An interesting question

[OverIt2007]

Here is an interesting question. Well, at least interesting to me. If you woke up in the morning with no side effects of your drinking from the day before, would you want to quit drinking? The main drive for me to quit drinking too much is because the next morning I feel like shit mentally and physically, not to mention my weight skyrockets. I simply hate the effects of alcohol on me. I once had a friend though who could drink a 5th of captain morgan, jump up out of bed in the morning for work, like nothing was wrong. I asked her if she ever got hangovers, and she simply said never. I believe she is still drinking, not sure as we are not friends anymore. I just wondered what anyone else thought about this.

[colbe]

An interesting question

I never get hangovers and could jump out of bed after 15 the day/night before (beer). It's just became a waste of money and something that didn't make me high any more. Now that I quit (three days ago) I have had headaches,sweats and feel like shit, but I am going to keep going...for today anyway.

[OverIt2007]

An interesting question

Sure, money is a good reason not to drink. Especially in these tough times. Honestly, I cannot say if I would want to quit if I felt good the next day. I simply do feel like crap about myself next day, so I try, try try again to quit. Maybe this will be the time(???)

[LilBit]

An interesting question

OverIt, I am almost 30 days AF now, and I'm getting an ever-increasing sense of horror at what I was like when I was drinking. At the time, I thought it made me relaxed and fun to be around. The truth is far from that. I agree with you that avoiding the inevitable (for some of us) hangover and drastically cutting the expense are huge motivators, BUT there are others that have nothing to do with either. Consider:

- The overall wreckage of your health. The human body was not designed to intake AL in im-moderate quantities on a regular basis, no matter how "fine" a person thinks they feel the next day
- The bother of it all, i.e., always having to have AL available and how much trouble that is
- The alienation of living in your own bubble because you're hiding your little secret (or worse, thinking that you're hiding it)
- The anxiety and depression that you surely have to some degree but can't see that you have because of the AL

And, if all that wasn't enough, what about the statistic (unverified by me at the moment because I;m short on time this morning but all over the Internet in reliable sources):

"The average alcoholic dies twenty-six years earlier than he or she would otherwise."

[OverIt2007]

An interesting question

Thanks LilBit. Great post for motivating me even more. When I think about the "unscene" damage that may be lurking, I get scared stiff.


I want to be around for a long, long time. I have a little boy who needs me, and I want to be able to watch him grow into a man. Im the only parent he has.


Congratulations on your 30 days!!! I am genuinely happy for you!!!

[Popeye]

An interesting question

It's the way I behave and I think when I'm drinking that worries me more and the long term effects on my body and mind. I was usually OK after 2 or 3 nights in a row. The 4th was a real killer though. I had to have a day off and then start again.
So bloody senseless.

[Winefree]

An interesting question

Dear SO, lack of a true hangover how I thought it should be was a reason I was never deterred from drinking. I blamed my tiredness on lack of sleep( I have sleep apnea and have trouble sleeping,my reason for drinking), since it (AL) made me doze off. But it was probably in retrospect why I felt tired, since now that I haven't been drinking, even if I don't get a long sleep in and wake up many times, I am more mentally alert in the morning. So I guess, AL wasn't my friend for trying to get better sleep, but I didn't know it.
Unfortunately, live and learn.
The cost, the potential health risks, missing out on your life or good portions of it are all good reasons not to drink. ANd if you have a son to raise, he NEEDS you to be sober. SO keep working on it. I drank socially while my kids were growing up, so I didn;t have that as a concern. My problems started later after they were grown.

Winefree

[57Shelby]

An interesting question

OverIt-
Very thought provoking question. I think you would get differing answers if you asked a roomful of people who were not already trying to quit. We all have a bias in favor of quitting.

Having said that. It is MY feeling so bad in the morning after, that always initiates my desire to quit. When I start truly contemplating all the other factors, those are the ones that hold the most weight in my decision to quit.

