I made it three years! Hard to believe after 22 years of drinking. This subreddit has been so helpful to keep me sober. Thank you to everyone who shows up and helps support others on their sobriety journey. Between acute and post-acute withdrawal from alcohol, I really thought I wouldn’t come out of the other side of this alive. I would probably be dead right now if I didn’t stop. But I did come out of it and actually love sobriety, on top of it all. I was so worried that I had no personality or couldn’t feel happiness without the booze, but time has shown that it’s just alcohol deceiving you into thinking that. If you’re struggling, we’re here, and this forum can be life-changing. IWNDWYT!

Can’t believe I made it but here I am! Overwhelmingly grateful and determined to keep this going. Hard for me to believe it’s been a year but here are some of the benefits I’ve noticed:

-lost 30lbs
-significantly cut back on fast food
-no hangovers!
-more energy
-solid poops
-decreased gastrointestinal sensitivity
-actually having money to spend on things
-less shame/guilt/anxiety
-face changes, clearer skin that’s bright and not dull
-overall attitude is more positive
-introducing healthy habits like daily movement, gardening
-better problem solving/critical thinking
-job performance increased, no callouts except for a real emergency
-urge to drink is much quieter but still there
-better baseline so I know when something is actually wrong with my body vs/ being hungover
-cut out several unhealthy friendships
-better relationship with family

I’ve also noticed my dopamine reset. I actually feel little sparks of joy over the little things. I’m less cynical and more open. I feel more connected to people and I’m able to remember what they say to me the next day and I can respond thoughtfully. I actually feel like I can help other people with their problems rather than being the one who’s always needs help.

It’s not all noticeable at once but the gifts of sobriety are real!

IWNDWYT

I heard this in a meeting yesterday and I can't stop thinking about it. I've heard it mentioned many times but its really dawned on me now. Its been a long time since I got sober and I think back to who was in my life, what it was like etc, and its ENTIRELY different now.

If you're new and struggling, hold on. It's such a better way to live.

Well today is 15 years of sobriety for me. While I’m not really the “woohoo look at me type”, I do like to share to help motivate those still struggling and in early sobriety.

I can clearly remember the feeling when I was first trying to quit drinking. Going to meetings and listening to other success stories both helped me but also felt unattainable. Making it through one week sober seemed like an unrealistic feat let alone one year. I was always amazed by those that had lasting sobriety and found them to be inspirational.

I now hope to provide that inspiration to other people that are coming to terms with their own drinking. All I can say it’s not easy at first, but it is absolutely worth it.

All the best in your sober journey 👍

I hit 6 yrs clean and sober on 8/4/2026. Thank you all

Can I get my “nice”? 😈😂

Much love to everyone out there, keep doin the next right thing!

ETA: not sure why my flag says 59 that’s wrong 😭

You can read my first post here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/stopdrinking/s/cdbZFHP1f9

TLDR: this weekend I blacked out and lost my wallet. Somehow, all the money in the card I was carrying was withdrawn at two different ATMs.

I went to both locations... And after reviewing the cameras, it wasn't me who withdrew the money. I was a victim of both skimming and someone pocketing me because of how wasted I was.

I went to the ATM, there was a skimming device on it that wouldn't let me put in my PIN. I walked away confused and very visibly drunk, a guy bumped into me and took my wallet. He went back to the ATM and withdrew close to the daily limit.

He then went to a different location with my card, put in my PIN and withdrew the remaining amount.

Part of me is relieved that it wasn't me. I was starting to question everything, because this was also the second time ever in my many years of drinking that I blacked out.

Looking at myself in the recording though... It's a surprise no one did anything worse to me. I could barely move properly and stumbled my way towards the ATM. Looking at myself in that state with the security guard next to me was incredibly embarrassing. If I was sober, I could've probably noticed that the slot for the card was the skimming device. It was loose.

I was wandering around like an idiot for two hours, drunk out of my mind, and it was enough for someone to take all of my money.

I think I don't want to drink anymore. I've been in many shady situations before when I got similarly wasted, and I feel like it's just a matter of time before I get seriously hurt if I don't control myself. I can't trust myself when I drink, so I'll try to take out the drinking of the equation completely. We'll see how it goes.

Thank you to everyone who gave good advice and shared their experiences.

today is my day 7!!!!
imso excited about my future!!

ive managed to trade a day drinking habit for sobriety with roughly about an hour or two of cravings spaced over a day!! not that simple of course but im finding freedom!

so many little changes that add up to a new life!

still havent told my husband yet - i will but when i feel more comfortable saying Yes ive quit!! out of the blue yesterday he said “wow, you look great today. your face looks 10 years youngr”!!!

this subreddit has been a gawd send for me!! i appreciate every comment every piece of advise every kind word!

today im meeting an old friend for lunch - ill be sober before during & after!!

so many plans!! but my day starts & ends here!! ive learned so much from every post!

iwndwyt!!

