Seven years sober!

[nvbirdman]

Nine years for me, after forty years of my hand always curled around a beer can. I met a girl that I was very attracted to, but I knew that all she saw was a guy that drank like a fish. I was beaten before I could start, and I made up my mind right then that the next time I was that attracted to a girl she might reject me but it wouldn't be because I was a boozer. And no, she never had any idea that she was the reason I quit. She probably doesn't even know that I quit.

[w5pv]

After a couple of DUI's and the grace of God I put all of my drinking days behind me.It is a monkey that I wish on no one's back.

[richhodg66]

Today, I almost didn't even think about it, it almost slipped my mind, but we had a little band practice tonite, and me being the old guy having to school some of the younguns, did some digging and some story telling about times when my bar tab averaged 18-22 shots of Beam a night. And some of the stupider things came up, like riding a Harley 170mph on a public right of way, and blowing through red lights at 100+mph, but there were as many good stories and good days as there were stupid. Touring and playing bass in 2000 I drove 45,000 miles in 3mos and played all the shows since I was the only band member that had a valid license, and all that time never got pulled, never put a trailer tire off the road, never hit anybody or anything, and still played good.

It was like I loved to drink so much, that I was extra careful and tried extra hard to do things right so people couldn't throw that at me. I got pretty good at it after a while. Good enough that I was able to keep it up for years and years without really having issues related to or coming from the alcohol. I was a professional functional alcoholic. I made it work. <--- This... I will attribute to letting me pretty much wear out drinking, I had done everything I wanted to do, I had exhausted the subject and THEN some. Because of that, when I did eventually get a DUI in 2008, it made it easy for me to quit. There wasn't anything left anymore that made it fun, and I had become what they call a maintenance alcoholic, one who drinks not to get drunk, but to maintain. It was a day in and day out habit.

When I got my DUI, I got out of jail the next morning, I went back to my vehicle still sitting on the side of the road. There was a 6pk in there, and I simply slid the side door open (van) and tossed them into the ditch. At that moment, I *knew* I was done. And because I had wondered even, for years, what would make me quit, I *knew* there would come a day, that I would see the reason why and I would know, it was time.

I don't think I would have had the sense to quit, had I not completely beat that horse to death, I think it would still have held some temptation here and there to drink, but because I was SO thorough in totally exhausting my habit, all I had to do, was make the decision, and be sure I was going to stick with it. It would have been much harder had things forced me to quit earlier, I am not sure I would have been successful. I was lucky beyond belief that nothing really bad happened to me, or to somebody else, in those whiskey years. I look back on some of the things I did, and shake my head. It's anybody's wonder why I am still here.

To anyone who wants to quit, I say the will is within you. It will be much more effective if YOU can find the will on your own, instead of it being forced on you by the courts or by other reasons beyond your control. A lot of people don't get this luxury, a lot aren't quite so lucky, and if you feel like are holding a decent hand and life hasn't dealt you Aces and Eights, and you feel like you can do it, put your money on YOU winning this, throw the cards on the table and call. You have everything to gain, and nothing can hold you back once you are committed to the win.

I don't know if this will be a help to anyone or not. It was kinda hard to write the farther along it got. It was something I had to do on my own, I never was a friend of Bill, and I never walked the twelve steps. Bless those that do. This was my rite of passage. This worked for me. This is how I became sober, 7yrs ago today.

This is very inspiring, thanks for posting. I never was a big drinker and rarely have more than one or two beers every couple of weeks nowadays and then it's while sitting at home with the wife. I don't have anything against it, I just don't really want to do it anymore.

I have seen it mess up a few lives though. It's a problem in the Army for sure.

I teach high schoolers now and the section we were on before Christmas break is on substance abuse and prevention. A lo of the kids know a surprising amount about all kinds of things I was blissfully ignorant of as a teenager. They have challenges today I was not faced with growing up. It would help if guys with stories like this could talk to groups of teens about it more.

[RED333]

When I was young, dumb and full of myself I was a bad drinker and drug user.
At 25 I would wake up and did not know how I got there, sometimes did not know where I was.
Now at 56 (next month) I can say I am clean, lean and straight.
No it aint easy, the best things in life are not easy.
Congrats to all who can stop and make a better life.

[WILCO]

I don't know if this will be a help to anyone or not.

We never know just how many people we touch during our lifetime.
If you're learning and sharing, then you're growing as an individual.
Congratulations on seven years.

[MrWolf]

We never considered ourselves alcoholics, we just drank every night for fun. After 17 stitches in my hand while having a "discussion" and knowing I was getting married soon, I just quit. I swore my kids would not have to grow up with what I saw. That was April '88. In the last ten years or so, I will have an occasional Kahluha and cream, maybe one or two a year or an occasional shot of tequila (I get the worst tasting junk just to keep it as medicine) when my back stops me from sleeping. Congrats on taming the beast.

[histed]

What Wilco said. We also never know who's watching what we do. Your family for sure. Congrads on your will power. Hang in there - one heartbeat at a time.

[opos]

Congrats...Been on that sober path for a long time and every year about this time I have a moment to reflect the time when the music stopped and there were no chairs left to sit in....it was a time I hope I never have to repeat..God willing on Wed. the 14th it will be 34 years..my Wife just celebrated 40 years clean and sober last August 26th..but just being further away from the last one doesn't change the fact that I can toss it all away with one drink. Let's just keep doing to "do's" and "don'ting the don'ts" as an old friend said many years ago...

