400+ Days Sober from alcohol

[Espaim]

After more than 400 days of sobriety, I'm reflecting on my journey as a 24-year-old college student who quit drinking. My heavy drinking began at 20 during the COVID-19 pandemic, exacerbated by a job where free beer was abundant. Despite changing my major which I was unsatisfied with, my drinking habits persisted, even interfering with medications for neurological issues.

Post-COVID restrictions, I attended every social event possible, drinking excessively at each one. My extroverted yet disagreeable nature made me prone to disinhibition. A seizure served as a wake-up call, prompting both my dad and me to quit alcohol.

The benefits have been significant:

• No alcohol cravings
• Reduced spending (both on alcohol and impulsive spending while drunk)
• Less of family/friends worrying about me
• No regrets about actions or words
• Rediscovering social events without alcohol (I still go to parties sober and have fun but it's different. I can't stand as much as I did before)
• Seeking healthier social activities

There are some challenges:

• Finding alternative ways to deal with negative emotions. I've started therapy some weeks ago and it's going great. I also started working out.
• Occasional feelings of being left out. Honestly, this has been something I've had difficulty dealing with.
• Explaining my choice not to drink (not really, I'm not the type that beats around the bush).

Neutral

• Interestingly, after 400 days, I'm forgetting what it's like to be drunk. Seeing others drink doesn't even register as something I'd consider doing anymore. Sometimes I host parties and I find myself wondering what to do with alcohol left around the day after.

While quitting hasn't solved all my problems, it's solved more than one. I have a long way to go still in other areas.

 

Edited October 16 by Espaim

[bambi]

Good work, one of my biggest regrets is ever starting drink and drugs. Which I didnt really do until 26.

I dont even know where it all went so wrong. I was adamant of not using alcohol as a crutch, and would do day game and party sober all through my early 20s. 

Vices are kind of like a frog in boiling water, by the time you realise your in trouble your burning fast

[PsychedelicEagle]

Cheers!

On 10/16/2024 at 7:23 AM, Espaim said:

Occasional feelings of being left out.

You can frame it as time you get back to focus on more meaningful endeavors and connections.

If you search you can easily find people who are non drinkers too.

[Espaim]

On 10/16/2024 at 6:27 AM, bambi said:

Good work, one of my biggest regrets is ever starting drink and drugs. Which I didnt really do until 26.

I dont even know where it all went so wrong. I was adamant of not using alcohol as a crutch, and would do day game and party sober all through my early 20s. 

Vices are kind of like a frog in boiling water, by the time you realise your in trouble your burning fast

Thanks!

Tbh I went all in, didn't care about not using drugs as a crutch or something (the irony is I already knew about Actualized.org since I was 18). Maybe this rush made me crash and burn faster. For my own luck, it went well afterwards, or at least until now 

 

4 hours ago, PsychedelicEagle said:

Cheers!

You can frame it as time you get back to focus on more meaningful endeavors and connections.

If you search you can easily find people who are non drinkers too.

My therapist also said something along these lines. I've been slowly revamping my social connections. However, I also have a long list of issues that require my attention (not related to socialization), so this isn't my top priority. I already had some friends with whom drinking wasn't our main bonding activity, and I've been trying to reach out to them. Anyway, thanks!

[PurpleTree]

Nice 🌞 👍

I also drank a lot at times to cope with social anxiety and overthinking etc. but it obviously doesn’t really help long term.

[Thought Art]

Inspiring! 
 

Weed was my thing. 

[QVx]

Well done @Espaim, very inspiring!

I had previously quit alcohol for just over a year after my grandad died. It sparked the much needed realisation of what a terrible person I was.

Ironically I have had that same realisation again on my 32nd birthday. Since then it’s been almost a month without drinking and I don’t plan to go back anytime soon.

What’s quite extraordinary is how alcohol, and any addiction in general, suppresses the deep suffering inside oneself. The hardest days are always the first few when one has to adjust to having to sit alone in silence with that suffering. After that, the suffering becomes the way and the light at the end of the tunnel reveals itself.

Godspeed to all those who are on the path to overcoming their addictions.

[Breakingthewall]

I stopped drinking completely due to a small accident, after 2 weeks without drinking anything I went to celebrate December 25, I drank a lot, I started playing soccer with a kid, I sprained my ankle and fractured it with surgery and a titanium plate, screws and everything that. I never have accidents, I couldn't help but see a sign, I haven't drunk again, it's been 2 years since. advantages: now I see that drinking regularly is completely stupid, something that works against you in all aspects. 

[sholomar]

Congrats man. That's quite an accomplishment. Many people today use drugs as an escape, including myself. I'm trying to wean myself off of pot and media consumption. I've been "trying" for a few years now. If you keep "trying" you never succeed, you just have to do it. LOL

They say negative emotion is a motivator that drives change, so when you numb it out with addictive vices, you can basically not only waste a bunch of time, but stall the progress of your life and personal development.

Of course, all of life is perception and perspective. One could be perfectly content doing very little, because this idea you have to achieve something in life, some worldly physical goal, is more a mental perception. This simulation is more a playground for the soul, akin to a video game. The only rules are the rules we make for ourselves combined with what our genes compel us to do, which of course brings us back to square one.. our genes to compel us to do things like eat, breed, etc.. and tend to produce negative emotional states when we are not acting according to our genetic programming. So do you do what is expected of you by society and your genetics?

Leo's not wrong when he talks about sitting in a room and doing nothing... that itself is often a very important first step in whatever "goal" you need to achieve to break free from the easy dopamine of media consumption, THC, alcohol.

Edited October 24 by sholomar

[Yimpa]

On 10/16/2024 at 0:23 AM, Espaim said:

exacerbated by a job where free beer was abundant

I am surprised that that is legal