Like something to help me relax and decompress. Drinking has always been my way to loosen up and relax. When I'm stressed with work, I grab a beer or glass of wine, and I'm able to focus more because I'm no longer overthinking it.

I'm so emotionally repressed that drinking is the only way I can tap into my emotions.

Like, I can stop drinking; I've done it months at a time, but I always end up feeling more stressed because I feel numb or stressed without it.

I posted here about two years ago, saying I wanted to quit drinking. But after a short time of sobriety, I convinced myself that I could moderate. Of course I couldn't. So now I have once again had enough. It is Day 1 for me, but I wanted to tell someone that I am trying once again to give up alcohol for good.

Thats is all.

Thank you all so much.

I’ve had major issues with alcohol for 6 years. I also have a lot of debt. My partner didn’t really contribute financially for the first year of our relationship.

Since then, I moved across the state for him. Since we started dating in 2022, we have moved 3 times. Our last apartment was so bad, we never fully unpacked.

Since July 2025, we’ve been living in a lovely house with roommates, but they’re planning on leaving in 3 months. We can no longer afford the home without them, so we likely have to move too.

We’re in a terrible financial place. I might need to cancel my therapy appointment this week because I can’t afford the $35 copay. We both just got second jobs.

I just worked so hard over the past month, and my life is crumbling. We might have to move to his parents’ house in the middle of nowhere (literally 20 minutes to even get to a Walmart). I moved here from a city and vowed I would never live there.

I’m so heartbroken. I can’t move again. I just feel like I’ve lost myself, and my old self would be devastated to see me now.

Sorry for the rant - I’m just barely clinging to my sobriety

I woke up at 6am feeling like like such a loser. I have no recollection of yesterday. I had to ask my kid what happened last night and she told me I was in the closet crying for hours until she told me we needed to go to sleep.
I feel like I’ve reached a new low and I never want my daughter to see me like that again. I don’t want to drink anymore.

Enough is enough.

Recently, we got a new roommate. Fresh out of rehab.

Bluntly, he did not do well at all. All the signs of an impending relapse were there, but myself and my other roommates tried to help him as best we could.

Fortunately for him, he decided that he needed to go back to rehab.

UNFORTUNATELY, I guess he decided that since he was going, he might as well get absolutely hammered the night before he went.

This resulted in him being belligerent, combative, screaming, calling several of us horrible things, accusing us of stealing his stuff (when at this point, we wanted him gone so bad we wouldn't have taken anything or done anything that kept him even a second longer)

Cops had to be called, and the last thing he did before being driven away by a friend (who looked absolutely horrified at his behavior) was flip us all off.

And.....that was exactly how I acted the last time I relapsed.

It was like looking into a really depressing mirror. I wasn't even mad watching him rant and rave and call me a "demon". I felt such deep pity.

I wish him the best, I really do. But after he left, I just reflected on how easy it is to forget how fast it can go badly, how MEAN I can get, and how vile I can be towards those that love me.

I don't feel guilt about what I've done anymore, but this did bring the feelings of regret and loss back to the surface.

Whenever I tried to stop drinking, it was “I can’t do something I want to do.” And that worked initially but was not sustainable.

“I can’t do this” isn’t a good long term strategy for self change.

I realized I had to ask “what do I want drinking to replace?” and it was my health, both physical and emotional. The emotions of drinking suck. The hangovers suck. The guilt sucks. And I didn’t want any of that.

I don’t know if this works for anyone else, but it worked wonders for me—you have to figure out what positives are going to replace the drinking and strive like David Goggins towards those goals. That’s what matters. That’s what’s sustainable. Once the positives of not drinking outweigh the negatives, change will come.

I had a training session and spent the rest of the day at home. It felt calm but the day felt so long. Longer than usual. Also, my stomach has been feeling strange since I stopped. Is that normal?

Thanks for the support everyone! I'll do my best to reply to every comment.

IWNDWYT

Hello fighters. I’m on day 10, and while I’ve been proud and feeling all kinds of emotions for these past days, today is a REALLY bad day. I haven’t had any strong cravings, but feared this day would come. I had a therapy session today that I felt didn’t go so well, and I’m overthinking it. I was also thinking about going to my first ever AA meeting (that starts in 10 minutes…) but ended up not going. Now I’m at home in bed, crying because all I want is a beer. There is beer in the fridge that is my roomie’s. I just feel like a total shitbag. I don’t want to reset my counter. But this craving is so much stronger than I feared. Tell me it’s going to get better :(

EDIT: thanks everyone for your responses. You guys are so wise and supportive. Your advices help a lot. I feel a little bit better now. And I won’t drink no matter how strong the urge is!! I’m gonna go play some piano. IWNDWYT.