[blackthorn]

Good for you!!! Congratulations!

[Uncle R.]

Doug:
Well done and congratulations to you. It may have been difficult to write but I think your testimony might help others make good decisions. Best wishes and a happy new year to you and yours!
Uncle R.

[LUBEDUDE]

Congratulations to Doug and others that testified!

I believe with all my heart that my marriage of 35 yrs would not have gone down the tubes had my EX not been an alcoholic.

Y'all keep up the good fight.

[shooter2]

Well done indeed! My wife has 33 years in the program and would not miss her Sunday night meeting. For herself, but also for others.

[DougGuy]

Nine years for me, after forty years of my hand always curled around a beer can. I met a girl that I was very attracted to, but I knew that all she saw was a guy that drank like a fish. I was beaten before I could start, and I made up my mind right then that the next time I was that attracted to a girl she might reject me but it wouldn't be because I was a boozer. And no, she never had any idea that she was the reason I quit. She probably doesn't even know that I quit.

Oddly enough, that's one of the major factors that got me to quit smoking. I was living in Podunk, VA in a town SO small, in the middle of nowhere, and I was single and dating online. There were a lot of women that I could get along with that would not date a smoker. I saw this as a serious impediment to my chances of finding me a good one. I went to the Welplex clinic and got the shots, and from that moment, was a non smoker. That was July 17 2007, and it has stuck.

Eventually I met my current gf who was not a smoker, and wouldn't have dated one over about a week, and also wouldn't have dated a daily drinker. She is a keeper, we have been 4+yrs now and it still seems like brand new sometimes, other times it feels like we have known each other much longer, but we fit and both really enjoy things the way they are. We are the best of friends, and there are reasons beyond my comprehension why I wound up here, but it feels like I belong.

Thank you for the compliments, thank yourselves for the sober years too!

[snuffy]

August 8 of this year will be 32 years sober. And a few months later 32 years since I had any kind of tobacco.

My deciding factor was a car accident after going to Milwaukee Brewers with a group from work There was a keg on ice in the aisle of the bus. Drank at the game as well. But abstained on the return trip. So I was not drunk, but drinking always made me think like "damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead."

A drunk ran a red light on the way home in my car. I just beeped my horn, instead of tapping the brakes to let that idiot go through the intersection. Wham, my firebird took the whole front clip off his dodge car. Bent my front end pretty bad.

Well I had just become a father. I couldn't shake the thought that my 3 month old son COULD have been, might have been it the back seat. I couldn't shake that what if??? I quit cold turkey. I was a binge drinker. Mostly beer. I could go days without drinking, but watch out for Friday night! I never got a DUI, but I certainly deserved one often. No cop saw me, yes, I was lucky.

To those that are thinking I can't do that, yes you can! You CAN have fun without drinking. In fact more fun because you're not impaired.

Good going doug guy Keep up the good work!

[clintsfolly]

Read this this morning and have been thinking about this and my late friend Paul. He had a life changing event and quit drinking before I meet him. He shot a dime out of his buddy fingers with his small bore rifle one night and they returned to the bar. The next morning he sold his rifle and never drank a drop again. He helped others stop. Later he lost a leg in a bike /car wreck and helped many with there loss. Had a great way to get there attention. Would get fast food and go see them and have lunch. After eaten would get out jacknife and clean his nails as talking about how how they had to get over there loss and on with there life. He then would stick the blade into his fake leg. No one ever know he had a peg leg till that point. Doug Thanks for giving me the spark to think of my old friend and Keep up the good work. Clint

[leeggen]

It is great to hear all of you that decided to get it together and stop drinking. I am really proud of each of you. It is not easy to do, takes alot of will and freinds that don't drink or drug around you. I reached 22 yrs.last October with the help of Bill and his freinds. At the age of 18 I was drinking a fifth of wiskey and a case of beer everyday, but I didn't get cleaned up until I was 41. Life is really great some days are just harder to get thru than others, but it would be harder to do if I was still drinking.
CD

[tdoyka]

congrats!!!
this is my 3rd year for being sober. of course i had a little bit of help. at age 39 i had a stroke(right side of my body and my speech). i used to drink all night and when i wasn't working i drank too! now, it doesn't even bother me. i just wish deer hunting went all year!!!!!

[wv109323]

I was never a drinker,thank God.
I grew up beside an alcoholic that was a down and outer all his life. He beat his wife,wrecked several cars,probably molested his step daughters, and was constantly fighting with wife and family members. On multiple occasions firearms and shots fired were involved in the fighting.
Multiple times his daughter/step-daughters would seek shelter at our home screaming "He is going to kill mommy". He died by going in convulsions and beating his head on the porch floor bad enough that he fractured his skull and bone particles in bedded in his brain and he died of swelling/bleeding.
I also had an uncle that drank until he was non-functional in life. His wife(s) and daughter abandoned him in life because of the problems caused by alcohol. He died at age 59 alone.
I never did acquire a taste for it.

[oldfart1956]

Congratulations my friend. For me, Jan. 19th. will be 8 years. Audie...the Oldfart...lost in my thoughts..

[454PB]

Good on ya!

I, too, am a musician. I started playing in bands at 16, and I'm still doing it.....another bass player.

I saw early on what addictive personalities musicians have. Over the years I've probably worked with 50 different guys. Many drank themselves to death or bad health, but early on it was illegal drug use that took them at the age of 30 or less.