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stfrank -> RE: Vikes water cooler thread (11/5/2016 7:45:10 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Ricky J
I see a couple things in TM & TO in myself at as well.
Before I quit alcohol this last time I quit many times prior - but never with the intention to quit forever. I was a guy that knew it caused a lot of problems in my life. I can't tell you how many times I quit for a month, 3 months, 6 months and even 1 years once; and I always drank when my date came up.
When I quit after my birthday on March 5, 1986 it was different. I got a DUI prior to that and wasn't supposed to drink according to my release agreement blah, blah whatever that was. I had an appointment on March 6th and it was evident I was drinking - back in I went. I didn't have a pot to piss in and no one was going to bail me out. Seven days later they offer me a deal: go to treatment and we'll drop a charge. I had nothing better to do the next 28 days so I gladly accepted the deal.
Things click with me differently than others. On the first or second Friday night at treatment we went to an open AA meeting with an outside group. I'll never forget what this guys said other than the exact percentage: "Only 15% of you will actually stay sober." My response in my mind was, "And I'm that 15%.
Also, one of my wife's best friends whose husband failed at treatment (same place) at least once said to her, "I'll give him 3 months." I can't thank those two people enough. Never tell me what I can't do!
I never stopped, either, DF. I consider myself a stage 3 down in the gutter alcoholic. I am so blessed that when I actually quit it went down the way it did. Not once in over 30 years have I ever had the smallest desire to drink - and all you readers really can't grasp how amazing that is if you would of felt the addiction like I felt the addiction.
There is one thing that I am more sure of than anything. There is no, "Just one and I'll stop again." This is it for me.
This isn't Davey Downer for me. I've talked about this stuff here and there but since 98 I'm pretty sure I never told a whole story like this one on the message board. Any more I don't feel there is a time, place, type of conversation about alcohol that bothers me. It's just thing.
You just told a good portion of my story Ricky, although I must confess I didn't make it to a treatment center until DUI number four. My major light bulb moment came about 3 months after treatment when I was out sharing an AA meeting with my sponsor at a Detox center. An older gentleman was in detox and looked right at me when he told me how his progressive disease got him there. He had over 25 years of sobriety in AA when he retired and decided to quit going to meetings at that time too. One day after mowing the lawn a beer sounded good so he had one.....and 6 weeks later was in detox. To this day I make sure I go to at least one meeting a week and always remember it is the first one that kicks my ass every time. One day at a time!
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