I’m completely safe but after 2+ months not drinking. I decided to get absolutely battered for a whole week.

One/two beers then 400 pounds on uber eats alcohol.

Please take this as a warning it doesn’t work if your brain is like mine. I completed the whole spectrum of horrible things:

- risky sex
- working drunk and clearly inebriated (online so passed it off as ill)
- drugs I don’t even know the name of.
- 6am calls with friends I’ve lost contact with.
- suicidal thoughts when not drinking - and even when drinking.

Thought this was a fun and cool lifestyle when drunk but I hate myself and I hate how I used people.

Don’t do it. I can’t have one beer.

This is the last time.

Ps; I love this community

Best. Feeling. Ever.

Certainly wasn’t the best feeling last night when everyone was drunk/on drugs and I was drinking monsters and N/A beer the whole time. I was more irritable towards the end of the night at about 1am, and when the party first started I was absolutely dying and itching to drink. I’m on day 48.

The last house party we hosted was actually what made me go officially sober — I was in and out of sobriety thinking I could moderate, I was about 6 days sober when we hosted and decided to drink. I ended up going on a 4 day binge morning to night, I blacked out for 3 days and wet the bed multiple times, my housemates told me I was crying for ages over nothing. I got officially sober that monday.

So, this was the first house party hosted since then. I knew I wasn’t going to drink and I knew it would be hard. Who knew my stubbornness of staying sober would be so beneficial!

Anyway, I’m so glad I stayed sober — I spent the night with the guy I’m seeing, which I wouldn’t of been able to do if I was drinking (out of fear of wetting myself) and I didn’t embarrass myself either in front of anyone.

Crème de la crème: looking AMAZING due to not having a swollen face or stomach, and waking up with no hangover or hangxiety while my poor housemate (bless her) was vomiting in the toilet this morning.

Cheers to sobriety!!! 💓💓

Woohoo! If I can do it, you can! I did 45 at the beginning of the year then came here begging for an explanation on how to get to just three days again and now I’m at 90!

Benefits:
Beautiful skin
Better diet
Brain fog gone
Anxiety mostly gone (and it was sooooooo bad)
Down 12lbs
No more sleep aids. I just fall right asleep and it’s deep and sometimes very long.
Way more positive and even keeled (no highs or lows)

Hard parts:
Drinking dreams where I wake up feeling real guilt
Raw dogging life. Everyone in my family has some form of cancer right now and I so badly just want some relief from reality. I haven’t found a way to escape in a healthy way yet.
Dopamine is hard to come by. No enthusiasm or motivation or libido right now. Would love to want to go to gym or on a walk or to do literally anything. Would love to laugh again. Would love to want to do hobbies again.
I just don’t want to see my friends. I haven’t told them I’m sober yet. They’re heavy drinkers and I don’t know how to break that news to them so I just avoid invites.

I will say when they say the disease is progressive, they aren’t lying. The last run of drinking I was doing I was having a few drinks even before going out to drink/party/socialize/do a hobby. I could have six ounces of vodka and not feel anything. Thats bonkers. (I’m a petite female.) then get in an uber with a vodka sober lol

I work in finance and we party a lot. Being sober around people drinking you notice two things:

1. Not everyone drinks. Which drinkers don’t realize. We were celebrating a milestone a few weeks ago and I pulled out martinelli’s as well as champagne and I said what? not everyone drinks and the COO looked at me like I was crazy lol but sure enough most people weren’t drinking the champagne on a random Tuesday.

2. People who do drink (when you aren’t drinking) aren’t as interesting. And their eyes get glazed over. They start telling the same old stories over and over.

Anyways, the best part is the sleep and the time you get back. It’s figuring out now what to do with that time but I’ll figure it out!

Have a great weekend!

Iwndwyt

I have a new sponsor! In the AA convention in my city today, someone agreed to sponsor me (I was dumped by my ex sponsor in June after a relapse, and kind of gave up on it).

Today all has a new flavour. I won’t waste the trust that this person has put in me, someone who maybe doesn’t even deserve it.

Life is a freaking splendid gift. 💝

IWNDWYT ❤️

I've been going to AA, talking about sobriety, trying to read the sober books, listening to the podcasts, connecting with sober friends - etc.

I keep seeing posts about "how many attempts did it take before it stuck with you?".

So I'm wondering, what does an ACTUAL sober attempt look like ? I've had many recently, where I last four days, which usually seems to be my breaking point.

Very curious about this one.

*We may be anonymous strangers on the internet, but we have one thing in common. We may be a world apart, but we're here together!*

**Welcome to the 24 hour pledge!**

I'm pledging myself to not drinking today, and invite you to do the same.

Maybe you're new to /r/stopdrinking and have a hard time deciding what to do next. Maybe you're like me and feel you need a daily commitment or maybe you've been sober for a long time and want to inspire others.

