Alcoholism Support Group
Alcoholism is the continued consumption of alcoholic beverages, even when it is negatively affecting your health, work, relationships and life. If you think alcohol is causing you to lose control, it's time to seek help. Our group is a safe place to vent, check in, get back up if you fall, and reach sobriety.
Good Evening, All;
I would like to share my story (very short version) of my drinking history and would like to hear yours....especially how you came to the conclusion that it was time to get sober and how you did it (and are still doing it...). What motivates you?
Been drinking all my life; heavily the last three decades. By the last 10 years; I was consuming a 5th of vodka a day. It should have killed me long ago. I still can't figure out why that didn't happen. I am now 65 years old. During the last decade, I experienced three significant losses. Dad, career and my very dear little companion, BarryKitty. Dad's death (or more significantly, what he suffered during his last years) tortured me to no end. At least he's at rest. About a year after that, I could no longer function at my job and had to give it up before I started hurting people. Cancer got my little fur baby. That was 7 years ago and that's when I fell into the bottle in a serious manner. Fast foward; when I found my life rotating between drinking and sleeping, it dawned on me that I had to give it up. I can't "cut back"; one was too many and then the whole bottle wasn't enough. I live alone and have for more than 30 years. So I stopped. Completely and cold turkey. The most notable thing was difficulty sleeping. When I did sleep, the nightmares were pretty bad. I'll be at 30 days very soon. I can't remember ever going that long without it. Ever. I miss it, but I know I can't go back to what I was doing because that's ALL I was doing. Wasn't taking care of myself or my apartment. On the plus side, I'm very grateful that I don't have to be afraid of "drying out"; I'm physically past that.
So I found this support group and I'm waiting to get my "AA Big Book". Please share your story with me? I enjoy reading the posts here very much. Thank you all and let's continue to encourage one another.
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I’ve probably watched the sequel to __________________ more than I’ve watched the original.
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The 12 steps of AA saved my life! I was about as low as I could go when I went to the hospital emergency room and asked to go into detox. Actually, there was a very nice police officer that gave me an escort there but that's another story. I had nothing when I went into detox. My wife was divorcing me, I had lost my job, and I was in financial ruins.
Going into outpatient treatment was the scariest thing I had ever done because I didn't know what to expect. I didn't want anyone to get inside my head, so to speak and find out what my secrets were, but it turned out to be a very healing time for me in many different ways.
After the IOP, I had an additional 3 months of group counseling. Throughout all the counseling I had,... regular attendance at AA meetings were a requirement. One of the things I noticed around this time was how my life began coming together and in ways which I never expected. I had money coming from places I never expected, I got a job which I really liked and my relationships improved. So get to know the 12 promises of AA because they will all come true!
Here is a video that describes how AA works by a guy who wrote several books about it from his vantage point.:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIq87qCZppM&t=1067s
God Bless:
I am so amazed at your progress. What keeps me sober is helping others and teaching my daughter how to live life from a new perspective. You have so much to teach your grandson. At one point, my hubby kicked me out of the house, I lost my job, and my dad drove me past a homeless shelter, advising that if I did not go to an extensive program, that would be my new home. Today I am more than 5.5 years sober and a college senior (I'm 46). I'm working on a bachelor's degree in social work. My new passion is to help others see the beauty in sobriety. Keep taking baby steps. Sometimes you might fall but you can get back up again and trudge through life on life's terms. I went from literally only having the close on my back to saving my marriage, raising our daughter, and attending school full time. At one point, my dad told me that my situation was worse to me than Vietnam where he was a machine gunner in the Marine Corp. I tired to overdose on pills after that comment, but was unsuccessful and rallied to find sobriety. You can do this Fritz and you deserve peace of mind. I have mine again, as well as giving my dad his peace of mind too.