What good things have happened to you sinceyou stopped drinking?

Elenxor

I have the freedom from Debt, I got my family back, I have a job, and the most important thing is.., when I wake up in the morning I can remember everything that happened yesterday

I suppose you could call it freedom.

How has your life improved?

threein99

Not a major thing but Iv lost about half a stone in a month since iv stopped drinking . Was only gonna give up for a month but tempted to stay off it longer now

Jay Walker

Elenxor wrote: »

I have the freedom from Debt, I got my family back, I have a job, and the most important thing is.., when I wake up in the morning I can remember everything that happened yesterday

I suppose you could call it freedom.

How has your life improved?

I havent had a drink now in well over a month. I wouldnt drink often. A weekend drinker. But when I do drink, I drink alot. I certainly dont miss getting up in the morning wondering what the hell I got up to the night before or how I got home.

I certainly do feel that I have more valuable time with my family.

I am contemplating giving it up for good.

I just drove through my town around half an hour ago. On the way through I saw a guy getting sick on the footpath of the main street and on the way back saw a guy pissing up against a building in clear public view. Both were blind drunk!

unreggd

It gave my social life a bit of a boost, by allowing me to drive a bit further out of the city, when I wouldnt have been able to go by public transport

[-0-]

I look about 5 years younger.
I've lost weight.
No hangovers mean I have so much more free time to do things.
I have about 800 euro extra per month that I didn't have before.
My overall quality of life has improved ten fold.
I've gained lots of respect from family and friends.
I'm very happy with life.

old_aussie

I've stopped pulling the birbs, cause I'm not at the pub so much.

I'm gunna get back on the birds piss so I can get back on the birds.

unreggd

Keep your sarcastic crap to yourself please

force majeure

Lets see now, well I have a house a car a van a nice little enterprise a dog satellite tv a few grand in the credit union and off course that god awful yellow tint in my eyes has started to go away.[a lot off people buggered the life out off me about that].

mattblacktiger

What good things have happened to you since you stopped drinking?

got me self esteem back

Wingman2010

I posted a few post's on these threads a few months ago as regards not drinking. I'm 25 & I'm nearly 4 months off it I'm just wondering how everyone else is doing? I'm living a new life now. I wake up everyday loving life. Life is absolutaly brilliant. I was never a big drinker but I'm just loving waking up on a Sunday morning with a fresh head. The majority of mates respect my decision; but I don't care what the monority thinks. All I'm missing now is a nice girl.. Anyone any ideas where should I look

josh3

yeah i wil be off it three months next week....feel fantastic,fit as a fiddle was always fit enough considering my binges...used to hit gym and train four nights in between binges...but now i am naturally at my weight....peak fittness....have way more money..peace of mind/body....can do what i want without drink/drugs controlling me...family all in great form with me now,odd questions about do i miss it,stuff like that but all in all very happy at present...very odd bad day i have now prob two real tough ones in three months but last two weeks have been best yet since treatment....best of luck everyone..wingman you are 25 bright future a head and you will meet someone nice,trust me...i am lucky am married two kids...27 now so about time i did the right things.....

I'm 2 weeks off it tomorrow and I'm feeling fantastic! Feeling a lot more confident and like mattblacktiger my self esteem has also risen greatly. I do feel kinda bad about all the years I wasted with alcohol but I'm glad I've stopped now because the only way I can envisage being unhappy with life is if I continued to drink.

Oh and I've bought a whole new wardrobe with money I've saved.

Elenxor

you sound like one of the winners to me. (I heard only 3 in 10 make it back)

I don't know if it's true..if it is, that makes us kinda special don't you think?:)

Wingman2010

Rojomcdojo wrote: »

I'm 2 weeks off it tomorrow and I'm feeling fantastic! Feeling a lot more confident and like mattblacktiger my self esteem has also risen greatly. I do feel kinda bad about all the years I wasted with alcohol but I'm glad I've stopped now because the only way I can envisage being unhappy with life is if I continued to drink.

Oh and I've bought a whole new wardrobe with money I've saved.

Money wasn't a consideration at all for me when I decided I was giving up. But yes it's astonishing the money you save! Usually when it comes to the end of the month I'm broke. But I wasn't the last few months; an added bonus I guess

Elenxor

Elenxor wrote: »

you sound like one of the winners to me. (I heard only 3 in 10 make it back)

I don't know if it's true..if it is, that makes us kinda special don't you think?:)

I hope so, really feel great in the knowledge that I won't ever be drinking again. It's just not for me

Wingman2010 wrote: »

Money wasn't a consideration at all for me when I decided I was giving up. But yes it's astonishing the money you save! Usually when it comes to the end of the month I'm broke. But I wasn't the last few months; an added bonus I guess

Oh money was the least of the reasons I gave up booze, like you said it's just an added bonus!

