How I Quit Drinking: Jane’s Story
Here’s the story of Stop Drinking Expert member Jane (name changed) and how she escaped the loop of alcohol addiction with our help:
Wow, it’s been a while since I have posted. Life keeps trucking along at warp speed. I’m happy to say that on Feb 15th, I achieved one-year alcohol free. I never thought in a million years that I would be able to give up alcohol.
Here I am!
I prefer to use the term alcohol-free because it speaks more to choice and being liberated from something than saying sober. I feel like saying I’m sober, I feel diseased, or I was broken or something – just my interpretation of the term.
I’m not sure I have shared my story on how I got here. I hope maybe it can help someone at whatever stage of their journey they are at.
I had known for a few years that I needed to stop drinking. For many of the things in my life that weren’t going well, alcohol was undoubtedly a factor.
I’ll never forget a year ago I surprised my best friend for her birthday. We all went out for a nice dinner, and the dance with the poison began as it had umpteen times before. I started with a few beers while I was getting ready, then a beer before dinner, wine with dinner, more wine after dinner at a different location. Then more wine back at my hotel, with the night ending with me passing out and not remembering my friends leaving my hotel room.
Before we all got wasted, my friends talked about how they were going to take a break from alcohol starting Feb 15th for a month. If either one of them broke the commitment, they would have to give the other $100. I thought, well maybe I’ll join them.
The following day I woke up with one of the top 5 hangovers of my life. I called the hotel to see if I could stay another night as I was so hungover the thought of doing anything, let alone travelling home seemed impossible.
My day was misery.
After enduring a two-day hangover, I decided that I would take a break and join my friends. I didn’t tell them I joined them; I just did. I didn’t tell anyone I was going to take a break from alcohol as I didn’t want to answer questions about it or have to tell someone I had failed if I didn’t make it.
I listened to alcohol lied to me a few times, and many aspects spoke to me, and I connected with. In the beginning, it was challenging. The social part was hard. Drinking was something I did socially for over a decade. I dug into Craig’s program about a week in and took the plunge. I paid the money, got the program, and am so glad I did.
I feel like the hypnosis helped me. The program really made me look at what was going on in my life and what would happen if I didn’t take action. I’m about to turn 40 this year, and I could not bare the thought that I was spending my time getting blackout wasted and being hung over for two days.
I was a beer and wine drinker and most often socially. I found having non-alcoholic beer and wine on the ready helped me huge with the social aspect of drinking.
I feel like I’m having a beer at the end of the day with out automatically craving another which leads to another and off we go. Or having a glass of wine with dinner but again not getting drunk and not being hung over.
A few things stood out for me over the year being alcohol-free. I know I have said these in other posts, but they rang true for me.
The bad ole days
1. For years, the first thing I would think about when I woke up in the morning is…….. “How bad do I feel?” Immediately, I started doing a scan of my body, questioning and gaging to what level of hangover I was dealing with.
- Headache, how bad?
- Tummy and guts, how bad?
- Memory of what happened, how bad?
- Sinking feeling in my stomach, what did I say or do? How bad?
- What cocktail of things do I need, to start feeling better? Think about this for a second; what a crappy way to start a day.
With alcohol not being a factor all of this is now eliminated. The stress of it is gone. It’s not even a thought that needs to be had.
2. The constant pretending not to be as drunk as I was. Always wondering if people can tell. Are you hiding it well enough?
Gone, not a thing anymore.
3. The constant planning of what to drink, in what order to divert the hangover. Gone, not a thing anymore.
4. The control over what you say and do. It’s fantastic not having to question or regret what you said or do or remember.
5. Waaaaaaaaaay better sleep!!!!!!!! Omg!!!!!!!
6. The money saved!!!!!!
7. Overall health and mind clarity!
8. Recognition and observation of how dramatically people’s personality and energy change when alcohol has been added and a relief that I’m not part of it anymore.
A new dawn
What got me through the times when I had the urge to drink was playing forward how the day or night would go if I drank—asking myself if I wanted to deal with all the things mentioned above? The asking myself how I want to feel the next day. Will drinking allow me to feel that way. Asking myself, do I want to throw away all this time I have been alcohol free for what?
Deciding to remove alcohol from my life was the scariest and best decision I have ever made, and it’s so far is the most extended commitment I have made to myself for myself. It’s shifted my life into living genuinely and has made many aspects much more straightforward. There is more space and energy for things that truly matter.
Keep going, everyone.
What happened one minute ago, a week ago, or a month ago doesn’t matter. There is nothing in this world that can change it. You do have the ability to make a decision and a choice at this moment and from now on.
If you are ready to follow Jane’s journey to sobriety. Grab your spot on today’s free quit drinking webinar to get the ball rolling.
