Hi everyone!

Today marks exactly one year since I removed alcohol from my life.

What a year it’s been… God, it was so hard in the beginning. Every time I got angry, every time I felt disappointed or hurt, I can’t even count how many times I wanted to reach for that bottle. But I didn’t.

Throughout this journey, I learned to accept my emotions. I made peace with my anger, my sadness, and my dreams.

I used to misuse alcohol as a way to cope. Learning how to regulate my emotions was what helped me stay away from it for good.

Letting go of alcohol also made me reconsider other unhealthy relationships I had become emotionally dependent on. I stopped trying to save my parents, who both struggle with alcoholism. Instead, I started focusing on my own family, my husband and my child.

I moved to a different city.

I went back to university. I’m now studying fashion design.

All of this happened in just one year.

I never imagined life could become this beautiful. ❤️

IWNDWYT

I've known I've needed to get sober for a while now. But I've been in a vicious loop. I feel like shit all day, but find some reason to drink at night.

The past few days though I've felt insane. My heart is racing, constant anxiety and intrusive thoughts. I came home and my cat is squinting a little and I almost burst into tears from worry.

I hate this. Every symptom I've had is nothing compared to this. I feel like absolute dog shit. Like I can't explain it but it actually feels like I could be dying. Even though I'm not.

Also, I know I said I drink in the evenings but I have not today. Trying so hard to fight it

Spent all day stressing, at the police station trying to get my belongings back. I had 4.5 months sober with her and at the same time all the work we did to get her life back that she ultimately blew up drove me back again. I wanna break my old streak.

One year of work one year of giving her everything she needed one year of turning a sad room with just a bed, Comcast, and a TV the side of my head into a paradise with everything she could ever need, probably 30k dollars down the drain. I gave her one of my trucks free so she wouldn't be without a vehical, I was so quiet and so nuteral in leaving. And how do I get repayed? With threats extortion and black mail.

I did what I had to do today secured my life and future and ultimately had to throw her under the buss to do so. She left me no choice. Her situation will never change because she's not willing to change it and nothing I do can change that.

This week I choose myself. I chose heartache and tears and emptyness x1000 over a life of it. It hurts so bad but I feel I did the right thing.

And now I wanna drink so bad I want it to go away I want to rip my skin off cause the same and guilt is burning me alive. I hate every second of it I really do. I wish things were diffrent.

This week I survived and choose myself. I listened to God and relized all my prayers have gone unawnsered not because of lack of love. But because I had been ignoring what he really wanted for me for so long.

Idk anymore. It just hurts. Just wanted to get that out

I was just drinking excessively and it was coming out of my pores. I can’t believe I’m cold when normally I’d be complaining and wanted the AC at 62.

They’ll throw me a little party, right?! Right?!

UPDATE: she asked me what caused me to quit, so I got to explain why and how I’m feeling. She also kept bringing it up when we discussed other health concerns (like my risk for dementia and cholesterol); it was very satisfying!

This is huge for me because i have been struggling for a year with alcohol, still feels so unreal to actually post it this time. The 3rd day felt like HELL! But God gives us his toughest battles to his strongest soldiers! Just wanted to Thank All the posts on here that encouraged and motivated me to do better. This is the best sub I’ve been in. Love to all you guys and wish everyone the best on their journey!!!

Hello All!

Big 50 today with no alcohol. It’s been one hell of a ride, but supper excited to post!
Some days are a bitch to get through, while others I skate through happy as hell.

Those in the battle, keep fighting with the rest of us! It’s so good and badass to be sober!

IWNDWYT❤️‍🩹

One month sober today. For the longest time, I woke up every single morning with automatic guilt from drinking too much the night before --even for the first weeks of not drinking anything.

Today... That weight is finally gone. I am so incredibly proud of myself.... and everyone else here!

Good evening. I stumbled across this subreddit and am inspired by the personal success by many of you. I’ve hit a point in my life where it’s time. I can’t go on like this. I’ve a completely different and nasty person than I was before I started. I can’t even talk to people and can no longer look people in the eyes and can’t even be near people. I’ve basically went separate ways with my last remaining friend. I’m missing work more. Spending so much money on liquor and doordash after drinking every night. Can’t even build a relationship. Ignoring my family. Had to move back in with my mom because I couldn’t pay rent. I don’t think before I do anything anymore. I’m forgetting things instantly. My legs look nasty. I down maybe 12 drinks as quick as I can to hopefully get up for work the next morning. I’m always angry and hate myself for self-sabotaging. Why do I do this? I worked a great job and lost that. I’m still a child it’s so sad. I NEVER knew what anxiety was or even knew what it felt like after my very first night drinking for the first time ever and it was scary. That should’ve told me something. Every single day.. yes every single day for years now I have been telling myself okay you will quit after tonight. It is insane. But I just want to feel normal again. Thank you all and enjoy your night. Hope to get some days under my belt.