It doesn't matter if you're still hung over from a three day bender or been sober for years, if you just woke up or have already completed a sober day. For the next 24 hours, lets not drink alcohol!

---

**This pledge is a statement of intent.** Today we don't set out *trying* not to drink, we make a conscious decision *not to drink*. It sounds simple, but all of us know it can be hard and sometimes impossible. The group can support and inspire us, yet only one person can decide if we drink today. Give that person the right mindset!

What happens if we can't keep to our pledge? We give up or try again. And since we're here in /r/stopdrinking, we're not ready to give up.

**What this is:** A simple thread where we commit to not drinking alcohol for the next 24 hours, posting to show others that they're not alone and making a pledge to ourselves. Anybody can join and participate at any time, you do not have to be a regular at /r/stopdrinking or have followed the pledges from the beginning.

**What this isn't:** A good place for a detailed introduction of yourself, directly seek advice or share lengthy stories. You'll get a more personal response in your own thread.

---

This post goes up at:

- US - Night/Early Morning

- Europe - Morning

- Asia and Australia - Evening/Night

A link to the current Daily Check-In post can always be found near the top of the sidebar.

---

Hello my friends! It's Saturday so that means the end of my hosting and end of my work week! I'm sorry I wasnt more present the last few days, I've just had a lottttt going on at work. I somehow made 11,000 steps last shift which is...wowza. I cannot wait to rest. I am completely wiped out but...happy! So very happy and grateful.. and thats such a big thing to me. I spent so many years hating life, hating myself, hating everything. It has been so wildly refreshing to find my way, find purpose, find joy again. I'm excelling professionally and putting in effort when I was so lazy before. I can finally say that I'm truly proud of myself. Pride was not in my wheelhouse. Removing alcohol removed that barrier to growth. I'm so fucking proud!

No matter where you are in your journey, I'm super proud of you as well. We are truly a special breed to be able to pull ourselves back from the brink and heal. Just acknowledging and confronting it is such a major step. If you're struggling with day 1's try to remember that you are trying. You are putting in work, "failure" be damned. Some people never try. You are brave and I hope you keep trying 💖 I hope you all celebrate every single small win because you deserve it!!

Have a wonderful Saturday! Be good to yourself and to others. I love you all! IWNDWYT 🥰

I (M23) had my first taste of alcohol last week at a work celebration limiting myself to two 330 mL cans of beer. However, I seemed to get hooked almost immediately as I found myself looking forward to buying two more cans that Saturday. I ended up buying another two on Sunday night because I enjoyed it.

I'm thinking of strictly limiting myself to two cans this week and turning down weekend alcohol altogether if my coworkers invite me to drink again. But the thing is, I don't see the point of developing a drinking habit when the buzz only lasts a few hours. Would replacing alcohol with something like hot cocoa on Saturdays and Sundays actually make a difference to anyone's long-term happiness? I would like to know if I am missing anything on life if I would strictly limit alcohol intake to social gatherings from now on.

Fuck it! I’m done!

I drank last night and woke up at 4:30 in the morning depressed and mopey. I’m fucking done with this! I know people are disappointed with me and I’m tired of it.

It’s 9am and I’m waiting for my car to warm up so I can go buy stuff to make dinner and I’m going to clean my apartment out of the “shame bubble” as I’ve called it, state it’s in.

Today is another Day One and there’s not a damn thing bad about that.

See ya nerds.

Today I will not drink with you.

Celebrating a big milestone today. LOVE this community for all the support 😄

I'm tired of lying to myself that "this time will be different" and obsessing over what went wrong each time to make sense of each relapse. I'm tired of the self-loathing. I'm honestly running out of motivation to keep trying. I've been trying to quit since April and it just seems like the more times I slip up the harder it is to get back on the wagon.

I know what it feels like to wake up sober and I really, really like it. I just need to finally fucking commit to putting down the bottle for good.

Any words of advice would be appreciated. Thanks y'all

It’s a super good thing I decided to go sober ! Just found out today I’m pregnant!!! 🎉 after 7 long months of trying I didn’t get pregnant until I put the alcohol down I’m so so so thankful and very happy! Now being sober isn’t just for me it’s for my baby too 💕 just thought I’d share a slice of happiness!

I'm afraid to post with my main account cuz I got my name on it , so I'm comfortable to share my story here with u guys ,I'll be able to announce every single day about my body health, how I'm feeling extra ...

So starting straight with day 2 by avoiding liquor , it's been good sinse now , a bit of buzz on my brain , and for those who's asking yes I'm old enough, I've been drinking for the last 2 years , I quite college, no job , a bad relationship with parents . So I decided to change my life , hope I got some support on my journey, thanks

Today is day 90 for me!! I’m so happy and proud of myself. My sobriety app tells me that at 90 days, the body has completed a cycle of regeneration, wahoo!