Spiritoftheseventies

Drink very very rarely and probably main reason is Im very wary about getting a dependance on it. It is by nature an addictive substance.

Elenxor

Rojomcdojo wrote: »

I hope so, really feel great in the knowledge that I won't ever be drinking again. It's just not for me


One day at time....it really works:)

bryaner

Jaysus ye must have mutated when yis had a beer

bryaner

bryaner wrote: »

Jaysus ye must have mutated when yis had a beer

Same as an awful lot of people really. Ever been anywhere that serves booze past 12 o clock?

bryaner

Rojomcdojo wrote: »

Same as an awful lot of people really. Ever been anywhere that serves booze past 12 o clock?

Yea but I tend to avoid I like me few evening time beers, agreed it does get messy post 12 o clock.

Alcofreegirly

I decided to give up last week, I had cut down previously because I was sick of hangovers ruining my weekends n stuff but after wasting half the day in bed on Sunday I decided that was it.

Feeling great about the decision, I work in a job where you have to be on the ball and feeling so much more alert. I was made redundant & was out of work for 6 months before I got this so I really have to put in my very best effort.

Had my first big success on Friday.. good omen me thinks Boss arrived in with a bottle of champers to congratulate me this morning though :rolleyes: will be keeping it for my wedding day!

azezil

I've been off alcohol just shy of a year now. The only good thing thing for me is about 800 quid more which I'm still managing to waste on other stuff. >_<

Lolnouska

Rojomcdojo wrote: »

I'm 2 weeks off it tomorrow and I'm feeling fantastic! Feeling a lot more confident and like mattblacktiger my self esteem has also risen greatly. I do feel kinda bad about all the years I wasted with alcohol but I'm glad I've stopped now because the only way I can envisage being unhappy with life is if I continued to drink.

Oh and I've bought a whole new wardrobe with money I've saved.

you bought a whole new wardrobe did you? hmmm... I'm pretty sure your girlfriend did :rolleyes:

Lolnouska

Lolnouska wrote: »

you bought a whole new wardrobe did you? hmmm... I'm pretty sure your girlfriend did :rolleyes:

Nah she's an absolute scabtimus prime!

:rolleyes::rolleyes:

L.Jenkins

I used to be a social drinker and gave it up 2 years ago. Since then I dropped 2 stone, ran the Dublin City Marathon, enjoy the feeling of weeking up every Monday without a hangover and am financially better off.

[-0-]

djhunter30 wrote: »

I used to be a social drinker and gave it up 2 years ago. Since then I dropped 2 stone, ran the Dublin City Marathon, enjoy the feeling of weeking up every Monday without a hangover and am financially better off.

Congrats! My aim is to run a marathon next year. How long were you training for it?

L.Jenkins

About 8 months, but I just trained to complete it. If you intend on getting a sports massage after, or you'll really suffer. Very enjoyable experience though!

[-0-]

djhunter30 wrote: »

About 8 months, but I just trained to complete it. If you intend on getting a sports massage after, or you'll really suffer. Very enjoyable experience though!

8 months isn't bad at all fair play dj! I'm aiming at running one in the summer 2011. I'll do a 10k a the end of this summer then start running further.

Tender Hoop

I'm over four months off the juice now.

I'm not going to lie to you.

I'm bored, angry, constantly losing my temper, feel like I'm missing out on all the fun. I'm fcuking sick of AA and the recovery scene. I hate the fact that I'm an alcoholic.

I'm 29 and I cant drink again or i will die.

Wingman2010

Tender Hoop,

Thats good you are off it four months. You are being very hard on yourself. I'm not going to say much as I'm no expert. But can I suggest that you try to do some thing(s) that you enjoy or you think that you might like to get your mind of the sauce.

josh3

tenderhoop....i am in same boat to a certain degree...four months off it in two weeks time...feel great phsically but at times my head gets done in....i am cople years younger then you(27)go to aa,aftercare as well as i done treatment...i dont know how it got to this for me,it has all happened so fast,it is hard.yesterday i was low,rock bottom but then yesterday evening was great form and the same today...there is a family party on as i write this and i can honestly say,am delighted i did not go....they understand why.....i think...one day at a time for me,and i always tell myself that its my choice to drink/drug or not...if i decide to next week so be it,but for today i wont and it is keeping me clean and sober....best of luck...

Tender Hoop

Hey Josh and Co..

