Alcoholism is ruining my life

alcoholism didn't ruin your life, you ruined your life. taking some responsibility for your own actions is the first step in believing that you have power to control them. once you believe you have that power, you *will* have that power, and then you will be able to stop.

Knock it off. Now. You don't have to be one of these straight-edge folks, but you do need to draw a line, step over it, and never go back.

It's not hard to live without excessive drinking, pot, or opioid use. LOTS of people do it every day. Just become one of them. Moving forward, if you had to pick one, stick with the weed. Least problematic.

This is hard, but not terribly hard. I know for a FACT it can be done. Do it.

Major bummer, dude.

Get your sht together, Jamin. You'll never break 15 like this. If you pull it together and follow DANCAN maybe you'll even break 14

My brother went through this. He went to AA eight years ago. It took a year to stick, but he is seven years sober. Do it today.

It took me over 10 years to quit drinking. I too tried AA (numerous times), SMART etc. What finally worked for me was to set a goal for something I wanted to achieve. For me it was triathlon. I had an extensive running and cycling background but the swim was lacking. I knew it wasn't something I could just go do hungover. I tried to be as immersed as I could in the training for a race I pre-registered for. It was hard for sure but it's 5 1/2 years later now and I can't begin to explain how much better my life is. You have to quit all mind altering substances in your situation; some of us just can't do it in moderation and it seems to me that describes you. You will miss it at times but with your new successes, you will be able to keep making the next right decision.

Watch this CAREFULLY.

You have wasted several programs; sounds to me like you truly enjoy getting high and don't really want to change. If you are searching for rock bottom, you will get there, but it isn't always where things turn around, a lot times of times it means death or jail. I have a H.S. teammate that went through a similar period for about 7 years, albeit all he did was drink and some occasional pot. He basically screwed up everything, I mean every aspect of his life. Even with a felony arrest record, he's doing well these days. He simply quit drinking one day. It would take too much typing to explain the exact circumstances when he quit, but he quite without any programs or encouragement from anyone. There was no one to encourage him because I was the only person who still maintained a relationship and I have stopped encouraging him years ago. He said he simply quit when he wanted to and that the root cause of his drinking was immaturity, he simply wasn't ready to take on the responsibilities of being an adult. He said quitting wasn't nearly as difficult as he thought it would be. It only took him 5 days to physically not want to drink and the rest involved changing his lifestyle. He removed the triggers, got back into running, playing pick up basketball and married an excellent woman who does not drink.

He's open about his past, even the fact that he spent some time in prison. Btw, for many years his criminal record practically made his top-tier school degree worthless. He was able to get his criminal record expunged several years ago and is currently in the IT field, which is similar to what he went to school for. Like I said, this individual turned his life around, but he can't get back those years he wasted, which is going to be a lifelong regret. - The nugget in this post is, you enjoy getting high and quitting is possible when you truly decide to do it. - Good Luck

The first two posters unfortunately do not know much about addiction or shame cycles. What they said is wildly unhelpful.

My advice to you would be this. Just. Keep. Trying. Something. Keep asking for help. Find someone, a mentor or encourager of sorts who cares enough to stick with you, that you can turn to and be honest with even when you feel terrible and messed up again. If AA and the others didn't work, try another or go back if you think you cheated yourself the first time. It's nearly impossible to do it alone and nearly impossible to "just stop". Keep trying, and you'll come across something where you'll have little wins. And they will often motivate you to keep going.

Hopeful and prayerful for you.

There is one answer to all of life's problems: run more.

Or practice more, if your life consists of more than running.

What's your 5K time?

Wes Craven wrote:

The first two posters unfortunately do not know much about addiction or shame cycles. What they said is wildly unhelpful.

My advice to you would be this. Just. Keep. Trying. Something. Keep asking for help. Find someone, a mentor or encourager of sorts who cares enough to stick with you, that you can turn to and be honest with even when you feel terrible and messed up again. If AA and the others didn't work, try another or go back if you think you cheated yourself the first time. It's nearly impossible to do it alone and nearly impossible to "just stop". Keep trying, and you'll come across something where you'll have little wins. And they will often motivate you to keep going.

Hopeful and prayerful for you.

Small minded people like you are the problem and is the reason why 'addiction' exists.

Mind over matter.

More seriously, I recommend reading all the way through this article:

https://acestoohigh.com/2017/05/02/addiction-doc-says-stop-chasing-the-drug-focus-on-aces-people-can-recover/

A more appropriate name for addiction just might be "ritualized compulsive comfort seeking behavior". The main reason that we engage in this behavior is unaddressed adverse childhood experiences. Learning about this alternative way of framing my alcohol drinking and other addictive habits helped me come to terms with my behavior.

Become a Christian ... live well.

John 3:16

John 3:16New International Version (NIV)

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Romans 10:9

Romans 10:9New International Version (NIV)

9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

maybe you're just weak?

No. You're wrong.

And I'm sure that's how you generally speak to people in person.

If you continue down the road you have been on, it will lead to death. Either someone else's or your own. I have lost friends to drunk drivers and have lost friends to drugs. Please try to get sober for your sake, the sake of those who care for you, and for the sake of those you might harm. You need to reprogram your mind. As some have suggested, running is an activity that can on some level replicate the chemical sensation you can get from drugs and alcohol (act on the same receptors in your brain). You drink because you feel like crap when you aren't drunk, because you have deadened the natural rewards your brain gives you. The only way to get those natural rewards back is sobriety and running / endurance activities. That is why a lot of addict to athlete programs exist (they are trying to replace one addiction with another while not leaving you feeling like crap). Best of luck to you.

You need to become addicted to something else. Lots of thing: running, chess, gaming, movies, almost anything would be better than your current addiction.

I miss getting hammered, but it reached the point where the bad that came with it far outweighed the fun or anxiety/stress reduction. Now I have to think about that every day.