I’m 31 and have a high-stress/demanding job. I’ve realized that my nightly drinking paired with video games might be an issue. I would say I drink 6 out of 7 nights a week. I know this isn’t healthy and I know I need to change. Did you have a wake up call?
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I was in denial for a while about the severity of the issue. But the turning point for me when sobriety started sticking was having to give a big presentation at work that I had 3-4 months of uncontrollable anxiety over. I knew something was wrong and needed to change and one day it was just the last one.
Turns out th anxiety was controllable, I was just drinking too much. 2 years sober now. In a much better spot
My doctor said I was drinking too much at the end of COVID and I should reduce my drinking by half, so I stopped drinking Mon-Thurs (except holidays).
It was no big deal, bit if reducing your drinking is a big deal, then it’s time to be concerned.
It never got bad, but I was, like you, drinking most days of the week. I’d get home from work and pour myself a G&T or have a beer. I found myself looking forward to that drink more than anything else and that began to worry me. It never became a problem and even back then I could easily go several days or weeks without drinking, but I decided to give it up and for about two years I’ve dropped back to maybe two or three drinks a year.
No wake up call. Just feeling like, could I go harder during the day? The answer is always yes after drinking.
Also I noticed I was really angry around my family. MOre so than I would really want to be. So not drinking helps me be way more patient.
I wouldn’t say my drinking is a problem, I still love going out to the restaurants and to vegas and living it up. But in general I can just tell I’m a better version of myself when I don’t drink.
It’s more a question of optimization and less about being an issue. Do you want to be all that you can be or do you want nothing to happen because you spent so much time strung out on the couch?
When I realized drinking was being used as a coping mechanism rather than a healthy enhancer. When I realized I preferred the numb buzz to sobriety. That’s when I decided that alcohol was being used to self medicate and mask issues that needed healthy habits instead.
I knew it would be a problem the first time i ever had a drink.
Found myself where you are now back when I was your age. I used it to medicate the stress but at first I couldn’t see what it was taking from me, and I only really understood in the middle of covid. If you want your life to be drinking beer and playing video games, that’s what it’s gonna be, but it might not be a whole lot else, or with a whole lot of people. I have been an on/off drinker for a few years, but I think the right call is just to quit. I would advise keeping alcohol out of the house, it’s harder to over-do it if you have to go somewhere for a drink. There are many good alternative NA beers and hopwaters these days for coping.
I guess my wakeup call was sitting on my couch, alone, drinking night after night, and just thinking, is this it? Is this what I’m gonna do for the next 40 years?
I never really hit alcoholic level. But when I started gaining more weight than I ever had before I credited it nearly entirely to drinking so I stopped for a while and lost all the weight immediately. Haven’t ever been a heavy drinker since
My issue was it never became the issue I thought it should be. I drank for so long because I remained functional and relatively happy. Wasn’t an angry or sad drunk, wasn’t getting in legal trouble or missing work. Hard to justify quitting when it seems like you’re doing fine.
My turning point was just one of those mornings shaking in my bathroom at 5:30am trying to choke down a shot of liquor without puking just to mellow out before work. Just had that thought of “this is fucking ridiculous man, this isn’t fun anymore.” And that was it. That was my epiphany moment. Took my last shot of alcohol that morning about a year ago.
When I got sick and stopped drinking for a couple weeks and realized how better I felt.
Oh man. If you’re here asking this, you’re already there. Breaking point for me was sitting in a doctor’s office, begging for an SSRI and resources through tears. It was long overdue. I was going through three fifths of 80 proof or stronger a week. My life greatly improved with sobriety, I’d recommend it to anyone
A few months after It was so bad that I’d been sneaking alcohol to all my family and friends events my dad died from bowel cancer. It was likely caused by excessive drinking and I was on the same track. It caused me to look at my own habits more critically. I was drunk almost all the time I wasn’t at work.
My second one was born and I was finishing a bottle of scotch in little over a week. Pee stunk of booze and I felt a ton of embarrassment going to pick up my eldest from the daycare cause I WFH. In 2019 I crashed my car into a jersey barrier (not caused by alcohol but was a factor) finally made me clue in the damage it was causing. My last drink was November 14 2019 and I have been sober ever since then.
No specific wake up call, but I did know it would eventually catch up to me. The thing that got me most motivated was the Huberman podcast episode: What Alcohol Does to Your Body, Brain, and Health.
Strongly recommend giving it a listen because once you understand exactly how alcohol acts in the body, it becomes a very strong motivator to quit.
One thing I will say is that alcohol might seem like a nice, after work stress reliever. But it’s actually compounding your stress during the day. I’d also recommend checking out r/stopdrinkingfitness to see what an impact it has.
Cleaning up after a party telling my wife that we all went through the bottle of tequila and half the whiskey. She looks at me and tells me I was the only one that had more than one drink. Blew me away. Going 9 months sober now, and yes I do miss it.
I think non-alcoholic beers have come a long way.
Yeah I was alone in an empty apartment working myself to death and drinking myself to sleep every night instead of making a life.
When I said “I guess that’s ok with me”
Ditch it. r/stopdrinking
I knew when I couldn’t shit any longer. Or when I did, it was pure hell. Doctor told me my organs were dehydrated. Stopped drinking and started pooping again. 😂😂
40 years ago I developed an allergy to beer. Seriously; got to where I would drink half a beer and be sick/out of sync for two or three days. Doc had a big long fancy name for it so it is not that uncommon.
That was 40+ years ago. Can’t remember the last time I had a beer.
I’m drink, I get drunk, I pass out. Mo issues
When I had to move into a halfway house. That was after quite a few rehabs. I obviously didn’t learn very well.
I drank about 30-40 beers a week for years, now I only do that on vacation.
i’ve quit a few times. and stayed quit. the last run happened months into our LA lockdowns and i couldn’t take the nightly boredom anymore. so i started again. i quit this new years after EMS picked me up off the floor of my kitchen bleeding all over my face with a broken front tooth, cheek bone and almost eyebrow socket. blood all over the place, looked like a murder scene. i was so gone i wandered into the kitchen and apparently climbed up on the counter to get something? and slipped off to the floor smashing my face on the tiled counter on the way down. very embarrassing. and i have a narly scar on the cheek now. plus not cheep to fix up everything. I’m testing my blood and liver numbers next week.
> I’ve realized that my nightly drinking paired with video games might be an issue.
I used to do this too, but then my friends who I gamed with moved onto other things so then it was just me playing games and drinking by myself, which felt really stupid.
Then I made a rule that I wouldn’t drink alone….which just turned into me going over to friends places a few times a week. My next rule was I wouldn’t drink if I had to work the next day, so only Friday, Saturday, and holidays.
But now I just only have a social life on Fridays and Saturdays. Sunday night and weeknights are boring and lonely as fuck.
Physical withdrawal symptoms finally made it real for me. I could hardly sign my name without a glass of wine in me. Before that started, it was something I “had under control” despite absolutely not having it under control.
In a strange way, I’m sort of thankful for booze. It was the liquid courage I needed to pull the rip cord on a very broken marriage. Unfortunately, I just kept drinking afterward.. At a professional level.