i wrecked my Honda into the garage last week. my mom is terminally ill and i got some tests back that say low folate. im scared to go my doctor but i looked it up and know its due to alcoholism. i know if i don't quit ill die. im on day 4.

I thought I was drinking to make myself happier. When I realized that wasn't working (I'm a slow learner.....it took awhile:) I stopped. I can't believe how much happier I am now without the booze. It hasn't been easy as old habits die hard and I'm really not used to facing my emotions head-on but it sure beats the alternative. I know that now. Plus I got sick of short-changing my son. I usually waited til he was in bed to drink but I spent a lot of days with him hung over and without energy. It was so unfair to him. I grew up with a drunk for a mother. There is NO WAY I will follow that same path for my son's sake. Anything for him........AND ME:)

For me it was waking up hungover every weekend and not being able to follow through on plans that I had made. Didn't think I had a problem since I could go most weekdays without drinking unless I was on vacation or traveling. Then I read somewhere if you had more than five drinks an evening five or more times a month, you likely had a problem. Anytime I had a drink I had more than five, so I decided to finally quit 63 days ago. Looking back after the last 63 days of sobriety, I realize that I was a closet alcoholic all my life.

One morning after my usual vomiting in the kitchen sink to start my day, then starting into my red wine drinking from the bottle, I guess I had an A-HA m0oment. It was kinda surrealistic in a way, like it was not me getting this message, and probably it was my HP intervening, but at a defined second in time I knew with total certainty and clarity, that at that moment I either stopped drinking, or I was on my way out.

I went to a noon AA meeting and finally listened and finally started to actually hear what I needed to hear. And that was the beginning of my journey into sobriety.

A dui and a two year probation and risk of losing my drivers license and face jail time were not enough to stop me. To this day I am certain without a doubt that it was Divine Inbtervention that that got me to stop and go to that AA meeting.

My last debach consisted of a night at the bar a 12 pack and a bottle of rum. I was totally out of control. I woke up and was going to literally break down the door and go drink myself to death or another thought Go to a. That was June 9 a couple of years ago. I have times where a drink seems like the only thing that will work to solve my issues but I have made a commitment to not drink today. Tomm I can get wasted but today I'm going to be sober
1is2many

My wife of 45 years starting Al-Anon and the threat of her leaving. I also finally got a good look at myself in the mirror, both literally and figuratively. Hated what I saw and was actually scared by how much I changed when drunk. And finally, a couple good books I read that described the true nature of alcohol and the alcohol addiction.

I remember my last day and the final straw; I was still very much drunk from days and nights on end of drinking. I was staying at a friend's house and called my mother to come and pick me up that morning. I felt horrid in every aspect of the word; mentally, physically, spiritually. I was exhausted of running away from that awful bottomless craving. I knew I could keep drinking and let the chase continue, or walk into the eye of the storm. My mother had left me at home that day to sleep and as soon as I heard her car drive off, I was off like a shot looking for any booze. I was racing around the house, turning up furniture, looking behind books, breaking into locked trunks, begging for there to be anything I could get my hands on, but to no avail. And so I gave up that chase. The actual single thought that saw that day as my final drinking day, "Wouldn't it be nice to be free? Free from the drink? The cravings? The withdrawals? The dependency?" There was only one way to the freedom. And here I am today, eternally grateful.

That* freedom

I've had so many horrible ones, I don't know which one to (kind of) share. Before I was successfully sober for over a year, I had an episode that involved fights with hubs, taxi cab drives to hotels, bottles of wine, and a bottle of vodka, and much much more I can't speak about. I was on DS in the hotel business room drunk off of my ass. I was so desperate for help and was in shambles. Ultimate low in my life. I felt suicidal too. It was just plain hell. That's all I can say. I will never go back there. Ever.

I remember I had a big argument with my wife after I lost my job for drinking among other things, so I drove myself to the hospital and asked for help. I said that I wanted to go into detox. I really wanted to get away from my wife for a few days because her constant yelling was beginning to get to me.

Unfortunately, they told me in the ER that I couldn't be admitted because I was too drunk! Imagine that! So they told me to sit still in the ER and sober off before driving home but I couldn't so I drove home, drunk.

I continued to drink for the next 4 weeks until my wife got sick of me so she kicked me out but I wouldn't go so she called the cops. I was given a choice to go to jail or go to detox so I told the cop that I tried detox a month ago but they wouldn't take me! So the cop promised me they would take me as long as he gave me an escort down there so I thought that was pretty cool, that'll teach those ER doctors!

So the cop was right, they took me and I spent 4 days in detox followed by 3 weeks in an outpatient program followed by 3 months of relapse prevention group counseling.

Throughout all the treatment I received, attendance at AA meetings was mandatory. That was 7 plus years ago. Today, I still attend occasional meetings, I live my life by the 12 steps and I have never been happier!

God Bless!

Final straw was another "what did I do?" Scene.

Too many times, and caused too much pain.

AA is now my home and the fellowship has built a new strength within me. I feel I can accomplish anything and I never have to drink over life, good or bad.

My son went to college and I realized how much of his growing up that I was drunk. I looked at my daughter who is 14 and I thought I don't have much time left with her. I don't want to spend the time I have left drunk. I don't ever want to forget another memory with her. I have many many horror stories. But this realization did it.

wow that is a hard one, because I stopped for weeks, months at a time. But I guess i would have to say when I found myself not having fun anymore. I use to be a jolly drunk, I became a mean and argumentive drunk. All the thing I use to drink to become. I no longer was. And I just got sick of being sick. All I could say is I need to stop drinking it is holding me hostage.. I am in bondage. And I did not like any part of it anymore. I could not sleep. I was a sober day time person. Hung over as hell but sober until 2-3 and then drunk until I would crawl into bed. only to wake up at 1-2 in the morning feeling terrible and not being able to go back to sleep. No more bondage,, peace, and sleep like a baby.. that alone is enough to keep me going.