Yea I know man, same boat. Treatment centre in January, aftercare, AA etc.... My previous post was probably a bit extreme..... For the most part i feel ok. Initially I felt great.. no hangovers, no more blackouts not having to share my bed with spiders!! Its just amazing how easily you can forget all the awful **** and just remember the good times. So I have to force myself to remember how bad things got to stop me starting again.. but that leads to terrible guilt about all the **** I did.... no win...

I'm glad i've stopped. The game was up. It just tough adjusting to the new life style. thanks.

Tender Hoop

Tender Hoop wrote: »

Hey Josh and Co..

Yea I know man, same boat. Treatment centre in January, aftercare, AA etc.... My previous post was probably a bit extreme..... For the most part i feel ok. Initially I felt great.. no hangovers, no more blackouts not having to share my bed with spiders!! Its just amazing how easily you can forget all the awful **** and just remember the good times. So I have to force myself to remember how bad things got to stop me starting again.. but that leads to terrible guilt about all the **** I did.... no win...

I'm glad i've stopped. The game was up. It just tough adjusting to the new life style. thanks.

Heh, the spiders were the worst..

I think it could just be a case of you not finding a new níche. I mean you probably defined yourself as a drinker like I did, but seriously I wasn't even having fun drinking for a long time. Ever been in an Irish town/city on a big drinking night? Doesn't look like many people are having fun really.

Should we really have to drink to make other people and activities seem more exciting? Because imho that's the biggest reason that people drink. Because they fear the boredom and awkwardness of sitting with a few people and socializing without some sort of social lubricant. As Frank Skinner put it: if you went to a dinner party and the host was handing out sedatives in pill form to make people less anxious wouldn't it seem a bit weird?

jiggerypokery

Tender Hoop wrote: »

I'm over four months off the juice now.

I'm not going to lie to you.

I'm bored, angry, constantly losing my temper, feel like I'm missing out on all the fun. I'm fcuking sick of AA and the recovery scene. I hate the fact that I'm an alcoholic.

I'm 29 and I cant drink again or i will die.

Tender hoop, I was a little older than you when i quit drinking 5 years ago. I went through same things your going through now, be prepared to give it time these things pass. I never drank during the week only at weekends, two or three day benders. Life didn't begin for me till i stopped drinking. You'll find interests in other things to replace your drinking. I don't ever regret quitting, give it a chance.

Tender Hoop

jiggerypokery wrote: »

Tender hoop, I was a little older than you when i quit drinking 5 years ago. I went through same things your going through now, be prepared to give it time these things pass. I never drank during the week only at weekends, two or three day benders. Life didn't begin for me till i stopped drinking. You'll find interests in other things to replace your drinking. I don't ever regret quitting, give it a chance.

Cheers, It just sucks a bit at the moment. I've started fishing again, something i did when I was young, its good but not exactly white knuckle exciting.

[-0-]

Tender Hoop wrote: »

Cheers, It just sucks a bit at the moment. I've started fishing again, something i did when I was young, its good but not exactly white knuckle exciting.

There's a ton of things you can do though. If you're going to be staying in staring at the TV all of the time then you will find it amazingly difficult. You need to get out and about. Fishing is a good start. Why not go climb a mountain, start training for a 10k (it's keeping me very occupied and I feel great), get a new digital camera - I'm sure you could get some great photos when you're out fishing, take diving/flying lessons, learn how to drive a boat, do a self defense course, join a library.... the list really is endless.

You have to take it day by day but if you stay in and just stare at the paint fading on your walls it's going to make it way more difficult than it has to be. Keep active.

frecklesgalore

Lifestyle - we choose it, but can we loose it?

Drinking at the weekend was all I knew. It was my release at the end of a hard working week. Saturday night was what I lived for, until a series of unfortunate events at night time caused me to abandon myself and question my very existance.

So what changed when I dropped the bottle? First, I stopped getting blackouts - I had 2 major ones in the UK. I wanted to go home (Ireland) and got into an awful state. Couldn't remember who I came out with, where I lived, how I ended up on the side of the street...it was dead scary and I was totally drained after it. Ending up coming home to Ireland the following day.

Since then I haven't touched a drink - 3 months! WOOP!

I'm calmer, motivated, focused and energised. The relationship I have with my parents now is unbelievable. The support from my "real friends" has been outstanding.

I Yoga - that's what really has been the best for me. It's great fun, all shapes, sizes and sorts do it. There's even a channel on SKY with classes. Only the other day I saw a magazine specifically about Yoga in the shops.

I've completed 3 10Ks. Each time I've done one I've improved on my previous time by 10 mins. I've been picking the most random places to do them so that I get a day out: driving, sight seeing, meeting new people and having a laugh. I get the fullfillment of telling people what I did at the weekend, and the medals on the fridge remind me that there is an alternative to life.

