Speaking of yesterday

[BlacktopTravelr]

The day I stopped drinking ... 14 years ago on 8/18/03. Been sober and drug free (even over the counter stuff) ever since. I don't miss it a bit. [emoji2]

[JFL Live]

No worries... I drink enough to make up for you!

[jeffcoslacker]

You're a better man than me. But that's not much of a mark to hit...so let's say better than many.

Known so many people who drank themselves to death, slowly or quickly. And all they had to do was stop. But I understand how tough that is. Congrats

[franktiregod]

I lost my first marriage and the girl I loved since we were kids to drugs. Thank you for quitting. You are better off and so are the people hwo car about you.

I tried everything under the sun to get her to stop. Nothing worked.

The funny part is this was a girl who never smoked or drank. Had some kidney surgeries, got hooked on pain pills, and all hell broke loose after that.

[BlacktopTravelr]

JFL LIVE, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I'd probably still be doing it if it wasn't for the fact that I know where I go if caught out drinking again. Even a public drunk will put me behind bars. Not a good reason to stop, but better than some that have to stop behind bars.

Jeffco, I'm guessing my alcohol counselor was right when she said I wasn't an alcoholic, but a binge drinker, as it was too easy for me to give it up. I was standing right next to the beer at the local Walmart looking at all the beer ad found out that I didn't want one.

FTG, I also lost a wife and daughter because I refused to give up the drinking. I often look back at what I had and what I gave up for the lousy life I led and I wonder why? At least they grew into better people without me around. That is hard to say, but it is the truth.

[jeffcoslacker]

Jeffco, I'm guessing my alcohol counselor was right when she said I wasn't an alcoholic, but a binge drinker, as it was too easy for me to give it up. I was standing right next to the beer at the local Walmart looking at all the beer ad found out that I didn't want one.

Yeah me too, apparently. Anything I do, I tend to do to excess. When I drink, I drink to get so drunk I burn out and fall down. But I can walk away from it at any time and not miss it a bit. I had a good rambling going about this on the old board at one time. A lotta people like to pat themselves on the back and look down on others, saying they just quit and it was all willpower and why can't you? My assertion is that they were probably of the type like myself, that just has a compulsive relationship with alcohol, and when I do it, I'll do too much, too fast. And then get in trouble. But the fact that I left that in the past easily doesn't make me a person with amazing willpower, it just makes me a "fake" alcoholic...now give me some other thing, like cigarettes, and I have a true addiction goin' on...I can and have stopped for a month or two, and it has absolutely CONSUMED my thoughts non-stop the whole time, and nothing in my life seems right, until I pick them up again. THAT'S a real addiction. And you don't just walk away from it. It needs some support and a very strong urge to stop. I have neither, unfortunately.

[BlacktopTravelr]

They say for a person to get that feeling that they have to quit that addition whatever it is, they have to hit rock bottom. I'm hit rock bottom a few times and have seen what that feeling feels like. I'm happy I have gave up drinking, I miss the atmosphere of the bar a lot more than I do the drinking. But I know to go back into the bars is asking for trouble. I don't want to put myself under that kind of pressure just to listen to a few songs and play a few games of pool. When payday comes around next month I am going to go to the local bowling center to see what pool tables they have. I'm hoping it isn't busy and I can get a few games in by myself. [emoji106]

[HARRIS]

WHEN WE LOOK BACK A REALIZE " IF ONLY WE HAD LISTENED TO PEOPLE WHO WERE ONLY ADVISING US FOR OUR ON GOOD"


WHERE WOULD WE BE NOW ....

[BlacktopTravelr]

WHEN WE LOOK BACK A REALIZE " IF ONLY WE HAD LISTENED TO PEOPLE WHO WERE ONLY ADVISING US FOR OUR ON GOOD"


WHERE WOULD WE BE NOW ....

Maybe it was the way someone went about advising us that was the problem. I remember my M-I-L coming into my house and telling me what I was going to do and at the time that was the wrong way to get me to change my ways. If she had just asked nicely if might have worked, but since she didn't we'll never know. ;IDunno:

[Suzuki Johnny]

God looked upon me favorably in 1988 and introduced me to the sweetest woman on earth.....she had to be to put up with me for the last 29 1/2 years [emoji106]
No telling where I'd be right now if it weren't for her benevolent guidance..
I too was a lost soul before we met....I'd pay my most important bills then drinking and carousing with the rest of it....
I think about them days of incoherent living and shutter at the thought on how I lived back then....
Quit smoking and the heavy drinking running the bars in 1991......
So don't despair gentlemen there is salvation for everyone...you just have to reach out and find it and trust your instincts.

BTW........I still drink but I do it at home with my sweet wife on our patio, which I built for her in 1999....and now my limit is two margaritas

[wally w]

Stopped drinking 1979 I was just a drunk. Stopped smoking March 13th 1989 took me ten years from the time I wanted to stop until I was able to. I don't bother telling others what to do with their lives.

[old time rider]

Agree if they don't really want to stop no good preaching to them. I drink too much at 18 and into my early 20s.Never missing work but more than just a drink.One of my best friends really bad and was one of six that carried him to his grave.Since then a few drinks around a camp fire or like Sat. at a friends for the sun down in day time event.Have stopped smoking since 1993. Still like a drink or two at times but don't want to stop. Don't want to stop riding .

