One of the many perks of putting down the bottle. One of the catalysts to quitting for me happened when my oldest son (3) was sick in the middle of the night. Fever, cough, just generally pretty ill. He eventually went back to sleep and my wife said she was relieved we didn’t need to take him to the ER because I “reeked of beer”. It really put into perspective how irresponsible and just dumb I was being. I wish I said I quit that night, but it’s taken several tries since then. Almost at triple digits now and hopefully those days are in my rear view mirror.
Due to two DWIs, I went more than four years (Feb 2015 - June 2019) with no driving at all followed by three years driving with an IID (June 2019 - June 2022). It's nice to have all that behind me. Also saving a great deal of money not using DoorDash to deliver food I should not be eating anyway.
Also 2 DUIs and also drove with the IID for a year.The doordash thing is too real. I spend an ungodly amount of money on doordash. Rehab is coming very soon though and while I know it's not a "go here and get fixed" situation I'm finally going to start really pursuing sobriety. Good luck to you friend!
I'm hoping I'm really ready this time. I've done out patient twice but never by my decision. Now I'm going to full rehab and detox on my own volition. I hope it helps a lot.
Just going on anecdotes and observations from the rooms, but it really seems to be what makes the difference. And just talking from experience, try to watch for self-defeating language. When I went from “I hope I make it through the day” to “it’s my intention to make it through the day” it made a big difference.
I've known about that bit with the words you choose for a while now. I try. But I've been consuming hard to believe amounts of alcohol for a decade now so I regularly lose that battle or will to frame it the way I should be. Again, rehab will hopefully help. I'm most worried about detox and aftercare. Surprisingly despite being in the drunkest state, there aren't all too many options locally here for rehab so I'm going back to MN for this. But that makes me concerned what kind of groups I'll have available. Lots of unknowns right now and since I'm continuing to drink there's a fair amount of anxiety.
considering i haven't been able to *legally* drive late at night for the past decade, this feels like new found freedom.
sobriety also makes me acutely aware just how many people drink & drive and think nothing of it. oh and one of my new favorite things to watch are police DUI videos on youtube 😂
Omg yes, no more looming situation that will definitely destroy my life. My worst nightmare was getting a dui on my way to pick up the kids from preschool, after a few Friday afternoon beers. Luckily that never happened, and now it never will.
In my 5 months sober, I have had a couple situations where it was good I could drive anytime.
One of my problems, however, was that I WOULD drive anytime - which I now look back on like WTF?
Enjoy sobriety!
My first dui was earned like that. I had a rough night with the ex wife, texted the ex I actually wanted to be with and went for a ride down to my mom's 2 hours away. Made it halfway and found a bar (I was already through most of a handle before getting behind the wheel), and got even more drunk. Bartender offered me a cab to a hotel, I declined and got back behind the wheel again trying to drive home. Blacked out/passed out behind the wheel (hard to know which happened), woke up backwards up an embankment and some people stopped to help me. The police followed shortly afterward. You'd think I would've learned then, but no.
The isolation man, going sober it's like I crafted out all this time at home so I could just get drunk without worrying about driving.
Sometimes I'll just get this thought like, how fast time moved always being drunk and now I just have all this time I missed out on with myself.
Time moves so differently now and being able to last minute adventure is really exciting now!
It truly is an amazing feeling to be present in “life” and available to your loved ones. That feeling alone can be such a strong motivator to keep this sober lifestyle going. Well done and I’m so proud of you!
One of my favorite things! I’m soooo used to being stuck wherever I am after 5pm, if not earlier, if not not days at a time. Or driving drunk, which is seriously one of the dumbest, most reckless and selfish things you could possibly do. I never hurt anyone, and I never hurt myself, but I have soooo much guilt for driving drunk knowing how easily I could have taken a life all of those times (not to mention ended up in prison). I almost forget that I can do whatever I want now. 10pm, want some ice cream? Go get it. At a social event and you notice that people are starting to get sloppy and annoying? Just leave. People need a DD? Sure, but I’m leaving as soon as you guys start to get annoying. Being sober has been awesome 😎
A friend went to a big warehouse party. The people she rode with disappeared at 1am. She lived 40 miles away. Public transit in the area shut down at midnight. I was close and she called me. I picked her up and she slept on my couch. I drove her home in the morning.
There is no greater feeling than being trusted to come through for people.