It’s been 3 weeks since I stopped drinking cold turkey and no training. I’ve made too many silly, careless mistakes in my life because of my difficulty controlling my intake. But 3 weeks ago, I made one of the worst mistakes that made me give it up for good. I actually cheated on my wife which devastated her so much.

One thing a lot of people don’t realize is if you make a mistake because alcohol impaired your judgment, there is no way possible to defend your action. Think about it, if you get into a massive brawl at a bar for no reason and seriously injure someone, do you think the criminal court is going to accept your plea of, “ I was drunk and I couldn’t control my actions?” Um no, you well be held accountable and will endure the consequences of your actions to the fullest extent. And a more close to home example is drunk driving. If a person chooses to get behind the wheel of that car and crashes causing serious injury or killing an innocent driver, the court is absolutely not going to accept that before mentioned example. Impaired judgment from over-drinking can cause one to perform a potentially life-changing action they cannot undo or worse, may not fully remember. Yeah why the fuck would I want a drug in my life that can cause me to do that?

My situation is no different. The day I committed infidelity was a day that was completely unplanned and unexpected. It started with me simply going to a bar having a few drinks which turned into a few more and then a few more. I’ll admit I was already having a very rough time in my life, but that’s zero excuse for my actions. I kept drinking until a was truly drunk. At that point, I was numb, feeling a good in a false sense and I just didn’t care about anything but myself. As a man, I have temptations that I always know to keep suppressed, but when I was drunk, I thought it was more than okay to act on those temptations.

That night, I found single lady where the conversation got spicy in a hurry. I’m sure she saw my ring but she didn’t care at all. Within the matter of a few minutes, we both agreed to go back to her place and yeah take care of business. Of course we first went to a Walgreens to get condoms which I’m proud I had the sense to do that. The experience felt great at the time, but the next day I felt the worst feeling of guilt I could remember.

This guilt was unbearable and for the life of me, I would not even bring myself to tell my wife who I love and cherish dearly. I held that guilt for almost 2.5 weeks until I literally broke down and spilled the news. My wife could not believe it and was devastated. I immediately told her I was not in my right mind when it happened but she was just more concerned about calming me down. She told me at the time just make sure you don’t drink alcohol ever again. That night although she cried a lot, she showed signs of forgiveness.

Fast forward 5 days later, those feeling for forgiveness and pity have faded. Now I’m starting to see flashes of anger and possible resentment, but again, I have nobody and nothing to blame but myself. At this point, I’m not 100% sure if the marriage will last, but even if it does, it will be forever tarnished because I went out, got drunk, impaired my judgement, morals and self, and cheated.

I will forever have to live with the decisions I made because I was drinking with no possible justification or defense for my actions. I have yet to see what the true repercussions may be for my marriage life. Either way, I’m pledging to stay the hell away from alcohol. It’s a poison for me, my spirit, and my mental health.

Just a gratitude post for Stop Drinking. Thank you. IWNDWYT.

Hi guys.

I lost my dad to alcoholism last year. He was 59 years old. I will spare you the whole story, but he was abroad when his liver started to fail. He was admitted to the ER, was on a ventilator for weeks and was declining rapidly. I went on a plane to be with him and it was traumatising seeing him like that. He was literally all yellow. After a few weeks he was able to be flown back home where he remained in hospital and eventually passed away.

I'm an only child. My parents marriage was not great. I've never really seen what a relationship "should" look like. My mum is doing SUPER bad since his passing (even though he treated her like shit). She's been spiraling, doesn't accept any help and has been drinking like 2 bottles of wine a day.

I'm a mum myself now and I just cannot seem to deal with the fact that I don't really have parents or that my mum can't even make an effort for her granddaughter. My partner and I have no support system. I do EVERYTHING for my mum because she doesn't function in any way.

