Being sober for the rest of your life...

[kido]

I too have beat the bottle one day at a time. Its been close to a year now. I cant tell you that life is great all the time, but I can assure you that it isnt bad. Things are just the way they are. I learned to deal with it.

 

I had lost my chemical peace of mind. Drinking was no longer a luxury anymore it had become a necessity.

[Kr430n5_666]

[Dirty_habiT]

Stay off the shit Makros. I'm not mad at you, but my thread isn't a picture posting video game.

[mr.yuck]

I used to get wasted to the poin t of 'what the fuck?' every single night. I have since cut my drinking down to one or two weekends a month. I really have to be up at am every morning to be to work. By the time i get home, Im ready to go to sleep. Thats not all bad because it helped me get rid of my habit by replacing it with anoteher.

 

I am drunk right now, but i wont be tomorrow. Good luck with doing what you have to do. The last habbit i am trying to kick is cigarettes. This is way tougher than booze or any other drug i have done. So I am with you on one thing.

[Dirty_habiT]

Yeah cigarettes suck bad... I've "quit" before for more than 6 months, but it's so easy to start again... so easy. That's something I've been meaning to ask about in my treatment class . How do you stop smoking cigarettes. I dont' like the idea of a patch, because then you're still getting nicotine and I'd think it might make it more difficult. I've known people on the patch and they smoke with the stupid thing on their arm. Ridiculous. I mean, provided they don't really "intoxicate" you. I hate thinking about running because I'll die from being out of breathe. Cigarettes need to get out of my life too. I'd say they're comparably hard to quit as alcohol for the simple fact that you can pick them up at the corner store, and they aren't illegal.

[sarcasm]

i can't exactly say that i feel you on the drinking aspect, but i did

however, quit smoking bud. i have also tried to "quit" cigarettes

many times, but the damn things are so addictive. i too don't want

to use the patch or gum to quit, but going cold turkey is so fucking

hard. i've went without cigarettes for a couple months, but the fact

that they are so easy to obtain, makes it so easy for me to light

up again. if you happend to find out any promising suggestions

to quitting cigarettes, get at me PLEASE.

 

however, on the drinking topic. i never have, and most likely

never will get to the point where alcohol will be an addiction for

me. my whole family can't drink for shit, and i'm actually the

only one in my family who can withstand 2+ beers. however,

after i take a sip of the first beer, i turn bright ass red. and for

that sole reason, i rarely drink in public/at parties, because

being bright ass red after 1 beer and everybody saying "dude,

you are soooo drunk, huh??" is not cool in my book.

 

-sarcasm/notbeingsarcastic

[TresOne]

It's pretty obvious (you even said so yourself) that the drinking is ruining your life... so you have to put an end to it.. you don't really have any other choices.

 

If you're already in a treatment class/program, then you have the battle half-won. You'll have access to the resources and support that you're going to need to make this easier. You mentioned that you have a girlfriend, and chances are she probably wants you to do this too, which means she'll be willing to work just as hard at helping you kick this as you're going to have to work yourself.

 

In your case, trying to just cut down on your drinking isn't going to do shit other than set the stage for a massive relapse. Once it's gotten to a point like this, it becomes the kind of problem that you can't really work at bit by bit anymore - you have to axe the whole fucking thing in one shot. You bet your ass it'll be hard, but you're going to have to weigh the costs and benefits and see which course of action will be most beneficial to your life and the lives of all the other people that care about you and your wellbeing (ie: your girlfriend).

 

Think of all the positive aspects: You already mentioned that the one sober week was less stressful on your relationship with your girl, and if you really care about her, that should be reason enough to give this a serious shot. Plus, imagine all the money you'll save when you're not (literally) pissing it away at the bar. You won't have to worry about what you've said or done to people when you're drunk, and you can finally see that you don't need alcohol to enjoy life.