Thanks for giving us a little food for thought today.
Shelby

[Doggygirl]

An interesting question

ITA with everything LittleBit, Winefree and Pops posted, and I'll add these benefits which I discovered over AF time:

* AL sucked up all my time. I did barely anything beyond plan to drink, drink, and recover from drinking when I was drinking. Now I lead a full life each and every day and have time to enjoy new endeavors and I actually accomplish things each day instead of procrastinating everything possible each day. My days feel so much more rewarding now.

* AL is a depressant!!!!!!! I actually had quite a bit of "what's it all for?" and actual suicide thinking going on at the end of my drinking career. I don't think like that at all any more. No anti-depressants, no therapy sessions, just no AL. What a difference. (not dissing meds or therapy where they are needed!) We tend to think of AL as a happy friend, but he's really not.

* I like myself sober a LOT better than I liked myself drunk. I hated myself drunk. When I think back to those days, I'm mortified.

* No more need to lie lie lie lie lie all the time about planning to drink, drinking, and recovering from drinking and try to hide the fact that's all I was really living for.

Best of strength to you. If you are concerned about the role AL is playing in your life, then there's your sign.

DG

[Tabbers (a.k.a. KTAB)]

An interesting question

Very interesting thread guys with some valuable observations and so accurate in my case. I think it might be helpful to look at some of these point if tempted to pick up a glass again just to remind ones self how things were before AF.
KTAB

[Boss.man]

An interesting question

For me overall it's part of the mid-life aging process. I used to have a one-to-one downtime ratio. So 3 hours of drinking meant 3 hours of recovery. I'm 48 now, and whether because of my age, or because of past drinking, my ratio is four to one now. So 3 hours of drinking means 12 hours of recovery withdrawls and other symptoms (stuffy nose, headaches, sweats). I just don't bounce back, and I suffer more.

I read somewhere that a majority of people naturally stop drinking as they pass through mid-life and into old age. That was the case with my grandparents and parents.

Somehow I imagined that "naturally stop drinking" was a peaceful process. For me it was a crashing horror, with painful symptoms and phenomenal relapse binges that were worse than my drinking ever had been before.

But in retrospect it has only been about eight months for me so far, and I feel like I'm over the hump now. My image of myself is definitely a post-drinker; I don't care what other people think, and I'm happy with the path I've chosen for myself at this point. I think there's hope for all. It's just getting there that is the problem.

[LVT25]

An interesting question

"The average alcoholic dies twenty-six years earlier than he or she would otherwise."

This caught my attention. I believe it.

And this: I read somewhere that a majority of people naturally stop drinking as they pass through mid-life and into old age. That was the case with my grandparents and parents.

I think (hope-except for the old age part) that this might be me.

[mom2ajt]

An interesting question

For me, although the hangovers suck, I didn't get them that often. I was more horrified when I remembered something I said or did while drinking. I hate to admit this - it is disgusting - but once went to a parent / teacher conference after having margaritas at lunch with a friend. I am sure I reeked and am so embaressed to even think about it. That is not the person that I want to be and I try to remember that if the thought of alcohol even enters my mind.

[Lavande]

An interesting question

My life had turned into one giant, perpetual hangover - it never got worse - it was always just there and I really did feel like crap all of the time. I am sorry I wasted years of my life like that but I did. I can't do a thing to change the past but I will assure a better future for myself
Yes, I have learned my lesson, the hard way!!

[LilBit]

An interesting question

"The average alcoholic dies twenty-six years earlier than he or she would otherwise."

Everyone, i really enjoyed reading your responses -- they are great food for thought! I wanted to follow up on the chilling statistic I presented earlier because I'm a geek and can't sleep at night unless I "dot the i's." When I researched the source of the quote, I came across an even starker statistic from an earlier (2001) U.S. CDC study.

"...approximately 30 years of life [are] lost on average per alcohol-attributable deaths..." Here's the web site, and there are many more out there. Alcohol-Attributable Deaths and Years of Potential Life Lost --- United States, 2001

The sobering (pun intended) thought of losing a third of one's life is certainly enough to make anyone ditch the vino, but also I commiserate with everyone who's more deterred by the horror of how AL makes us act. I'll spare you the gory details, but let's just say that I've done many things that still make me turn red from just thinking about them.

Thanks, Overit, for starting a very thought-provoking discussion!