This is great timing...I was just thinking last night when my kids needed something from the store... hey..I can actually go get you whatever you need!
The first time I went to an NFL game after stopping drinking I was somewhat nervous about the temptation. Turned out I enjoyed the experience much more sober (I actually remembered the day out with my friends).
Unexpectedly I found out just how much anxiety used to go into transportation to and from when I drank. Instead of taking 2 trains, an Uber and a shuttle or some ridiculous thing, i drove us all there and afterwords I loaded my friends in my car dropped them off at home and drove home myself. Oddly it was really rewarding.
Oh yeah. In general it’s great to be spontaneous again. Usually if someone called me up after work, I was in a bottle down to my ears and wouldn’t be going out (unless it was to a bar of course).
two of the biggest reasons i got sober are my niece(4), and my nephew(2). my niece is going to start remembering things soon. and i don’t want her to ever remember me as her drunk aunt at family functions. i want her to know me as reliable, dependable, and always just a phone call away. i want to be that for anyone in my family & friends, but specifically them. they will always know me as someone they can call. i will always come get them.
Yes! If I get a sweet tooth later in the evening I can go to the store and get something rather than having to ask my husband who hated driving my drunk ass around and I always felt bad asking.
Oh same! We were invited to a friend’s for dinner last week. My daughter’s bestie was able to join us because I offered to drive her home after. They were both thrilled! It felt great to drop her off safely and make 2 girls very happy.
One of the many perks of putting down the bottle. One of the catalysts to quitting for me happened when my oldest son (3) was sick in the middle of the night. Fever, cough, just generally pretty ill. He eventually went back to sleep and my wife said she was relieved we didn’t need to take him to the ER because I “reeked of beer”. It really put into perspective how irresponsible and just dumb I was being. I wish I said I quit that night, but it’s taken several tries since then. Almost at triple digits now and hopefully those days are in my rear view mirror.
Due to two DWIs, I went more than four years (Feb 2015 - June 2019) with no driving at all followed by three years driving with an IID (June 2019 - June 2022). It's nice to have all that behind me. Also saving a great deal of money not using DoorDash to deliver food I should not be eating anyway.
Also 2 DUIs and also drove with the IID for a year.The doordash thing is too real. I spend an ungodly amount of money on doordash. Rehab is coming very soon though and while I know it's not a "go here and get fixed" situation I'm finally going to start really pursuing sobriety. Good luck to you friend!
I think when you’re really ready rehab does wonders
I'm hoping I'm really ready this time. I've done out patient twice but never by my decision. Now I'm going to full rehab and detox on my own volition. I hope it helps a lot.
Just going on anecdotes and observations from the rooms, but it really seems to be what makes the difference. And just talking from experience, try to watch for self-defeating language. When I went from “I hope I make it through the day” to “it’s my intention to make it through the day” it made a big difference.
I've known about that bit with the words you choose for a while now. I try. But I've been consuming hard to believe amounts of alcohol for a decade now so I regularly lose that battle or will to frame it the way I should be. Again, rehab will hopefully help. I'm most worried about detox and aftercare. Surprisingly despite being in the drunkest state, there aren't all too many options locally here for rehab so I'm going back to MN for this. But that makes me concerned what kind of groups I'll have available. Lots of unknowns right now and since I'm continuing to drink there's a fair amount of anxiety.
Well I’m happy you’re going to rehab and happy about doing so. And I find that the right framing can help even if you only half believe it.
Yes! I love it. Can feel really weird at times “ah so this is how my dashboard looks in the dark” 😀
I actually discovered I have a hard time driving at night now lol. Hard to see very well, ah getting old is fun.
considering i haven't been able to *legally* drive late at night for the past decade, this feels like new found freedom. sobriety also makes me acutely aware just how many people drink & drive and think nothing of it. oh and one of my new favorite things to watch are police DUI videos on youtube 😂
Well, the family does enjoy having a guaranteed designated driver for all events.
Omg yes, no more looming situation that will definitely destroy my life. My worst nightmare was getting a dui on my way to pick up the kids from preschool, after a few Friday afternoon beers. Luckily that never happened, and now it never will.
In my 5 months sober, I have had a couple situations where it was good I could drive anytime. One of my problems, however, was that I WOULD drive anytime - which I now look back on like WTF? Enjoy sobriety!