 

You might have to come to terms with the fact that, to make things easeir for yourself, you might want to consider cutting out all temptations from your life for a while. I don't know anything about you, so this might not be realistic, but it is more effective... There's nothing harder to do when you're trying to quit drinking, than going and sitting with a bunch of friends in the pub and watching them all have a pint. If drinking is really a problem for you, then you can't afford to even put yourself in those kinds of situations for a while.. if there's no temptation, then there's nothing to worry about. I mean, if you only ever see your friends at the pub, then they're also going to have to understand that this is something you have to do, and that you might not be seeing them at the bar for a while. If you work in a bar, then it's just going to be that much harder, but fuck, whatever doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, right?

 

Maybe while you're stopping the drink, you can keep smoking, just to help take off the edge. I don't know what it's like to try and quit smoking, because i only smoke occasionally and have never really become addicted to it, but i DO know that trying to quit drinking can make you very edgy and spontaneous, for lack of a better word. Maybe being able to have a smoke will help - the worst thing would be if you tried to kick both habits at once, got overwhelmed by the cravings, and gave into both at the same time. That would be a major blow to your self-esteem and belief in your ability to quit.

 

I dunno, this is all just my opinion, so take it for what you will.

 

I really hope you can get off the bottle, man. You won't fucking believe what you've been missing..

 

Good luck.

[Dirty_habiT]

Thank you very much for the encouraging words. I don't really ever go to bars or clubs to drink, normally it's sitting around mine or my girlfriend's house. And the one friend that I used to go over to his house and drink with alot isn't really a friend because all he does is drink.... and his girlfriend is a real retard and isn't easy to get along with. She's only 17. Anyway I don't really hang around people that drink really. It's still hard.

[crushkilldestroy]

i quit drinking 2 years, one month, and 20 days ago. the main thing you need to remember, like a lot of other people said, is to take it one day at a time. get deeper into your hobbies. read a lot. anything to keep your mind off of drinking.

 

the hardest part for me was realizing that i couldn't be around most of my friends anymore. it had gotten to the point where my friends weren't really my friends, they were just people i got drunk with.

 

long story short, there are some really bad days, but it's completely worth it. i was getting worse by the day, and i know i would be in some seriously deep shit if i hadn't quit.

[tuckyourchains.]

I've been sober all of 2007.

it was hard, I drank every day for 3 years prior to that...

I feel good in the morning, can always drive, am always accountable for my actions....

good luck dude, keep at it.

 

what I find hard to quit is the grass.

anyone kicked that?

pros, cons?

[Guest spectr]

funny how I find this thread as I am getting shit faced by myself..... fuck being sober... i did it for almost 6 months... it was nice... but sometimes you just got to dull the sharp edge of pain that exists in your life... and I will say that alcohol is the perfect way to do it... let me give thanks to rum and coke... let me also give thanks to the package store for selling me booze without my id... let me also give thanks to my boy who just passed away for being a blessing in my life... fuck it time to get drunk.... even though its only going to make my problems worse... fuck it...

[DeweyVonGumpsteinAndTheWiz]

try kicking opiates then talk about tough

[vacuum cleaner]

^^ AGREED. i was hooked on teh codeines for a nasty while... was not pretty.

 

but, smoking and drinking... those two thangs are my friends. actually, to celebrate gettin' my homework done, i'm gonna dig into my 40 in el fridge. yesssssssssss.

[ZeroCool]

You could not make threads about being sober....

[papa_dukes]

you know what is worse than opaite withdrawls i think is benzo withdrawls ive used both heavily in my years but coming off a long binge (like 3 months using them everyday) taking 2mg xanax bars and add some klonopin to that mix 2 mg....i was a fucking mess for abot 3 weeks couldnt get out of my bed...i HIGHLY advise not to abuse prescription meds. because if you are not use to withdrawls they could kill you. straight up no jokes

 

if youre on benzos ween off them NEVER go cold turkey BTW.

[IRONHEAD]

try kicking opiates then talk about tough

 

true.

[VAJ]

It's nice to look at this thread and realize that dirty has kicked his habits....Well for the most part. He definately doesn't drink like he did back then. Last night we had 3 beers between the 2 of us. And even that's rare. When he made this thread we had just got off a 6 month whiskey drunk. Last time we drank hard liquor was on NYE and it was nothin really. Our lives are COMPLETELY different now.

