You can stop drinking

No matter how advanced your alcoholism is, no matter how bad it gets, you can stop drinking. You have to make a decision that you want to quit and then find support.

You don’t have to wait for it to get as bad as Jeffrey’s, but even if it does you can still find your way back, as he explains:

Jeffrey’s recovery story

On November 7th, 2009, I decided that I wanted to die. I was estranged from my wife (still am) because of a suicidal rage I had a week earlier from excessive alcohol consumption. I’ve been drinking all week and for some reason decided that November 7th would be my last day on earth.

I bought a 30 pack of beer and a fifth of bourbon. I drank almost everything. I called my wife in amazement, had an argument I can’t remember, and smashed my cell phone into small pieces. I drove (thank god no one was killed) to the local supermarket to find a pay phone to continue the argument.

You just wouldn’t shoot me

I had a moment of “clarity” in the supermarket. I decided if I got the police to show that I could have a “showdown” and they would shoot me. I fell on the floor and told the clerk to shoot me if she had a gun. Of course she called the police.

When they arrived I asked them to shoot me. If they didn’t do it, I would fight with them, hoping they would use lethal force. Even handcuffed, I hit my head against the glass in the back of the car until I was incoherent.

You just wouldn’t shoot me. I spent three days in a mental hospital just to be sober enough to be turned over to my new therapist.

No drink since

I haven’t had anything to drink since that day. I drank for 20 years before that. I am an alcoholic and I will never drink again. I’ve gone through the stages of alcoholism and am struggling to reverse the effects. My brain has never worked better than it does now.

I feel the pain of the damage I have done to my wife and children and I work very hard to rebuild myself and my relationships. I have feelings like never before, good and bad. I have wishes for a better future that I never had.

Just stop drinking

Thanks to a lot of support, I have a plan to make sure my life is better than it was. I am not where I want to be, but I know I will get there.

If you are struggling with alcohol, just stop drinking. Don’t analyze too much “who, what, why, where, etc.” – just stop. You can’t see anything else until you stop.

Find support

Find support. This forum saved my life even after I stopped drinking. The people on this forum are real and, whether they know it or not, their advice and comments at least made me live another day to hear what they had to say.

I am in no way over my addiction; I have to fight every day. The fight is getting easier. I can’t say enough about the people on the online support forum that I attend. Without her, I don’t think I would be sitting here.

– Jeffrey

get help

There are many different types of support available to you when you are ready to stop drinking. There are treatment and rehab facilities, pharmaceutical treatments, support groups, and even internet meetings and online forums.

Find something that works for you and try something else when it stops working.