Have You Given Up Alcohol? If So, What Have Been The Benefits?

[vincentbal]

Cool to hear other succes stories, here's my own.

Since I started with pd I've had a few things on my list that needed improvement and I worked on each of those points but drinking was difficult for me to give up. Not because I can´t quit but because of my social life, everyone I know drinks and most of them a lot.

Since januari I quit smoking, caffeine and sodo. I became a vegetarian and started excercising. All of these things were easy to do. I quit smoking with the book of Allen Carr and he has a book about quiting with drinking too. I read the book and knew I wanted to quit but still didn't took the step. But what did change was that I was drinking more consiously and didn't get any satisfaction out of drinking anymore now I know the truth about drinking.

On august 14th was the last evening I drank, but it took me till august 26 to decide that I would quit forever. I've had a few parties, and other activities since then and could quit easy although I still get a lot of strange looks from my friends. I can talks about more interesting things with other people but once everybody get's drunk the fun is over with all those zombies.

I'm really glad I quit, I was drinking more and more over the years and don't want to know where I would have ended if I did not quit. I'm looking forward to making new friends and searching new activities that don't include drinking. I also look forward to the advantages that not drinking will bring me, no more hangovers and saving money starts right away but I'm interested in the longterm advantages.

[bluedragon]

Originally Posted by brettk

Hi bluedragon.

It sounds as though you are fortunate to not have addictive tendencies. Unfortunately there are many of us out there who struggle with alcohol and other addictive substances on a daily basis. For me, I could see my addiction becoming stronger and stronger. My health and self worth going backwards at a rate of knots. Not to mention the financial cost. (approx $1000 per month for both my wife and I at our peak)

For me though, I have no regrets with my decision. I fully understood that alcohol is a progressive disease and had I not have made my decision my life would've been cut dramatically short.

Since giving up, my health and life have improved immeasurably whether you decide to believe me or not. I have no gain by telling mistruths. My sole purpose in writing this post is to help others who are in a similar situation to realize there is hope for them. Thanks though for your perspective on the topic.

Brett.

Maybe I will also give up alcohol 2 or 3 months later. Or maybe I will stick to no more than 1 drink per day. Or maybe I will only drink in social situations and never at home. But I am still investigating.

For now, giving up movies for a while seems to help me much much more than giving up alcohol, cause alcohol doesn't seem to have any negative effect on me.