I lost count until I did the math. Today is day 150 off beer and other alcoholic poisons. That is 150 days of saving my health, saving money, renewing creditability, improving fitness, no more hangovers and just a greater sense of wellbeing. I know to the average person this is no great achievement but for me it’s big.
I was never a raging alcoholic, I didn’t lose jobs, i was never penniless and I wasn’t the man sleeping under a bridge with his bottle in a brown paper bag. I was able to maintain a functioning life but I was drinking too much. I’m not going to go by the safe amount of units one should drink as this is ridiculously low. Yes, I was drinking more than the one standard drink a day like they recommend, but what drinker who enjoys a few beers does?! At the end of the day no alcohol is the way to go. That habitual glass of wine or beer after work may seem harmless but it starts to add up if you look at a weekly, monthly or yearly consumption. If you drink a few beverages over a year, that’s almost 11,00 drinks. This doesn’t include weekends where you’re likely to consume more.
I drank more than this. I won’t go into specifics but I was down to the bottle shop every morning/day to purchase my supplies for the day. To give you guys a better idea of my drinking patterns I did two stints of rehab and did other programs that wasted my time. I fealt like a lightweight. I was with people who were court appointed, people on deaths door with jaundice who drank bottes of vodka a day, people who went into seizures during their detox. And here was little old me who enjoyed a few beers. Not down playing my consumption, it just wasn’t at the levels my fellow ‘classmates’ were experiencing.
Quitting the booze was extremely easy for me. Once I told myself enough was enough I went cold turkey and never had any difficulties (May 29th 2025 - Present). No cravings. No desire to start drinking even entered my head. I was thrown into situations where others were over indulging and this didn’t phase me a bit. I have learnt to except alcohol is everywhere… for the good times, the bad times, a hot day, public holidays… any excuse to drink in Australia is fair game. Boredom is another one. I’m not going to get into too much more as these experiences were not good and exceeded the ‘normal’ drinking. Drinking at work and the grocery shopping were all fair game... stuff like that!
I’m not kidding myself, I have only just started my journey. I have the rest of my life to carry out my sobriety. They say a day at a time but I see it more as a year at a time. I’ve got this! There are triggers: Every time I go to the pharmacy I see the bottle shop next door and remember my fond memories of buying a couple of beers whilst I waited for my script to be filled. I was never over the limit. This was a promise to myself. NEVER drink and drive. I learnt my lesson 25 year ago during my DUI. This is for another blog.
So that’s where things are at. No more drink for me. You won’t see a blog titled ’I relapsed’. I don’t know what it would take me to pick up that bottle of poison again. I made it through the death of my grandfather a month ago who was very close to me. Even this didn’t tempt me in the slightest. It’s just something I don’t do anymore.
People often offer me an alcohol free beer. Nope. Why would I want that taste in my mouth. I can’t guarantee this wouldn’t lead to the real stuff. Part of me was after the effects not the taste. I don’t judge the people around me who drink these, it’s just not for me. It’s a little bit like a heroin addict who comes off the gear and moves to methadone (without the high)
I have given far too much of myself in this post. There is SO much I haven't shared as this would touch on the boundaries I’m not willing to go. All that matters is I am today sober. I can only live in the now and not stress about my past of future. I’m going to give myself a pat on the back, as no one will do it for me. Have a nice sober day!