Patcha

Hi and welcome! I have had many relapses and now I hope to never have another one. I don't go to AA anymore as I follow another recovery path, but it did help me in the beginning. Like you, some meetings triggered my urge to drink. I was advised to go to meetings for Beginners, Big Book Study meetings, and Steps meetings. Those are the meetings where people are more likely to focus on what they are doing to recover, rather than focusing on what they drank. No matter how bad someone's story of their drinking was, it would make me want to drink and many times I went right to the liquor store after a meeting until I started the Steps and got a sponsor. I think AA is worth another shot. There are tons of zoom meetings, even some that run 24/7 that you can drop into at any time. You can definitely get and stay sober at any age, no matter how long or how hard you drank.

advbike

AA works for some not for others. It was helpful to me at the beginning but joining a class here on SR did the most. I quit at 58, made it over 3 years before I got complacent, and stressed out, and tossed it away on a vacation in Thailand. It's not hard for me to stop but staying so is a little more difficult.

Overall. I think it is far easier to quit the older we get. Because it's not giving us much benefit anymore. When I was in my 20's I couldn't imagine life without booze, in midlife (30's and 40's) it provided a benefit by reducing my social anxiety and for dating after my divorce. In my 50's it was more the travel where I liked to drink a bit. Now in my 60's I'd rather have the good sleep and increased energy that sobriety gives me, haha.

You can do it, just joing the August class and get on with it.

https://www.soberrecovery.com/forums...-part-one.html

Oh one last thing. Don't quit. If you slip come right back.

resolute50

I was 50 yo. when I quit.
Been 8 years now and I was a heavy vodka drinker by the time I finally had enough.
You're never too old or too young to start feeling better and potentially save yourself from health issues.
I know it was the best thing I ever did for myself, and family.

stick2it

Hi Hevyn, I'm here. Thank you for thinking about me. Made it through my second day - barely.

least

To gather strength and resolve, start practicing gratitude. That really helped me. It made me realize all I had to lose if I started drinking again.

Hevyn

It's rough going in the early days, but as we always say, it gets better. You're giving yourself a great gift. Congrats on getting through Day 2.

DriGuy

I have been sober for 25 years. I didn't have any false starts once I committed to never having another drink. But the misery leading up to that commitment went on for years and included hundreds of mornings of me promising to control my drinking that evening. I consider those false starts, but they were just empty gestures, and never addressed actually quitting for good.

I remember the exact moment when I quit. I had made it sober for 5 days, but I had not quit at that point. I was just floundering like a drowning man unable to swim, when someone in AA told me their program's goal was lifelong sobriety. I had heard about this before, of course, but I never actually considered it, but during those last gasps for air, I remember happily embracing that goal. Anything was better than what I had been experiencing for the last 5 days, and I never had another drink after that.

What I call my sobriety birthday actually happens on the anniversary of my last drink, not 5 days later, which was the date I actually quit. I never thought about that until just now, but the two events are totally different. My last drunk was just another drunken haze with no real plan for the future. The consequences of the 5 days after my last drink were Hellish, while the consequences of committing to forever, were followed by a blissful sense of direction and hope.

I was once criticized for placing such a high value on commitment and pushing this value on others, and it's understandable, because it is very hard for me to define or explain my experience of commitment, which may or may not be a red flag, because I've always maintained that if you can't explain something, you probably don't understand it. But I will try once more:

It was a very internal experience. I made no public statement, even though I felt a great deal of excitement over the experience. I didn't even articulate a statement of commitment to myself. I just knew it was there, and that I was done with drinking. I was not trying to be a better person. I just couldn't take being drunk anymore.

In reading that, I clearly understand why it would be puzzling to others. I don't question it myself. It is just something I "know" without evidence. I am not a person of religious "faith," yet my commitment to life long sobriety is an act of what seems to me to be a matter of deep faith. It is unexplained and unverifiable. But the experience has changed my life.

Carlygirl

Hi Stick2it.
Today is Day 2 for me, so similar to you. It's my sons first day at high school today- a big day for the family and I was hangover free to deal with it this morning- I am pleased with my decision not to drink last night and will do the same tonight. You will see from my join date that I have knocked about with the 'idea' of quitting for far too long. If I had quit when I joined I would have been in my forties, and would have been sober for his primary school years but I'm 50 now. Don't want to pour out all the shame I feel here but your post struck a chord with me, so wanted to post. Hope you do what your name says and Stick 2 It.
Carly

Dee74

Welcome back Carlygirl

D

stick2it

Starting my fifth day! I've done this part a lot of times, but this time I feel a bit different about it. During earlier attempts to quit I was sad, as if I was losing a loved-one. This time, though, I feel happy. Like I'm dumping someone that annoys and disgusts me.

Carlygirl, it sounds like we have a lot in common. I had my first try at quitting over 13 years ago. The longest I stayed "quit" was the first time and it lasted 5 months. I've been able to do 2 months at a time a few times but it never stopped being a struggle.

I can't tell everyone here how much I appreciate your words and encouragement. Thank you. Now, I'm going to join the August thread I've heard and seen so much abou.