What has alcohol taken from you?

[Quiescent]

I think we all know that alcohol doesn't "give" us anything. It's a taker and I'm tired of being taken from.

Alcohol has taken away my ability to "feel" anything. It has numbed me even when I'm not under the influence, it seems as though I can't feel.

What has it taken from you?

[Happier]

What has alcohol taken from you?

My Dignity!
Thank goodness my husband was always there to babysit me. He never wants me drinking without him around, which I don't blame him. He must really love me.

[Guest]

What has alcohol taken from you?

1 Friends I called drunk, now they avoid me
2 personal injury can't tell you how many times I have falllen bruised or broken something
3 Income,can't go work on your house because I'd rather drink today
4 self -esteem, don't think much of that drunk woman
5 time with loved ones, because I'm drunk and passed out.
6. Beautiful,treasured items in my home that I have accidently broken because I didn't have it together
7 money,I have a collection of wine corks that exceed 500 at 10.00 a bottle or more,it could have been put to better use helping people.

WHOA!
Mar

[journey04]

What has alcohol taken from you?

Alcohol takes away LIFE. Directly, because we are poisoning ourselves. Indirectly, because we are losing out on so many experiences because we would rather drink away the time. How many times have I scheduled my weekends or evenings around booze? Yikes. Its a killer.

Journey

[Quiescent]

What has alcohol taken from you?

Simey, I don't think much of that drunk woman either.

Journey, I agree it does suck the life right out of you.


My goal is to get through my kids softball season this year without ever having a roadie in my hand.

[Beaches]

What has alcohol taken from you?

Time! Because when drinking it flies by and I would have no recollection.

Experience: because I would plan everything around drinking, then wouldn't drive so I was stuck at home.

MONEY

Good thread

[buddy]

What has alcohol taken from you?

its rich typing here for the 1st time not tess

drunk is not having to think. drunk is from day to day. drunk is going from being sociable to being ill

[xtexan]

What has alcohol taken from you?

Hi everyone:

Just wanted to post something here, because the subject was one I struggle with. Regrets.

I am approaching 500 days AF the end of this month, so I can speak from the short time of experience I have had having given up both alcohol and tobacco at once.

It seems as if all the negative emotions I avoided in my 35 year drinking career, being drunk, have at times come to visit me intensely during the last several months.

I don't want to scare anyone into not doing AF if that is your goal, I just want to tell you that do what you need to in order to prepare for this onslaught. In my case, the supplements, the exercise, the meditation, and all the other things I have done to handle and purge out these tribulations have helped. Talking about it on this forum has helped immensely.

Part of the healing, is pain. Just like any healing, your body and mind will scream out to you for relief at times. It will pass. It goes in cycles. The times when the cycle peaks, are the times I have been most vulnerable to relapse. During the good parts of the cycles, I feel powerful and happy.

It is a continuing part of my healing from the damage I did to myself, to find ways of putting back what the alcohol took from me. As I continue on in my 50th year on this earth, please remember, that the anguish also is balanced by new perceptions of joy and happiness.

As you pass 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, a year even. You will experience new and different pains, and new and different joys you never knew while you were drinking.

I remember one member said that the first three years were hell on earth for him. I look forward to passing past the three year mark in December of 2008. Focus on the good always. The booze might appear to be a relief from tribulation at many times, but I still struggle at times to keep those thoughts at bay.

In the long run, on days like today, I can say that it is worth the fight.

Be well.

Neil

[Elizabeth]

What has alcohol taken from you?

Hi Neil, funny you should say it.... the last few days of my abtainence I suffered from severe headaches and felt pretty lousy. Had a few drinks over Easter as I've change to Moderation and want to see if I can maintain it, but your comments above have brought home to me just how complicated this whole struggle is and I must stay guarded and strong. Of course the Easter break away may well have provided me with a break I much needed BUT you've made me think twice and for that I'm greatful.

God I love these posts, they make me think twice and many, many times more and opens my eyes to factors that I would otherwise not have thought of and could trip me up in this battle! Thanks

Alcohol has taken away from me:

Happiness
Time
Self respect
Confidence
Friendships & relationships (including some family members - mainly my Bro)
Work Contracts
Direction in Life

MWO has brought me:

My Way Out from Hell
Abstenance & now moderation
Self Confidence & Self Respect
Work
A new Direction in Life
Rekindled friendships (I'll work on my Bro slowly!!!)
New friends
My path in life is changing....:thanks: I love you all:l

[existence]

What has alcohol taken from you?

i just takes a lot away in general

taken from me
Friends:i am sorry Jen, Kelly, litza, Sarah and Garry
My Dignity and Self Esteem
1 Mobile Phone and A Keyboard: it is amazing what you can spill stuff on when your pissed
My Fitness: i used to be an avid runner before drinking
Sleep: i don't sleep anymore

what i fear it will take from me
More Friends: don't leave me DJ, Cam and Ruth i need you
The Love Of My Life: i do not want to lose my Kristina
another Keyboard; i have to stop being so damned clumsy

[Mackeral]

What has alcohol taken from you?

Proberly the respect of my family.

[InnerStrength]

What has alcohol taken from you?

I have lost:

My dignity and self respect time and time again;
Time
Respect of others
Friends
Money
Brain cells!
Opportunities

From here I have gained:

Self respect and dignity
Respect of others
Friends
Money
Brain cells
Opportunies
HOPE.

Peace, dignity, love and hope to all of you.

Jen
(And to those of you who dont recognize me - RA RA RA! )

[kitkatsue]

What has alcohol taken from you?

I'm afraid of what I will lose!

[rivergirl]

What has alcohol taken from you?

Thanks so much to all for this post. Alcohol has taken feelings from me - That is because I asked it to. I went to it in the dark of night and asked it to remove my feelings - I went within a week or two of the separation from my husband - 18 years ago. Within a year I began to suspect that I had become a a victim of my own request. But the blissful (sometimes) delight of making "it" all go away was so compelling - Do what you want to me - I had my secret cure - mind obliterating booze.

I lost what I asked to loose - and then realized I was trapped. My children were growing up and I was moving along in time but missing so much - obliterating any bad feeling - or good feeling; cheating myself out of so much life. - Out of true friendships- out of anything that required an genuine emotional outlay! Xtexan is such a guiding light: will it be three years - till the pain is less - till the battle lets up? Maybe, depending on how we face each battle - and on how many we avoided in the past - that time will be more - or less. But we will never win the battle if we (I) crawl back into the dark alley - knock on that black door and ask the bottle to take away my feelings forever.
Rivergirl

[Bella]

What has alcohol taken from you?

Alcohol has taken away my confidence. It has also made me not like myself any more. But hey, that is going to change.