[Spyder]

The day I stopped drinking ... 14 years ago on 8/18/03. Been sober and drug free (even over the counter stuff) ever since. I don't miss it a bit. [emoji2]

Congrats!... I seem to be a social drinker, never did drink alone, drank too much when with friends or while making friends in bars. These days I don't frequent bars & have 1 to 3 drinks (beer usually) once every 1 to 3 months, though I'm offered drinks almost daily.

[tabasco]

They say for a person to get that feeling that they have to quit that addition whatever it is, they have to hit rock bottom. I'm hit rock bottom a few times and have seen what that feeling feels like. I'm happy I have gave up drinking, I miss the atmosphere of the bar a lot more than I do the drinking. But I know to go back into the bars is asking for trouble. I don't want to put myself under that kind of pressure just to listen to a few songs and play a few games of pool. When payday comes around next month I am going to go to the local bowling center to see what pool tables they have. I'm hoping it isn't busy and I can get a few games in by myself. [emoji106]

Most bowling alleys (at least around here) serve drinks.

[BlacktopTravelr]

Most bowling alleys (at least around here) serve drinks.

True, but I have no problem saying no to alcohol. And if I go at the right time of the day I will most likely be the only one there other than the alley workers. That shouldn't be a problem as I'm not about to ask myself to take a drink of alcohol.

[lonerider]

Sometimes I think I drink too much, but then it never stopped me from work or providing for my family, so I say if it relaxes me in the evening to have a few, SO WHAT. I'm 74 yrs old and won't live forever anyway. Besides, my next door neighbor spent half the day carrying around a coffee cup with some of the best Scotch you can buy, and he just passed away at 90. That's a good mark to shoot for!

[RoadKing]

When you are sober and want to get a buzz you have a mighty swallow. Enjoy the buzz while it lasts and then drink no more for that day. Trying to keep the buzz going with additional drinks causes accumulative negative results. Have a drink with friends then move on. A cold beer with pizza then move on. A glass of Jack while listening to Aldean and then move on. It's that attempt to prolong the initial buzz that causes the troubles. A generous splash of Irish in the coffee on a cold morning then head outside to remove snow. For a bad cold have a mix of Rye and honey and lemon then go to bed. Simple.

[BlacktopTravelr]

RK, you're right it is the trying to keep that good feeling going that causes the most trouble. I've seen some people drink one beer an hour that keeps that good feeling going and then I've seen people drink and drink and drink trying to keep the buzz going and that only makes things worse.

[jeffcoslacker]

RK, you're right it is the trying to keep that good feeling going that causes the most trouble. I've seen some people drink one beer an hour that keeps that good feeling going and then I've seen people drink and drink and drink trying to keep the buzz going and that only makes things worse.

Yup. Chasin' the dragon, they call it. It's never quite as good as the first time you tried it, but yet you keep thinking it might be, if you do a little more...and a little more...I've personally known a couple of guys who went from taking scrip pain meds as directed to taking actual handfuls (8-10 at a time, only hours apart) and they have since died from blowing their liver out, not on the narcotic, but on the acetaminophen (Tylenol) those pills are always bonded with.

They've talked about how including that is partially to try to prevent people from taking more than prescribed, but you don't care when hooked...that's the future. Right now, you just wanna not feel the horrific withdrawal that comes from just even scaling back your usage.

My son, who is 23, has seen a large number of former classmates die of heroin OD, something many people don't think happens in suburban white America. It does. A lot. Many of them got started on it as a sub for when their scrip for an injury ran out, and they didn't get adequate treatment for withdrawal.

And I have no room to judge. I remember the first time I actually inhaled a cigarette...I almost fell over backwards, it hit me so strong and nice. Decades later, my body still wants to feel that again, all day, every day.

[Prodigal_Sun]

I've been there. Hit rock bottom, stood back, got a shovel and pickaxe and kept on goin'! Mostly pot and alcohol and cigarettes and speeding (yes it's addictive), finely got fed up and got into rehab. Was probably overkill, and didn't work at first, but then my brother died in an accident, then I got in a bad motorcycle wreck. Got a pretty bad concussion, so messed up my memory for a bit (still not quite right, but much better) so smoking pot was out, I could hardly remember my own name for a week after whereas I was at least mostly functional before. Shortly after I quit pot I met a lovely young lady who quickly became obsessed with me. As it turns out if I'd have still been smoking weed it wouldn't have lasted. But the rest she could work with. She's a bit of a teetotaler, so the rest I was able to curb easily enough. I won't go so far as to say she's "the sweetest thing ever" she'd have no compulsion with kicking the everloving hell out of me (verbally, at least, she's a tiny thing) if I mess up. But sometimes you need that, as my dear old Grandpa would say "if they give you hell, it just means they're thinking about you" God bless his soul. He used to keep an open pint of peppermint Schnapps behind the seat of his truck "for emergencies" lol. He had me go in the liquor store and pick him up a half gallon of scotch one time "because you never know what will make you feel better" He lived to be well into his 90's

I still will have a beer or two now and then if the mood hits me. But it's enough to catch a buzz and let it pass. Helps that the wife will give me "a look" and I'll know to ease up. [emoji106]