Unfortunately, I myself have started to heavily drink. I've also liked drinking but it was never as bad. I'm functioning, being a mum, a partner, a caretaker but I'm killing myself. I can't comprehend how I'm doing this when I've already seen and are seeing what alcoholism and addiction does to a person.

I feel so alone even though I have an amazing daughter and partner. I feel like giving up.

So proud of myself

Went the first 40 years of my life without having an alcohol problem (45F). Sure I had the occasional crazy night in my 20s, but it would put me off of the drink for a long while after. Spent my 30s having children, or trying to get pregnant, breastfeeding, etc so alcohol wasn’t around or an issue.

Here I am staring down 50 and drinking like I’m 22. What is wrong with me. I’m ashamed and that shame makes me lean in for another drink so I can ignore my feelings. Some days I just have a few, others it’s 2 bottles of wine. I want off of this ride.

Is there anyone else out there who can relate? Who went kind of bonkers in mid life? Some part of me knows I’m stronger than this but I keep making excuses for myself.

I saw my counter just hit 500 days! Reading everyone's stories on here helped me get through the early days, so I decided I'd make a post detailing my experience. Hopefully it helps at least one person find their way.

I'm 28 now, was 27 when I quit. Before I quit, I had done a few random month-long stretches of sobriety. My "why" was that about 25% of the time when I drank, I'd blackout. I had no control over when it would happen, and it was absolutely terrifying. One time, I woke up shivering on the street outside my apartment because I lost my jacket and keys. Many times, I woke up with strangers in my bed. It felt like I was playing Russian roulette.

I struggle with OCD, anxiety, and depression, and the blackouts would send me on a terrible spiral. My friends would talk about hangxiety lasting for a day or two after drinking. For me, if I had a bad blackout, I was out of commission for 2+ weeks. Drinking made it impossible to stick to a routine, set goals, or feel any sense of stability.

Towards the end of 2024, I started to have the thought that someday, I'm going to need to go sober. I was going through a stressful period at work, and I started doordashing 6-packs of IPAs alongside my dinner. Once I realized how terrible that sounded, I got scared and cut the daily drinking habit, but the blackouts started getting more frequent.

I hit my final straw in the middle of 2025 after blacking out back-to-back weekends. My depression and OCD rendered me completely immobile. I was so sick of the cycle. I had never done anything truly awful while blacked out, but I had a laundry list of medium-bad things I did while blacked out, and that was enough ammunition for me to move forward with the decision.

I told some close friends and family that I was quitting, which for me made it official. At first, it was hard to repeatedly tell everyone that I'm not drinking -- and I'll admit, I'm still not great at it. I've always had a deep desire to "fit in," and I felt like being a social butterfly was part of my identity. Turns out, I'm actually really introverted, and I've had to learn to accept that.

After I quit, one of the first things I did was read "The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober," and I couldn't recommend it enough. I didn't feel like I was in a place that necessitated going to AA, but spending time on here helped me feel a sense of community.

I was really worried about quitting in my twenties and feeling like a social pariah. Fortunately, sobriety is gaining a lot of momentum with Gen Z, so most people I tell don't think too much of it.

By quitting, I think I was expecting some seismic change in my life to magically occur, but that didn't happen. I'm still working through my mental health issues. Setting goals is still pretty damn hard. But my god, the bliss of waking up every morning, and knowing without a shadow of a doubt that I did NOT blackout last night... I will not trade that peace for booze ever again.

IWNDWYT!

I’ve never made it this long ! 13 years of heavy binge black out drinking ! Many day 1 sober attempts !!
One of the biggest differences that I’m happy with is that now I’m able to look myself in the mirror!
When I was drinking on a bender or whatever mess was going on I could never look at myself in the mirror for more than like 2 seconds ! I was always ashamed, embarrassed, in denial and felt gross about myself 🤮
Now I’m able to look at myself smile and even take pictures of myself . I used to never or when I did I was fucked up !
Happy I’m here can’t wait to hit 5 months in 1 week then a year eventually!!!
Have a good night everyone and stay focused and strong and always play the tape forward . Honestly I’m scared to drink now lol one drink would let to many then led to a hangover that would take days to a week to get over 😣 nahhhh I’m good sounds horrible

yesterday i chose to buy a bottle over trash bags and things i actually needed. only as broke as i am because of the costs of buying 3 bottles a week. been doing this for 4 years and i’m just… done. i’m sitting at work while i type this exhausted, hungover, and trying not to puke while i sip on a body armor. i feel like shit every day. i’ve gained so much weight- over 100 lbs. my face is bloated, i look like shit, i don’t shower (thank god i work from home). i keep getting too drunk to drag myself to the shower.

i want to pour the bottle out but it feels like sacrilege. i’ve tried quitting before and only lasted a few days but this time i truly, genuinely, am just so fucking done

After countless mornings of anxiety, sickness, headaches and a looming overwhelming depression, i've finally made the decision to cut alcohol out. After a 30 day straight binge of daily drinking, i've come to conclusion today that I can not do it anymore. Tonight is the first of hopefully infinite nights I choose not to drink. I will be trying everything in my power to stick to this. I will keep updates here as well.

