Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
Edge
Trad climber
New Durham, NH
|
|
Agree with Hankster. My sobriety date is my birthday, July 1, 2010.
I have literally had no desire to drink since then, and miss nothing about it.
|
|
kaholatingtong
Trad climber
the green triangle, cali
|
|
Agreed hank.
and to reiterate/reinforce i say that being only a little over 7 months sober I can honestly say it doesn't "suck" one bit. the improvements to my energy level, climbing, and cognitive function have been to me quite noticeable and frankly worth it when i consider the tough moments; especially after climbs, when you are hurting and thirsty and it is sooo normal to have a drink.
but frankly, I am not here to convince anyone. i am a firm believer that no one will ever quit unless they themselves truly want to. so i simply ask anyone to ask them self, could it be better?
|
|
Plaidman
Trad climber
South Slope of Mt. Tabor, Portland, Oregon, USA
|
|
RIGHT ON HANKSTER!!!! Two is a good one. I remember it well. One was easy, I was still in a fog and was really busy patching up my life. At two I thought I could do this sober thing. I was a little less scared of drinking again. Life started to even out a little. All the best to ya!
|
|
tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
|
|
My sixth sober Birthday toaday though I did not stay continously clean untill august of 2006. turned 50 today. Snagged the FFA of Good Country For Old Men 5.8 I lead bolted it rope solo monday. 100FT through a roof and then nice face climbing. had the rope in a bullet pack running through a gri gri anchored to a tree. all the crap and the Bosch hanging off my Butt. Got er done and came back today with my #1 girl to lead it clean. this climb opened up a whole new section of the cliff. We then set a new anchor and TR'ed a 10, got it figured out and got most of the bolts in.
No need for booze when you can snag killer routes on your bday :)
|
|
Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
|
|
Yeah Hank nailed it. By and large, it's those that crave "a drink or twelve" who don't quit in the first place.
|
|
Largo
Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
|
|
Hank has it right for me. I had that "realization at depth" that I was an actual alcoholic and I couldn't drink. It's a shocker but it shocked me sober. But I generally do 5-6 meetings a week. I don't even think about anyone drinking around me anymore.
JL
|
|
joe boy
Trad climber
california
|
|
sober 13 years now, AA worked for me. Lost too many friends that died due to their addictions.
|
|
Studly
Trad climber
WA
|
|
When you can wake up in the morning at 6 am SO FRESH, and ready to rock the world, thats living. I look back at the times I went climbing hungover and stupid, got out on the sharp end shaking like a leaf, sick to my stomach, just wanted to go lie down in a hole somewhere and die. That was fun? Theres no glory in alcohol, just a path to the gates to Hell. Kudos to those who realize it before they meet the gatekeeper.
|
|
rick sumner
Trad climber
reno, nevada/ wasilla alaska
|
|
I never went to a single AA meeting, meditation group, physician or shrink. I had two young kids (later a third), and a one in a million wife dedicated to raising them. I also had my own Dad who made our childhood a living hell. So i was looking at two options A) continue drinking and risk putting my family through what my father did to his. B) Do the right and responsible thing and give the wife the husband she deserved and the kids the father they needed. It wasn"t even close it had to be B. I had my last drink in 1986 and it was the best thing i ever did, as it lead to a very successful life and a well adjusted family.
|
|
TwistedCrank
climber
Dingleberry Gulch, Ideeho
|
|
Sobriety is continues to be awesome.
In 19 days at 930AM I will have been sober for exactly 20 years.
Not that I'm counting or anything.
I guess it's an alcoholics' way of thinking about alcohol that allows me to recall a detail like that.
|
|
Anxious Melancholy
Mountain climber
Between the Depths of Despair & Heights of Folly
|
|
I'm glad to see this thread pop up now and again.
I personally still can't get it to stick. I go to meetings for awhile, then stop, then drink. I stop drinking for weeks, sometimes months, then grab a drink and its off to the races again.
Ugh.
|
|
dfinnecy
Social climber
'stralia
|
|
Just lookin through this thread, happiegirl wrote way back when,
everything we searched for in drinking is there, available for us through the sacrifice of that very substance
Anyone sober have more comments on that? An interesting, powerful idea to me.
