Maia1

New here. Thought I would say hi. I have struggled on and off with alcohol for many years and this past year I’ve been a little out of control and it’s starting to affect my health. I lost my entire nuclear family, an aunt, a cousin and a dear friend. That, with losing my job and of course the pandemic sort of gave me license to just toss any resolve to not drink out the window. Now I need help finding the motivation within myself to do what I want to do for my health and my son.
Looking forward to your thoughts.
Thanks.

Dee74

Hi and welcoem Maia

I'm sorry for your losses of the past year.
I think joining this community is a great first step.

Read around, see what others are doing, post as much as you like - we understand and we're here to help

D

DriGuy

I always considered myself a little out of control, but that perception should have been a huge red flag. Eventually, there was no denying that I was way out of control. Only then did I try to stop, and that's when I realized I had no control at all. I quit drinking 25 years ago, and now I have control. Better yet, life is a pleasure. During the pandemic, I often wondered why a pandemic would have an effect on anyone's drinking, because I heard people mentioning that. When alcohol is off the table, it doesn't factor into anything. Weddings, funerals, breakups, pandemics, and losses just don't factor into my sobriety.

Welcome. I hope you find this place helpful.

Maia1

Thank you for your responses. I will take a look around. I am familiar with SMART Recovery. And please no offense, but I really hope not to need these forums 25 years into sobriety.
Onward.

Boondock

Welcome, glad your here. Complacency is a sobriety killer helping others helps people help themselves remain on the strait and narrow. Once an alcoholic always an alcoholic there is no cure. As the old saying goes "Trust God, clean house, help others". It's a blessing to have people around with many years of successful sobriety to give guidance and advise to those who are struggling with recovery....Stick around for awhile

fishkiller

Welcome!

Yeah not sure someone with 25 years " needs" SR but I believe they love the community feel and helping others so why not stick around?

I for one am eternally grateful for those long timers that do. They have helped me get sober.
As they will help you of you let them.

Surrendered19

HI and welcome to SR Maia. No offense taken at all. Speaking for myself, I am beyond grateful that people with long-haul sobriety are here on SR so generously sharing their knowledge and support to the rest of us. I don't think any of them "need" to do it at all, but they do it in a spirit of generosity and community to help people who might be suffering. Having SR members with long term sobriety bear witness to our journeys to get healthy is invaluable and it is a gift that we could never repay other than by pledging to be as thoughtful and generous when it is our time to give back. It takes an alcoholic to truly see and hear another one and having alcoholics and addicts share their recipes for success - you just cannot put a price on that.

If you ever achieve long-term sobriety like DriGuy's amazing 25 years, I hope you find a way to keep helping others try to get on that road and stay there, like DriGuy so generously does. You could help save someone's life.

DriGuy

I hope you don't either. Just so you know, as a 25 year "old timer" I don't need it either, and I don't suggest anyone needs to stay here when they've achieved their goal. If I were here because I needed this place to stay sober, I would be disappointed in my recovery. I think you could make the case that the purpose of the forum is to create an environment where we are no longer needed. I'm just here because I enjoy it.

D122y

I rationalize I don't need support, that I just come here on my daily flow of things I do.

That's cool.

When I read the horror stories of folks losing health, family, and finances I am prepared to do whatever it takes to never relapse.

I feel great these days, as a 56 year old man can feel, and I shudder to think what being actively addicted would be like right now. Thinking about this is like a terror.

We are celebrating Independence Day here and I am blessed to work a job that gives us a 4 day weekend.

4 days to just love myself with rest and relaxation, food, exercise.

No booze. That was a learned behavior that turned into an addiction. I choose not to drink. It hurt very bad for a few years, but now it hurts less.

I can make my stressor go away without booze. I can find a path to happiness without booze. Happiness begets happiness.

I come up with a solution, believe it, write it down, and do it.

Suffering and time.

I hate booze. It is poison. I don't believe the hype.

Stay clean by any means. AA, SMART, SR, Dr., etc etc. all of the above.

The reason addiction feels so crazy is because it is left brain vs right brain. Addiction effects emotion and analysis effects addiction. This makes a person feel insane.

It takes a long time for the mind and body to normalize and get used to natural dopamine etc. again. Think about a 4 year old, happy for no reason. That is waiting for us after a few years clean.

Thanks for the therapy.

least

Welcome! I've got over 11 and a half yrs sober now but I stick around to give back the help and support that was so freely given me when I was starting out. I also stick around for the company. I've made some very good friends here and it pleases me to know I've got friends all over the world.

dustyfox

Hi Maia
I am a relative newcomer -7 weeks here and 7 weeks sober -I have appreciated the generosity of people here in their willingness to share their wisdom and experience, it's really a special community of people. But to get to why your here, then I think you have found out somehow that drinking is not helping you and you want to stop, that in itself is already a great step. Have you tried to stop before? I tried, a few times and it is only since reading and reading here that I understand how to stop. It's been a revelation. I hope you keep us posted as t how things are going?

Anna

Hi Maia,

I'm sorry for the losses you've had. I'm glad you know that it's time to stop drinking and begin to recover.

It's a good idea to have a plan in place for how you will stop drinking and stay sober. Writing things down can be helpful, especially during the time of the day when you would normally drink.

Hevyn

It's so good to have you join us, Maia. SR saved my life. It was not feeling alone anymore that made the difference for me. Everyone I knew was a social drinker. Knowing others here at SR shared my thoughts & challenges helped me find the courage to change. You can do it too.

Dee74

Hi Maia
As someone who is nearly 15 years sober and the writer of a lot of posts let me reassure you things do get better.
I'm not here because I'm white knuckling my way day by day craving for a drink - I just like helping folks

D

Zebra1275

Welcome to SR!