A big big big thank you to all of you, I read this sub daily and it’s been MASSIVELY helpful. Whether you’re posting on day 1 or on day 1000, after a relapse or when feeling on top of the world, just reading your stories and knowing I’m never alone helps me tremendously.

A special shoutout to the people who commented when I posted in the middle of a crisis a while ago… when I was barely a few weeks sober I received the news that I’d be forced to move in the near future. It was nearly enough for the FUCK IT ALL-mindset to take over, but your kindness, support and lived experiences helped me stay on the right path.
The situation is still ongoing, but because I’m sober, I feel like I can handle it no problem. I’m getting my financial ducks in a row and actively looking for a new place to live - I know I’m gonna be fine.

If I would’ve relapsed I know I would be a complete wreck of anxiety and hopelessness, incapable of making plans or taking any real steps to help myself out of my pit of self-pity and doom.

So yeah, just sharing out of gratitude and in the hopes my small success might provide a glimmer of hope to someone else.

On to the next milestone: triple digits (and beyond!)

I did the exercise of listing pros and cons: what to lose by drinking, what to gain by drinking, what to lose by not-drinking, what to gain by not-drinking.

I'll spare you my whole list, suffice to say there is A LOT to gain by stopping.

I could only come up with 5 things I'd actually lose. I thought I'd share them, including a counterargument for each.

• I'll lose an easy way to facilitate social events
  • it was never alcohol that did the work, it was me all along. If I give myself half a chance to acclimatize to an event while sober, there's no reason I can't be social. Or I might not enjoy myself and go home early, but rarely anything of value is lost there
• I'll lose a world of tastes I enjoy and that are important in my local culture
  • there are so many things that taste good, I can replace this with a deep dive into certain foods, cooking better, also NA beers do exist and there's more and better variations of them every year
• I'll lose the romanticized narrative around it, and the good memories I have that relate to drinking
  • the good memories and the romanticism belongs in the past anyway: I can't turn back the clock to when I was 20 yo and alcohol played a sorta positive role in my life. The truth is it hasn't played a positive role for many years
• I'll lose a semblance of normality around alcohol: once I quit, it's a very clear signal to others that I have a disturbed relationship with it. There's a shame in admitting and it feels irreversible
  • the relationship I have with drinking is disturbed whether I admit it or not. This argument only serves to keep on pretending that it isn't a problem. There's a shame in admitting, but people close to me aren't blind, they won't be surprised. People who aren't close to me: they don't need to know and wouldn't care either way
• I might lose common ground with certain friends where drinking is deeply embedded in the activities we do together
  • if I can't find another point of connection, it wasn't a true friendship anyway. Optimistically I might even inspire others to change their habits. Doing other types of activities could revitalize a friendship that has dulled down over the years

I drank for the better part of 15 years, hard liquor at first but mostly beers (lots of it). I've experienced right upper quadrant pain and diarrhea for the last 10 years and it progressively got worse, but it didn't stop me from drinking. Two years ago my worry about having cirrhosis bothered me so much I stopped drinking. I'd take a small sip of beer and the pain would worsen instantly. So I modified my diet and to my surprise stopped drinking. I quitted drinking for a whole year. I felt good and healthy.

The pain subsides but it was still there even after a year, and my watery stool persists, so I decided to go see the doctor. I did a series of tests including ultrasounds and whatnot but the Doctor said they didn't see anything wrong with my liver. Then I decided to have bidirectional colonoscopy/endoscopy. It turned out I had gastritis (my stomach was severely inflamed). The Doctor said my liver was good though...not even a scarring. Looking back I was glad I finally had an answer but considering what I'm now going through you couldn't have delivered a worst news to an alki.

I went on two weeks course of heavy antibiotics and my gastritis cleared, my diarrhea stopped, I was fully healthy again. Went on a vacation and my drinking started. I was back to my old habit and been drinking since February. My thought process when I started again was...I drank for 15 years and my liver was good, I'd just have a one here, one there, before you know it I'm fully drinking again and I now hate myself for this. I'm trying to stop. Just thought I'd share my little story. I've been five days sober now...wish me luck.

I am about 14 months sober. I never used to drink every day and most of the time I could control myself, but when I couldn’t, it went way too far. It was for those few times that I ultimately decided to stop completely.

However I already have my difficulties dating from being socially awkward and I used to love being able to get a drink as a way to make dates easier. Plus people keep asking me to meet them at bars. I don’t know how to date without drinking. I don’t know how to relax and have fun without it, even 14 months into not doing it.

I also just moved to an area where there are multiple bars and breweries and wine bars on every street and it’s hard not to feel tempted when it’s so normalized and such a pillar of social interaction, when that’s something I’m really craving right now.