I drink but toy with the idea of quitting,.... which I guess means I definitely should.
|
|
Elcapinyoazz
Social climber
Joshua Tree
|
|
Pretty much nobody on this thread but wege' misses drinking or is craving one, at all.
Man, I wish that were true. I've got over two years now, and this last week was the hardest of all. I really, really wanted a cold beer. Started to rationalize, concoct all kinds of reasons why it would be ok, and that maybe I just wanted to start drinking again like "normal".
Don't get me wrong, I'm better off in almost every way without it, and want to stay off the sauce, but every now and then I get a wicked craving...only this time it lasted about 5 days instead of 15min.
Nothing I can see that triggers a craving, they just strike kind of randomly, although the last hours of daylight and cooling breeze of late afternoon after working in hot weather all day makes me crave one way more than sitting around after climbing with friends who are drinking right next to me. That - being around friends who are drinking - doesn't bother me at all, maybe I trust myself not to do it with others around, but don't trust myself alone. Who knows. But the cravings still arrive, and I don't think there will ever be a time that they don't, even if less often.
Still sober. Good luck to you all.
|
|
TwistedCrank
climber
Dingleberry Gulch, Ideeho
|
|
Just lookin through this thread, happiegirl wrote way back when,
everything we searched for in drinking is there, available for us through the sacrifice of that very substance
Anyone sober have more comments on that? An interesting, powerful idea to me.
I drink but toy with the idea of quitting,.... which I guess means I definitely should.
A program of sobriety is filled with paradoxes just like that. I'd heard most of them before I got sober but they never made sense until I got a clarity of vision that came with time in the program.
The one that twisted my head was that I was an egomaniac with an inferiority complex.
|
|
tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
|
|
I cretainly know my trigger points when I will want a drink. Anytime i am totaltaly spent from a huge day of scary climbing it is wicked strong urges when you first get back to the car. My latest way to deal with this is polar or ADK seltzer. 0 calories all natural ingrediants but it has lemon lime, manderian, wild berry, etc flavors. Cold, fizzy, tastes good, dosent get me fat and completly satisfys the urge to pound a cold beer.
|
|
Norwegian
Trad climber
Placerville, California
|
|
im know i viewed as the plague here,
though im sincerely interested in your's
endeavor,
so i visited the anti-source
and inquired upon the mind
and gawd she told
me that it was a screw up
on her part
that she mixed up the x and y
with why and because
and so the electricity firing
upon brains yours and mine
is going trans-current,
and faraday you just sit down
you little bitch
and thus the only
(ill)logical recoursing
of the mind is upon
the covalence of las vegas
and the verses of wandering
shall guide all dormant saints
and demons alike.
so your heart yearns for
deodd'end minds
and mind my yearns
for lost realities
and spirtual sweat
be yours along.
as you stride for promising tomorrows
of healing and growth,
i'll sin and i'll isink
as the stone devil
erodes my heart
and fossilizes my dreams.
|
|
slodog
Trad climber
ontario canada
|
|
one day at a time-it gets better-
|
|
I'm hurtin . . .
Ice climber
midwest
|
|
Lots of different stories and experiences. Some heavy drinkers can simply stop and then lead a happy, productive life. I wasn't one of them. No way I could quit and be happy about it. Couldn't do it alone, so went to AA. Still going . . . 13 yrs sober.
|
|
Norwegian
Trad climber
Placerville, California
|
|
sober or sick
reality hurts none the less.
navigation thru
is graduated upon
our mental placidness.
when im clean,
i yard upon buckets
in my ascent of life.
when im tiltin bottles
left and right
im working higher on crimps.
and the top,
you and i already know
don't amount to shite,
it's all about the dream, ill or well,
along the way.
|
|
couchmaster
climber
pdx
|
|
I've slid back into drinking...Deep in my cups I often think of Warren Harding and how it contributed so much negative in his life (my opinion) and promise to myself that tomorrow I won't drink anything.
But then I do anyway.
And the wine bottles stack up.
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!