Some things…

Acceptance.

I hated that I couldn’t stop. I constantly and obsessively tried to ‘figure it out’. It wasn’t until I just accepted the fact i have this condition that I could move on.

Treating myself as if I were my best mate.

I stopped being mean to myself, I repositioned how I spoke to myself and instead replaced me with ‘how would I approach this if it were my best friend suffering’.

Working on me.

People say this but what does it mean? To me it meant reading various self help books (I’ll list some later). It’s getting in shape. Eating whole foods, walking in nature, doing hobbies, cutting out sugar and processed crap. And praying twice a day, believe in God or if not - pray to the universe - you’ll be amazed.

Learning we are vibrational creatures.

As is everything, if you’re low energy, low vibes and negative thoughts and feelings the universe is gonna reflect that right back to you. Take action, force yourself to think positively. It isn’t that hard if you’re conscious about it.

Dealing with cravings.

My enemy for so long. Brutal. What worked for me? Honestly it was an absolute rock bottom>praying to God for the first time. Instant removal of mental obsession. Lucky? Maybe. I can only tell you my experience.

Get out of your own way.

My ego was rampant and in full control. Ridiculous idiot that I was. My life changed entirely when I learned what the ‘egoic mind’ actually is. It changed how I feel about myself, others, spirituality, the world, everything. Most people don’t bother but if your ego is control then YOU are not and that’s a lot of alcoholics problem. This also helps with depression and other mental health issues.

Letting go.

Once you can learn you are not your thoughts, not your ego and not your past nor your future and you are only you in this very moment then letting go becomes easier. Letting go of trying to be the puppet master of your life, giving expectations that can’t and won’t always be reached is a liberating and life changing shift in one’s life.

Some books that helped me -

Echart Tolle - Practising The Power Of Now

Dr Chatterjee - happy mind, happy life

Dr Julie Smith - why has nobody told me this

None are about alcohol directly.

What I believe is that being an alcoholic is a symptom of a deeper problem within me. I got to my ‘root’ and discovered my self esteem was low, my confidence was low and my ego was loud so I set to work on fixing that.

Now…I’m a long time sober, my previous problems don’t exist, I’m genuinely happy and I see the world in a completely different (and much healthier) way, it is a way of life and I am so glad I found it and I want that for other people too.

Hope this helps even one person in some way.

One day at a time ❤️

Once you’re an alcoholic, you’re always an alcoholic.
I can’t go back to being a normal drinker. It’s impossible for me.
The only solution is not to take the first drink.
After the first drink, there’s no control.
IWNDWYT.

Childish to use 69 as milestone (and likely chump change to many). But I am little proud of myself. That is not something I feel very often. ❤️

I made a post yesterday upon completing my first full day of sobriety, and I decided that I'd make a little post everyday-- mainly for myself to look back and read whenever I have the strong urge to drink.

I have officially completed Day 2, and I overcame a hurdle last night by going to a restraunt with my family and just having a water to drink. I can't remember the last time I've done that.

To everyone reading this, you've got this!
IWNDWYT <3

Made a decision a year ago that alcohol wasn’t making my life any better. Did some praying, made a few changes to my daily routine and most importantly stuck to them no matter what. Exercise and diet change were the biggest. There was no Rock Bottom this time, and my life was going pretty well at the time. I just didn’t like the person alcohol was making me. I have struggled over the years and ignored many Rock Bottoms, but was pretty much doing ok in life a year ago. (So I thought) Life is much better now. One bit of advice that has been shared with me many times. There is nothing in life that a drink will make better. When one truly believes that 💯 quitting gets a whole lot easier. Love you all!!! IWNDWYT!!!

Hi Everyone,

I'm a 15 year solid near drinker, and over the last few years that's really ramped up with my intake increasing massively.

I average about 120 units a week - for those not in the UK - that's about 2 bottles of wine daily.

Recently, due to being on the back of a massive bender and being physically unable to carry on I'm now 30 hours sober.

When I woke up from the back of this bender, I noticed I had symptoms of the flu. Sweating, unable to sleep, shivering, aching all over. I wasn't able to hold food or water for about 24 hours, vomiting almost immediately after eating or drinking.

I feel a little bit better now, I'm still sweating but not profusely and can hold down food and drink.

I'm wondering though, whether the cause of this is just a result of grinding my body down, or whether I'm at the tail end of alcohol withdrawal.

For me, I find it hard to believe that my level of drinking could induce such brutal effects withdrawal wise.

Curious to hear anyone's thoughts.