And thank god I have this foundation and structure that’s keeping me afloat. I wish that everyone could have these tools. When I stopped drinking alcohol, I was desperate to know the stories of other people who’d also taken this road less traveled. During the most unsettling time of my life, I craved all the messy, tragic, complex, wonderful stories that could show me what was on the other side.
Facing a potential problem and getting sober is not an easy choice, but for millions of people each year it’s a necessary one. I reached out to people who were recovering from addiction and asked them to be involved in a piece about their experiences with finding strength in sobriety. Addiction does not have to be the end of the road — it can actually be a life-changing beginning.
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I have been alcohol-free for 6 years and 9 months. I did have a sponsor and was going through the steps for the first six months of sobriety. I constantly struggled with the religious aspect (as I was raised Irish Catholic and rejected it as a child). I also couldn’t get on board with identifying as an alcoholic every day. I felt this was hindering my growth as a person who no longer used drugs or alcohol.
- It’s time for us to speak up and let the world know that recovery from addiction is possible and anyone is capable of living a healthy, wonderful life free of drugs and alcohol.
- You start to make the right decisions/choices.
- I began to drink at home, frequently wondering the next morning how there could be so many empty beer cans on the counter.
- Soon, I drank daily in isolation, hiding the quantity of my drinking from my wife, secretly replenishing the supply in the liquor cabinet with bottles I hid elsewhere.
- Next month will be a full year that I’ve been sober.
- Caring less about yourself and caring more about helping others.
My wife had a miscarriage about a year after the birth of our second child. In my mind, we had had enough discussion about our family size, and I proceeded to go ahead with a vasectomy. Our marriage became further strained, as my wife apparently still wanted additional children.
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I still have enough fear from my last blackout drunk to keep me from indulging. I think any path that helps people, whether abstinence or harm reduction, is a good thing. Next month will be a full year that I’ve been sober. Bottom line, it was that comradery of total strangers sharing their struggles, trials, and tribulations in their own dealings with alcohol that opened my eyes. I can easily jump into any meeting, any day of the week, whether through Zoom, my lunch hour during the week, or a late evening after the kids are in bed.
I attended daily AA meetings for the first ninety days. Later, I cut back to three to four meetings a week as I returned to taking call at work. At the appropriate time, with the guidance of my sponsor, I was able to make amends to everyone I had harmed, including sobriety stories myself. I was struck sober, lying on my living room floor, unable to get up, bleeding from a gastric ulcer just before Labor Day weekend in 2004. That is where this amazing journey in sobriety began. Hi, My name is Tim and I am a Recovering Alcoholic.
For Physician Health, ‘Reaching Out Is a Good Thing…. It All Comes Back to Connection and Community’ – Read More
It puts it into the public eye and passes a value judgment on it and says this is good or this is not good. And most recovery stories are through the lens of rehab, where you might not get to see the beautiful life that you find in sobriety. And the fact of the matter is that now I don’t have the option to run away or not pay attention to something that’s bothering me. I have to be present and I have to self-reflect and commit to being a better person for the people around me. Alcoholism is a disease that affects relationships, not just the person suffering. It’s about you learning how to regrow relationships and care for other people, including yourself.
- Our goal is to feature people from a variety of lifestyles to provide more opportunities to connect with our audience.
- Personally, I always thought drunk people were fun, and I didn’t want my own poop relationship with alcohol to stand out.
- I would wake up every night at 2 am if I drank the evening before, filled with self-loathing and shame.
- And the more that I honor the value that I’m bringing to people’s lives, the easier it is for me to stop making bad decisions.
If you’re like me, this can feel entirely terrifying. I have always hated the feeling that I’m putting people out or being difficult. Personally, I always thought drunk people were fun, and I didn’t want my own poop relationship with alcohol to stand out. I wanted to blend in nicely with a crowd who understood that sometimes you just want to drink your face off, or one that didn’t think anything was weird about a glass of noon wine. It’s seen as normal to drink, and quitting that drug can feel like breaking a social pact.