I may not be able to change my spots, I have the scars to remind me of my mishaps. I now live in the present. What happened in the past is gone, I can only glance into the future. I can control what I am. I'm happy being me - for the first time in years, if anything that's been the best and biggest changed. A Domino effect if you will.

Elenxor

Hi Tenderhoops, thanks for your post, it put things in perspective for me, on a day when my head is all over the place.
I love the support shown by the other posters and the identification shown by them all.
It;s only a suggestion on my part but....(there's alwayws a but):D
I travel out to a different meeting now and again just to see a few different faces and hear different stories, I get tired of the same faces and the change does me good.
Also, did you get a Sponsor yet?, if not, start looking around and listening to people sharing, you will know them when you hear them, and again, can I sugggest..a man for a man... and a woman for a women, it's a lot less complicated.
Good luck and be good to yourself.

SUNGOD

Tender Hoop wrote: »

I'm over four months off the juice now.

I'm not going to lie to you.

I'm bored, angry, constantly losing my temper, feel like I'm missing out on all the fun. I'm fcuking sick of AA and the recovery scene. I hate the fact that I'm an alcoholic.

I'm 29 and I cant drink again or i will die.

i know where your coming from i went through the whole treatment aftercare AA route i started running and did 3 marathons and a ultra i got lost in running and stopped AA and aftercare as i hated both then i got injured and all my demons returned.
ive had a few slips but still ok im back running recently but god i have to watch the thinking as it can change my perception on if im happy for what i can do or sad and depressed for what i cant.
its almost funny as why would i want to be the way i was? not a hope but sometimes i want to say f*ck you , aiseiri, aftercare , and AA and just go on the piss f*ck the consequenses and then i think about the nervousness and depression i feel after drink

CDfm

one thing i have gotten is some really super friends I did not know i had.

work has been absolutely shiite recession wise and i am dealling with some crap extended family stuff -but i handle it

you do what you need to do to get thru it and its for living

Me Me

have surprised myself that I can still go out and not drink, it hasn't bothered me as much as I thought it would:)

Suburbanite

Hi all,

I’m in my mid 30’s and out of Aiseiri 6 months now and I’m doing well. Most of the life improvements for me have been motioned already but there was one thing I noticed the other day. I was able to walk around my town center with my head held high. Normally I would have been afraid to meet someone I had wronged during a blackout. I would have been carrying around this burden of shame and embarrassment that would have kept my head welded firmly to the floor. Now I have made my amends to the people that count in my life and whatever I did in my past, that’s not who I am now.

Giving up the drink has given me a new outlook on life and not just bouncing from one session to the next

I have to say I’m going through a phase now where my drinking mates are gone and I’m trying to find new things to do. This week its get back into the golf!!!!

Only found the non drinker forum and I’m looking forward to contributing in future.

Tom Thorne

Hi Sub,
In mid 30's also. Peace of mind is one thing I've also noticed in my few weeks off the sauce.

Wingman2010

I'm off it 6 months tomorrow

I'm really loving the joy of sobriety.

Every evening walking home from work I seem to walk past somebody or more than often a few people who are completly intoxicated. This is such a sad sight. Seeing these people re-enforces my decision not to drink. A major motivational tool though. But saying that I feel so helpless walking past these people.

I still think the drink problem is being swept under the carpet by this country. I can't see this government taking any radical action to tackle this problem. A lot of the politicians in the dail are publicians so it's not in their best interests in take any tough actions.

As I said I'm really enjoying myself since I decided to give up the drink; the last 6 months were amazing. But its not easy being a 25 year old non drinker in Ireland. Your mates ridicule you! Everyone questions why you are not drinking! When quite simply I just rather having a fanta than a pint of Heinekein! Why is such a big deal made of this?? You have to avoid going out with certain people because of all this crap. A lot of girls think there is some other big reason why you don't drink!

Sorry for all my complaining..

bank

Hi Wingman2010

You must be incredibly proud of yourself and certainly shoud be. I agree that we have a massive alcohol problem in Ireland which will have to be addressed sometime. It will probably take something tragic to happen before people sit up and take notice.

For now it's young people like yourself and myself (a wee bit older) to lead the way and show the country there is a better and more enjoyable way to live. When we turn our lives around after drinking/drugging/smoking/over eating, it often threatens people. This is often because they are not proud of themselves either etc. Smokers are more comfortable in other smokers company and the same with drink.

We've all been there, worn the t-shirt. Just feel sorry for people who feel the need to comment on your not drinking and remember that they are probably enving you but putting up an act. Well done and thanks for the inspiration you give me because I am only starting out after what seems like about 100 years of drinking sessions etc.

CDfm

The shoe collection and armani sunglasses