 

Staygold...I don't smoke weed. Its not easy to quit. I had to and that's the only reason I ever would. I'm around it pretty much daily.

[gein]

start up a competitive physical activity. something that interests you.

skateboarding, bmx, tennis, croquet, lawn bowls.

i battled giving up drinking for a long time before i started riding every day. now everything evolves around me riding, and so drinking isn't even on my mind.

[VAJ]

You should read the whole thread before putting in your 2 cents.

[horse cock]

it took me 2 heart attacks to stop doing coke and smoking cigarettes.........

[DeweyVonGumpsteinAndTheWiz]

smoking coke

[WhereEaglesDare]

Smoking speed...bleagh

[tuckyourchains.]

It's nice to look at this thread and realize that dirty has kicked his habits....Well for the most part. He definately doesn't drink like he did back then. Last night we had 3 beers between the 2 of us. And even that's rare. When he made this thread we had just got off a 6 month whiskey drunk. Last time we drank hard liquor was on NYE and it was nothin really. Our lives are COMPLETELY different now.

 

Staygold...I don't smoke weed. Its not easy to quit. I had to and that's the only reason I ever would. I'm around it pretty much daily.

 

 

yea, I guess I didn't delve deep enough into it. I don't need to quit weed, I just want to.... long story short I've been making more than a living off it for a year now, get it??? I'm for sure around it all day everyday.... I just find that even though I'm only smoking before bed ish' and watching lost with my girly, it still makes me tired and lazy the next day. I don't drink alcohol at all, I used to, everyday. I also have a degenerative desease.... it affects my balance and motor skills. it's not so bad when I'm stone sober, I can walk on my own, use a cane at school or the mall sometimes, 2 beers or a joint will have me stumbling around like an idiot though.... somedays I think drinking or weed helps me forget about my situation, but in the short and long term it's just making it worse. any advice, would y'all kick a vice for health reasons, even if your health is deminishing anyway???

 

I just want some motivation. someone tell me the day they gave up weed they did 30 fill ins, or got 500 freights that year, anything!

[papa_dukes]

advertise youre self online the one way to actully see a bullshitter/idiot

 

and its fucking weed i have more pain in my asscheek theres no fuckin withdrawl from weed!

[sarahyoulose]

My vices: x (rarely), mota (frequently) and alcohol (1 2 times a week).

 

For the beer/weed - if i had a choice between 100 dollars a week and never smoking weed/drinking again - i wouold take the money.

 

X on the other hand .... if i could NEVER EVER do it again or i would lose all the money i had accumulated ... i don;t think i could do it. its way too much fun

[THANKYOU]

hang in there dhabs... hope you make it man... life's ruff sometimes.

 

i probally need to give up drinking to atleast for awhile, because its expensive and its making me a fatass

[sarahyoulose]

^^^^^^^^ yeah tease.

38 lbs in 6 months?

dangggggggggggggg bbbb!

[Dirty_habiT]

hahaha, it'll do that to you (make you fat)....

 

I'm doing pretty good, I kicked the tobacco habit about a week ago and I'm still going strong. I am not desiring to smoke cigarettes what so ever...

 

I still drink on a rare occassion, and even then I don't really ever get a buzz. I'll have *maybe a beer or two every week, which isn't much considering I'm supposed to have alcoholism coursing through my veins... but for the most part I feel that I definitely don't have a problem with drinking.

 

Good luck to anyone that is trying to clean up their life, and congrats to anyone that has actually battled addiction and won.

 

It always helps to know that someone is backing you on your decision and being supportive... if that has to be DHABZ that you've

never met and only read what I write on the internet, then so be it, I support your decision because I know how difficult it is

to make these choices and follow through with them.

[Fizzy Womack]

i wish i could be g'ed for the rest of my life

i always say that when i'm g'ed

[HAL]

And yeah, I've noticed when I am more productive canvas/train wise I drink less.

 

This is very true. Absorbing youself in a different activity helps because you don't concentrate on not being able to drink. Anything where your mind is working and active, solving problems, is good. Painting works for me. Canvas, walls, whatever.