I've never posted on Reddit... mostly a lurker. Been drinking a bottle of wine (if not more) a night for nearly 20 years (cut out 1 for a surprise pregnancy). I am a functioning alcoholic, daughter of an alcoholic. I pour my first glass at 6 on the dot to shut my brain off. I homeschool, I own my own business & work from home. My brain and body race towards 6 so I can have my first glass of wine. The problem is that by time I'm on glass 3, I'm not so nice. My husband says that my "balls come out". I wont stand down and I know I'm an uber-bitch. I'm a bad role model for my kids and while I do monthly blood tests (through Rhythm) and know that all of my levels are still "ok".... this can't be good for my body. So, I got a prescription for Naltrexone online. No dr appointment, they just looked at my questionnaire & mailed it to me. I've had it in my drawer, hidden, for nearly 2 weeks - scared to take it. After finishing 1.5 bottles last night, I finally took one. I don't know if its placebo or if its real, but the alcohol noise kind've shut off this afternoon. The whole reason why I ordered it was because they said it shut off the alcohol noise. I didn't know what that meant until I took a peptide to loose weight (which I probably should have just quit drinking to loose weight, I know).... but the peptide shut off the food noise. I didn't constantly think about food. I was energized to think that the alcohol noise would quiet in my brain. Today, after taking it, I wasn't watching the clock at 4, waiting for 6. I'm encouraged to read others journeys and truly appreciate this community. I'm hoping I don't have to stop completely.... but I'm more hoping that I'll feel AMAZING by not drinking that I wont WANT to drink at all.

So.... Day 1.... done (well almost). I made it past 6pm at least. And compared to the last 20+ years, that's pretty good.

Genuine attempts to be sober long term

Alcohol has taken enough from me, and I refuse to let it take anything else. Glad to be here!

My husband took a photo of me yesterday and I literally broke down in tears. I’m so fat and look so awful. I’m 63 years old and look like I’ve just given up. I’m constantly resetting my sober start date only to blow it once again. The only times I’ve ever stuck to a weight loss and fitness plan is when I’m sober. Although it shouldn’t be my main motivation to quit drinking, right now it is. Ugh. Just venting.

Hi, f19. Last night I did the worst thing I’d ever done in my life. I got accidentally black out drunk at a comedy show I was so excited to see. Was only meant to have 1 or 2 drinks.

I remember the beginning of the show, everything was fine, I did feel a bit sloshed but I was happy, after that, absolutely nothing.

I woke up today and got told the recount by my family. Apparently at the show I started being to loud yelling and stuff, then the people around me told me to be quiet and I called them bitches and was told off by security. I was at the show with my sister. When the show finished I was mad at her because she was agreeing with the other people, so in front of everyone leaving the comedy show I slapped her across the face… then a couple managed the situation, took me outside and helped my sister (also pretty drunk) call our mum.

And it only gets a lot worse from here. I then was trying to leave and not go home, I wanted to stay out and go drinking. Apparently I could hardly speak it was so gibberish. Then in the car ride I just got completely aggressive to my mum, dad and sister again. Kicking them, pulling my sister’s hair, hitting them. I even got out at the lights and tried to leave. All while yelling the most horrible things I’ve ever said to them.

I am absolutely fucking appalled to put it frankly. I am NEVER physically abusive when I’m sober. Wouldn’t even think about it. But it’s like it was a complete different person. And unfortunately I have had a drunk blackout rage a couple times before. But never ever this bad.

I already was considering not drinking due to migraines etc, but oh my god is this a cherry on top. I have absolutely no idea what to think, do, say, nothing. Besides apologising profusely of course. I feel like the worst person on earth. And my family is quite close and generally happy as well so I’ve done this for absolutely no reason.

I’d really like some advice, or anything that could help me navigate.