I had to work, I'd show up drunk. Sneak shots all day and hit the booze store on the way home.
So much time wasted. It really makes me sad, but I will cope in a healthy way and not drink.
So much time wasted. It really makes me sad, but I will cope in a healthy way and not drink.
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Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: NE Wisconsin USA
Posts: 6,223
after a night and early morning drinking stumble down to the tavern that opened at 6 a.m. drink beer till 8 a.m. go to gas station buy beer stumble home....dozens of times in most every city I lived. very sad and sick behavior...no fond memories.
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Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Toronto
Posts: 3,195
I rarely went to bed with any alcohol left around. I usually woke up at 6am with a sense of impending doom and desperate for a drink to quell the anxiety. We have archaic rules and an outdated distribution system for alcohol here in the province of Ontario. Booze is only sold by government run stores opening at 10am. Bars can't serve alcohol before 11am. I often was waiting outside the liquor store 15 mins early, trying not to acknowledge the other alcoholics waiting for the doors to open. Those 4 hours before I could buy more booze were unbearable
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Join Date: Mar 2019
Posts: 519
Thank you for sharing this everyone. I never drank in the morning and but drank all night, alone, depressed and suicidal. Complete isolation. No one to act normal for, to talk to.
It was horrid and sad life and I am so happy to have to never live that way again.
It was horrid and sad life and I am so happy to have to never live that way again.
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 1,122
Originally Posted by tornrealization
I would occasionally get a flashback of doing some morning drinking on weekends since my husband was sleeping off the night before. I also was like what or why would I miss this? It would obviously ruin the entire day, wasted away. I generally feel that I enjoyed the alone time, the getting away with something. I guess.
Ah, the insanity of it all.
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 1,122
My drinking quickly progressed to where I wasn’t able to drink and “enjoy” those early mornings. Soon it was like what many of you shared; drinking all day, passing out, waking up and waiting for the legal time to purchase alcohol. Oh, and the rotation of stores. What a nightmare.
Somehow, I never developed a physical addiction to the point of withdrawals or had any shakes but the crippling anxiety and gastrointestinal distress was so debilitating.
Oh and the deep sadness with how my life use to be and what I had become was devastating. Still trying to clean up the wreckage.
Somehow, I never developed a physical addiction to the point of withdrawals or had any shakes but the crippling anxiety and gastrointestinal distress was so debilitating.
Oh and the deep sadness with how my life use to be and what I had become was devastating. Still trying to clean up the wreckage.
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Join Date: Feb 2018
Posts: 513
This thread is a very strong reminder of how bad things were and how much worse the would have become had I continued drinking. I quit when I was at the stage that I would drink sensibly or not drink at all on many occasions, but on most weekends I would absolutely drink alcoholically. I spent multiple early mornings watching the clock for when I could have that drink to kill the anxiety and crippling hangover of the previous night's partying and of course as time went on, that hour would be earlier and earlier. My husband would wake up and then maybe around 1-2pm he'd ask if I fancied a prosecco with my lunch, which I'd excitedly take and act as if it was my first drink of the day, when in fact it was probably drink number four or five.
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Join Date: Feb 2018
Posts: 513
Originally Posted by lessgravity
Nothing worse than those Sunday drunks, knowing Monday way on its way , anxiety creeping in, the lies being told all weekend, etc etc. Good riddance
Those memories are still so strong in my mind and I never want to go back to that way of living.
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Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 2,583
Yep great thread. It's good to be reminded how bad it was and I feel so grateful to be sober today. I was never a morning drinker. Until I was. Progession. My last 10 day drunken binge I would wake up (well, come too) drink whatever may have been left on my bedside table if I had passed out before finishing it, then see what was left in the fridge. I was buying bottles and bottles of wine so usually had leftovers in the morning and I would wash a xanax down too just to numb me out even more; keep topping up throughout the day and then drink to oblivion and wash a xanax or 2 down at night so I could "sleep" all the way through.
What an absolutely hideous existence. Thank God it isnt like that today.
What an absolutely hideous existence. Thank God it isnt like that today.
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