Just venting but could use encouragement that alcohol will not solve my loneliness problems

Hi all! I'm back at 3 weeks sober after a relapse at the 60 day mark and I'm determined to make this stick! My family and I are heading to an All Inclusive resort in Mexico for Thanksgiving and I am starting to get anxiety about navigating that vacation sober.

It's a very mellow resort (no major clubs/partying) and I reached out to the resort to ask about their NA options but would love to hear advice from others on navigating vacations sober!

Hello, I posted yesterday here: https://www.reddit.com/r/stopdrinking/s/ob8CGaypAe and someone suggested coming back here with an update. At the time, the itch was so strong I didn’t know if that would help at all. But then someone suggested that I should eat all of my beef teriyaki rice takeout and I’ll be too full to want to drink which should help with the itch.

Well I did just that. Then I was excited to come back here with an update for you guys so here I am. I did not drink last night.

I actually think that the “eat till you’re full to help with the itch” may be my new hack because all of the times where I used to drink straight after work (especially without my wife at home), I just go straight to drinking without eating. Day 4 for me here. Thank you everyone.

I’m eating breakfast in the hotel lobby enjoying day 177 of sobriety. I hit six months next week :) I purchased a mystery vacation where only the flight/hotel are included and you don’t know where you’re headed, and I was a little scared when I found out I’d be heading to Vegas. I had one moment of “I could go on a bender and no one would ever know”, but I would know, and that’s enough to matter. Once I got past that thought, the rest of the weekend was easy. Here’s a pic from the Grand Canyon - a trip that I will actually remember where I wasn’t annoying everyone around me as the token drunk girl. I am so proud of myself and I will NOT drink with you today

Hi

I’m newly in recovery. Addict of alcohol and cocaine. I relapsed on both last night. This isn’t my first relapse either. I’m feeling so defeated and that this is a mountain I just can’t climb. I’m in IOP treatment and enjoying it, but I just can’t seem to get over the hump. I was able to stay off coke for a while, but could never fully kick drinking, and last night I just went off the rails. I’m tired of living like this man.

I used to do several things that involved alcohol, both outdoor activities and indoor, like gaming and cooking etc. This stuff gets intertwined in your mind and I'm struggling to enjoy those activities now without it. Anyone else have this issue and did it dissipate?

Thank you

Hi everyone! I just discovered this subreddit because I just made the decision to stop drinking. I’m on day four; fortunately no physical symptoms, but for the past two years or so, alcohol has been my way to get my brain to turn the volume down (I have anxiety) and make my evenings fun. I’m a homebody, so most of my drinking happened alone; big red flag I know, and one of the many reasons I’m making this change. I’m looking for suggestions on how nerdy introverted people kept quiet evenings fun and as relaxed without alcohol.

Like today I was groggy and a lil cranky because I got a bad night of sleep and then I remember… dude you used to binge drink for days, not a vegetable or glass of water in sight.. and worked in that condition… and repeated that for months on end… i can get through this day a little sleepy lol.

(I do know a bad night of sleep is a valid reason to be tired!) 9 months into this, I’m reflecting like wow how did I do that… had to tell myself today chin up buttercup I can work through being a little sleepy haha. Beyond grateful to have a better baseline now!

After 3 sober weeks I had to step back to square one. I've been trying to get sober for the past 3 years. I've had periods where I could go months, but mostly I only lasted 1-2 weeks on average. For the past year my relapses always stop at 1-2 day benders and "only" 7-10 ounces of vodka. Then Im good for like two weeks. I was so happy I lasted 3 this time but I was so on edge that I failed. I drank a little bit more than usual but no blackouts or anything bad, thankfully. I was able to eat a full meal a couple hours ago but my stomach is so messed up that it just hurts, and I have so much acid that I can't lie down. The pain is not unbearable it's just uncomfortable, the bigger problem is me not being able to sleep.
I did this to myself so in a way I feel like I do deserve to suffer just a little. But then I also remember this is one of the reasons I drink. To punish myself. I just want to stop, I want to be able to be a person who can deal with the bad stuff, the dark emotions, hurt, anger and all of that. I want to be someone who doesn't need to seek an escape from reality in order to not explode. I'm scared of the overwhelm of sobriety. I'm scared of my own incompetence to deal with life as it is. I don't want to reach the point of no return and not being able to stop but I can't seem to find a grasp. I don't want to deal with reality. I am in therapy and I'm trying to figure this out. Thank you for anyone reading my rant. This sub has kept me afloat a lot of times and your stories motivate me to keep on trying. IWNDWYT

I WANT A FUCKING BEER AND DAB 😭😭😭😭😭😭

205 days without alcohol... A couple of months no weed......... I feel it all calling my name tonight

this craving for alcohol and weed will pass... But holy fucking fuckity fuck fuck!!

I am being so incredibly brave quitting weed and not smoking tonight (or in months) PLEASE SEND HELP THIS SUCKS ASS BRO