Hi Bambie, I'm only a year older than you and I have just recently gone through the same realization. This site is a great support system so I am glad you have found it! It's going to be a long journey to sobriety but I have faith that we will get through it! Shoot me a message whenever you want!

-C

booze is a drug. I took it and it worked at making me not feel all the issues with life. Problem was I became addicted and had to have it to survive. Five years ago I decided I didn't want to live that way and asked for help. See I never , ever , asked for help with anything... that's why booze was so appealing.

But I have found life without booze is really greater than I ever imagined. I work each day to be a better person and reach my hand out to the person that needs help. Today I feel things, the good and the bad. I live, cmon let's live

1is2many

I remember when I reached my lowest of lows. I drove myself to the ER (drunk) and asked for help. The young doctor told me I was too drunk to go into detox so he sent me home....imagine that! I go there asking for help and they turn me away. So I went home because apparently, I hadn't suffered enough! .About a month later, I was given an official police escort to the ER for reasons I won't talk about now. Although I was drunk, I remember telling the cop, they wouldn't admit me last time I was drunk so what made him think they would admit me this time? His response was, "I guarantee, you will be admitted when I take you down!" He was right! They gave me IV's to flush out the Alcohol and gave me a ride to the detox ward! That was the first day of the rest of my life!

After detox, was outpatient treatment followed by counseling and regular AA meetings. That was 9 years ago. Today, I have a great life and I have never been happier!

God Bless

Congrats on this admission to yourself and welcome to our campfire. Had to laugh when I read your stereotype because I had the same in my mind for years, probably due to the movies in high school health class where alcoholism was always associated with delirium tremors, homelessness and/or jail time. Unfortunately our illness is easy to hide and the injury to ourselves and others slow in unfolding. Anyhow, welcome Bambie!

Thank you all for your kind and heartfelt responses and shared experiences.

Ah, as they say, age is but a number Moondreamer! This disease does not appear to choose its victims according to race, religion, gender etc!! We're just the lucky ones who managed to claw our way to the surface earlier than some!! :)

1is2many....That obnoxiously sweet, sticky, toxic liquid can hide a multitude of secrets, pain and frustration. Feeling each emotion, good, bad or otherwise is an uncomfortable lesson we're all still in the process of learning, no doubt! I'm relieved that you have found the desire to reconnect with your life, keep up the good work!!!

Bob, I'm so relieved to hear that you successfully managed to move forward and find the clinical support you needed during your detox. I'm all too familiar with your experience. I work in healthcare and I find it heart breaking seeing those self presenting for help told...."you must be sober" to begin with! How absurd!! Many find themselves at the very bottom of the pit whilst still intoxicated and make rash and impulsive decisions that result in awful consequences often. 9 Years is an amazing accomplishment, gives me something to aim for with my comparative 19 days, haha.

And finally Kevin. Goodness, I could give you a few more stereotypes that would likely make you giggle. Humour is one of the ways I face the awful reality that I have experienced to be honest, if I don't laugh I would likely cry. In conversations with my mother I compare myself to an underfed bear who was trying to hibernate intermittently...but I'm getting side tracked now, haha!! I will not hide who I am anymore, thank you for the welcome :)

Welcome Bambie:-)
It's strange because as I approach 40 days of sobriety and now have clarity to see the world around me for what it is, I wonder if the addicts of the world have become the norm and the non-users the abnorm. Most of my friends and colleagues drink in excess and as I was watching people knocking back drink after drink during Friday happy hour on my first evening out since choosing sobriety, I thought "Oh dear, we are all bloody drunks and I'm the only one in here that can see it" so yes well done to all of those who has seen the light and let's hope it will reach others one by one. I wish you all the best in your recovery :-)

:) Perhaps, we are the special ones Miralee? Maybe have been given the gift of insight? Although I would not wish my experience on anyone, I feel a clarity that I have never felt before also!

There are many an addict who is yet to make such a realisation. Incessant fixation on other experiences, substances or behaviours is not unlike that of alcoholism; the escape is merely a different mode.

Hello Bambie,

You are very welcome to the forum.

Cut from the same cloth perhaps, but the tailoring can be bespoke and the design may be altered at any time. Better I think to discover and accept the truth at 28 than to struggle in misery and denial for decades. Recovery from alcoholism is a liberating experience, something gained rather than the loss that some people tend to feel.

P.S. If the job stress becomes too much, you can make good use of that writing talent.

Dear TailorSailor,
What a joy to read a post like yours! You are so young and so insightful! I was not an alcoholic but both of my husband's parents were. It was so hard, and so sad the things they couldn't engage in with us because of their addiction. I am so glad you are realizing that early so you can live and be the life that God had intended for you! Praying for your continued strength..
Hugs and prayers

Thank you Pj54 :) I think a life of embracing some creativity would be good for the soul, I absolutely love my job, but it is a remarkably stressful position!! I couldn't agree more about the tailoring and design however, thank you kindly for your warm welcome!!