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From Isolation to Fulfillment

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From Isolation to Fulfillment

I got drunk for the first time when I was 19. I loved it so much, I went back to the same place and got drunk again the very next night.

From then on, if I was drinking, I was drinking to get drunk. I never drank with dinner or just to be social. The idea of drinking without the object of getting drunk was -- and is -- as foreign to me as going to an airport, buying a ticket, and sitting on the concourse watching planes take off and land without ever boarding. I now know this is referred to as "the phenomenon of craving" which is not present in non-alcoholics.

A couple years later, I was introduced to marijuana, and I became a daily marijuana smoker. I also tried lots of other drugs -- various forms of cocaine, hallucinogens, cigarettes -- but I never used any of those on a regular basis. I did occasionally abuse prescription pain pills.

Although I was never a casual drinker, it took a long time for my drinking to become a problem. When I was in my early 30s, for reasons I don't understand, I became a daily drinker. Sometimes, I drank at bars and in social settings, but I began to drink alone at home every night. It was in this time that I got a DUI.

My daily drinking began to take a toll. I was constantly hung over and my work suffered. My apartment became a pig pen and my self worth dwindled to nothing. I got thrown out of several bars, including one that required a trip to the ER. I fell backwards through a glass-top table. Most humiliatingly, I began to regularly urinate on myself when I passed out at night.

For me, the "bottom" came when I found myself drinking in the morning. It had been my habit to pass out in the living room every night, and when I came to, I would put whatever was left in my cup back into the fridge and go to bed. Eventually, however, I began to finish the drink when I came to -- early, like at 4 or 5 a.m. Then I began to pour another. When I found myself watching "Mr. Roger's Neighborhood" and drinking vodka and orange juice at daybreak, I knew my drinking was unsustainable.

I wound up in rehab, and then in AA . I had been to AA a few times because of my DUI and one previous attempt to stop drinking, but this time my life had become so unmanageable I was willing to do what my counselors at rehab and the other people in AA suggested -- go to meetings in a regular basis (daily to begin with), get a sponsor, read the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, pray and not drink.

One day at a time, it has worked for me, now, for more than 4 1/2 years. I still go to meetings almost every day. I still have regular contact with my sponsor, and I help others in the program by sponsoring them. I have lots of friends who don't drink or use drugs (and Id have some who do). I do not miss alcohol and drugs at all.

My life is more full and meaningful than ever before. Life is not perfect . In sobriety, I have suffered the deaths of a close friend and my mother. I have lost relationships. I have had all of the problems that everyone has and I have not drank or used drugs.

I was a daily-drinking, pass-out, pee-on-myself drunk. If I can get sober, anyone can.



Partners for Hope raise critical funds on behalf Partnership to End Addiction – the nation’s leading organization dedicated to addiction prevention, treatment and recovery. Every dollar raised on behalf of the Partnership* will help ensure free, personalized family support resources, including our national helpline, peer-to-peer parent coaching, customized online tools and community education programs, can reach those who need them most. Please consider donating to this fundraiser and sharing this page.

*Donations made to Partnership to End Addiction are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. All contributions are fully tax-deductible, as no goods or services are provided in consideration in whole, or in part, of any contribution to this nonprofit organization.  EIN: 52-1736502

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