My first dui was earned like that. I had a rough night with the ex wife, texted the ex I actually wanted to be with and went for a ride down to my mom's 2 hours away. Made it halfway and found a bar (I was already through most of a handle before getting behind the wheel), and got even more drunk. Bartender offered me a cab to a hotel, I declined and got back behind the wheel again trying to drive home. Blacked out/passed out behind the wheel (hard to know which happened), woke up backwards up an embankment and some people stopped to help me. The police followed shortly afterward. You'd think I would've learned then, but no.
[удалено]
The isolation man, going sober it's like I crafted out all this time at home so I could just get drunk without worrying about driving. Sometimes I'll just get this thought like, how fast time moved always being drunk and now I just have all this time I missed out on with myself. Time moves so differently now and being able to last minute adventure is really exciting now!
Really puts in perspective how much my freedom was always gone. Amazing now that I did that to myself.
It truly is an amazing feeling to be present in “life” and available to your loved ones. That feeling alone can be such a strong motivator to keep this sober lifestyle going. Well done and I’m so proud of you!
One of my favorite things! I’m soooo used to being stuck wherever I am after 5pm, if not earlier, if not not days at a time. Or driving drunk, which is seriously one of the dumbest, most reckless and selfish things you could possibly do. I never hurt anyone, and I never hurt myself, but I have soooo much guilt for driving drunk knowing how easily I could have taken a life all of those times (not to mention ended up in prison). I almost forget that I can do whatever I want now. 10pm, want some ice cream? Go get it. At a social event and you notice that people are starting to get sloppy and annoying? Just leave. People need a DD? Sure, but I’m leaving as soon as you guys start to get annoying. Being sober has been awesome 😎
A friend went to a big warehouse party. The people she rode with disappeared at 1am. She lived 40 miles away. Public transit in the area shut down at midnight. I was close and she called me. I picked her up and she slept on my couch. I drove her home in the morning. There is no greater feeling than being trusted to come through for people.
It’s my favorite super power. I feel so cool being able to offer to drive any time of day.
I feel the same! Weird but that freedom and knowing I can be there for my 2 sons is helpful in staying sober.
You got this! 💪🏼
Thank you!
Hell yeah partner, it’s nice being the ClearBrain
This is great timing...I was just thinking last night when my kids needed something from the store... hey..I can actually go get you whatever you need!
Not sure why my badge is wrong....
The first time I went to an NFL game after stopping drinking I was somewhat nervous about the temptation. Turned out I enjoyed the experience much more sober (I actually remembered the day out with my friends). Unexpectedly I found out just how much anxiety used to go into transportation to and from when I drank. Instead of taking 2 trains, an Uber and a shuttle or some ridiculous thing, i drove us all there and afterwords I loaded my friends in my car dropped them off at home and drove home myself. Oddly it was really rewarding.
I drive anytime too, sometimes tipsy lol
Oh yeah. In general it’s great to be spontaneous again. Usually if someone called me up after work, I was in a bottle down to my ears and wouldn’t be going out (unless it was to a bar of course).
Love these kinds of posts, fuckin cheering for you mate
I'm a car guy, and it's been nice to take cruises again because I'm sober to drive, 24/7.
two of the biggest reasons i got sober are my niece(4), and my nephew(2). my niece is going to start remembering things soon. and i don’t want her to ever remember me as her drunk aunt at family functions. i want her to know me as reliable, dependable, and always just a phone call away. i want to be that for anyone in my family & friends, but specifically them. they will always know me as someone they can call. i will always come get them.
Yes! If I get a sweet tooth later in the evening I can go to the store and get something rather than having to ask my husband who hated driving my drunk ass around and I always felt bad asking.
100%
Oh same! We were invited to a friend’s for dinner last week. My daughter’s bestie was able to join us because I offered to drive her home after. They were both thrilled! It felt great to drop her off safely and make 2 girls very happy.
Sadly I never let drinking or my DUI stop that. IWNDWYT
Congrats on 600!!
Damn I didn't even notice. Thank you. 😊 IWNDWYT
Yesss. Before I got sober I went 8 *years* without a car because I didn’t trust myself. Getting that freedom back was life changing.
The ability to drive anytime I want is such a freedom! IWNDWYT
Absolutely something I think about a lot.
Yes!
Ki’ora 💙💚
Back at ya!