I'm far more concerned why your brother-in-law was letting a 7 year old drink a beer. Our family is similar. I'm born in 86, but I have brothers born in 80 and 04. I have 2 nephews older than my little brother. Its a little weird.
MM, sounds like you've had the breakthrough that can make this change truly permanent. I have trouble saying this without sounding condescening, but I'm proud of you for saying what you've said and making the decision that you've made. My wife has a father that she never knew because he was an alcoholic. He left her when she was 9 years old, because he was more committed to drinking that parenting. They lost 20+ years together because of the bottle, and only just recently were able to reconcile now that he's sober. It's been a slow, painful process to watch her relive all that emotional abuse all over again. The really insidious thing about any addiction, alcohol included, is how it slowly takes control of your life, one compromised belief at a time. You have the illusion of control for so long, some people never truly notice that they've lost it all. Good for you for coming to that realization and taking a stand. We're behind you 100%.
Well I might have exaggerated a lil bit...I was more around 9 and it was a sip....still, not very cool lol. It was just a "Take a sip for the brotherhood of man." thing.
Good luck MM. I'm impressed by your writing. Strangely, even though I have never been dependent on it and never miss it when I go through weeks without it, I was thinking yesterday that maybe it would be a good thing to try to go one year totally without it. For me, it is only a thing in social settings. I think it starts to be a reason for concern once one would miss it, or do it alone.
You're a good guy who speaks not only his mind, but his heart. Those are my kind of people. You can do anything, brotha. Life is beautiful. Remember that.
I totally thought your GF tried to kill you. So I read it again and I assumed you tried to kill your GF. Then I read the thread and realized there was no woman involved at all. I get it now. Good luck if you need any help find me on xbox live.
Thank you all for the love and support. I guess the final straw was I started alienating friends, one by one. It got to the point it had a weird surreal horror movie feel, like the madman was sitting on the couch cutting his own fingers off one by one. The fear of living without is great. What if without it my life becomes EVEN MORE miserable. But it finally got to the point where any different alternative was better, no matter how scary, foreign or potentially awful.
That's not how the lyrics go... On the reals, congrats. You don't need her anyways. I found me an Asian lady once, she done me good for years now. Her name is Tea.
Bad relapse this weekend...lost my job...(not drinking related) Your thoughts and prayers are appreciated.
MM: Sorry to hear about your job. Don't beat yourself up over the relapse. Every day is a new chance to start again. I quit almost 7 months ago and never looked back. I don't miss it at all anymore and I can't believe how many years I wasted. Not to mention all the collateral damage. I'll share just a couple of things that helped me make the decision. The first was something a friend said. We'd been drinking buddies for years and a year after she quit I asked her how it was going and why she'd done it (I was still drinking). She said, I just wasn't living up to my potential. That really hit home with me. The other is something I just sort of said one day and I think of often: I never wake up and think, I wish I'd had a drink last night. I never regret NOT drinking. I've nearly always regretted it when I did. I feel very lucky to have been able to do it on my own and really have had no trouble with it, never struggled, never doubted. Just moved on with my life. And the rewards have been amazing. My memory is so much stronger, I'm so much more responsible and creative, even my vocabulary is better. And I never again have to suffer through the hangovers I used to have nearly every day. But, again, I was lucky. This time it just worked. I'd tried and failed many times before. If you need help, don't be afraid to seek it, whether through therapy or AA. I went to one AA meeting just for the hell of it and, while I didn't go back because I just didn't need to, I really saw why it works for people who have trouble doing it on their own. Much luck to you, brother. And if you screw up, forgive yourself and start again. PM me if you ever want to talk.
One last thing: If you stick with this, you will probably come to a time when you think you can drink responsibly. If you are an alcoholic (I am), you can't. One sip and you'll be right back where you started. Maybe not right away -- maybe you'll be able to have just one or two for weeks or even months -- but you'll find yourself right back where you started eventually. Good luck, man. If it's important to you to do this, you can. You have the power.
I'm sorry, sweetheart. Good to see BJ doing something other than working a duck call. In the future, perhaps not be such a douchebag? Listen to this video, and learn. It WILL help your next relationship. No girl wants a political loon. Yes, I get it... It makes you feel superior. To women it does at first... And then they realize you're a parrot. To Either channel, Fox, Msnbc, or otherwise, passion to these shows = D-I-V-O-R-C-E. This might make you feel better. AND PAY ATTENTION <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/WDM_96X40BU?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/WDM_96X40BU?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
