A Self-congratulatory reminder/anniversary

[Dobick]

I debated whether I would post anything or not, but I figured that a proclaimation couldn't help but keep me on track (a reminder of sorts)

10 years ago this week, I took my last drink of alcohol.

Some days it seems like that was a lifetime ago, and others it is way to vivid.

Funny thing about it though, as long as I can remember since that week, I have always had the date of 17 October in my mind as the anniversery date, but this week I went back and looked at a calendar, and realized that my last drink was on a Wednesday of that week, which turns out to be the 15th.

Several events led up to the decision to quit drinking back then, which all told are a pretty long and boring set of stories, but suffice it to say that it was High time to grow up and act a little bit more responsible for my life.

If anyone would like to know more details, or have any questions that I may can help with, do not hesitate to ask, as I am happy to share.

[Bella]

Good for you for taking control of your life. Such an event is definitely worth noting.

-Cindy

[kenw]

congrats.

(any more words that I add pale in significance to your accomplishment. It is truly a huge deal.)

[darktiger]

Congrats, I wish my dad had the strength to do that before he drank himself to death while I was a teenager. What a dumbass...

[OTRphoto]

That is truely an accomplishment deserving of a Congrats!!!

[HeatherLou]

I love to hear that!!!! Congrats!

[Lexie]

An Awesome Accomplishment! Congratulations!!

[TXFZ1]

Congrats, great story and thanks for sharing it.

David

[amy.blackburn]

Wow! That is awesome! Good for you!!

[jagphoto]

Congratulations! Keep going strong.

[Dobick]

I want to say thank you to everyone. It is responses like this that make TPF way more than just an online forum. There very well may be someone who read my initial post and had some negative thought, and on any other forum, it would have been immediately shared, but here, people are very respectful, and don't usually say anything here that they wouldn't say in the real world.

Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you for the kind words!

[brad]

Dude. Congratulations. Seriously. Any addiction is a hard thing to beat. Be proud, always.

[Dobick]

not sure what got me thinking about this today, but I finally typed out a funny/poignent story dealing with my sobriety:

Back in the middle of 2005, I had been going on around 7 to 8 years of sobriety, when I happened upon a show on TV...

Now let me back up a bit here. Back in 1997 when I got sober, I never really thought that I had a problem with alcohol. I thought all the trouble that I had gotten into related to alcohol was a result of:
a) me being a bit stupid and careless
b) a bit of bad luck
c) me being young and reckless.

So with that said, here it is 7 years later, and I am feeling pretty good and strong, and overall generally proud of myself for having the intestinal fortitude to quit drinking, generally get my life in order, and just all around become a pretty good guy. Contrast that with the fact that I never really thought of myself as an alcoholic. Funny how the mind can work sometimes -- I was extremely prideful about abstaining from something that I thought had no power or sway over me in the first place. Yeah, I was a little messed up in the head (still am!)

Ok, so back to the story that I started telling in the beginning. In 2005 (probably april or may) I had been thinking that I could probably start drinking again as long as I set some strict rules for myself, and just generally practiced a bit of self control. In the back of my mind I began to formulate a bit of a plan to test out how I would go about stepping off the "wagon" gracefully (so to speak.) Maybe at some point just have a glass of wine like a normal human would do when they are out at dinner.

With this bit of thinking going on in my head (gradually gaining more traction in my mind for some strange reason) I get home from work one Monday night and settle in to watch a bit of rasslin'. Now I am not much of a wrestling fan, but at the time, it was one of the only programs on TV on a Monday night that I cared to watch (I didn't have cable or satellite at the time so the choices were a bit limited.) I am not sure whether it was WCW or WWF or what, and I really didn't care. It was mindless boob toob entertainment, or so I thought. For what ever reason, that night the network was playing "Cheating Death, Stealing Life: The Eddie Guerrero Story." For those of you unfamiliar with this documentary, I will first say that you should make time to watch it. It is an inspirational story that doesn't try to sugar coat Guerro to be a hero. It lays it out there with an open and non-glamourous look into the life that this man lead.

I am sure you are asking yourself, "Great! What does all this have to do with you and drinking?" When I turned the TV on that evening, the program was already more than halfway through. Just so happens that I turned it on at a point in Guerro's life where he had just been arrested in Indianapolis for DUI. Impactful enough on its own, but it was the words that Eddie spoke when recounting this part of his life for the documentary that hit me like a freight train.

"God, What happened? I'm really trying to do the right thing here. All I wanted to do was have one glass of wine. That's really... Those were my real intentions. That's all I really wanted to do was have a glass of wine like any normal human being... I know now in my life I can never ever safely take a drink again. My life was basically turned upside down!"

In November of 2005 Eddie Guerro passed away.

I never got the opportunity to tell Eddie Guerro thank you.

Here in 2010, I am now 12 going on 13 years of sobriety, and without this very direct message sent TO ME straight from God through the life of Eddie Guerro, I am certain that would not be the case.

I know now in my life I can never ever safely take a drink again, and even if all I really want to do is have a glass of wine like a normal human being, I know that I will never be a normal human being. Not when it comes to alcohol.

Just thought I would share it here for anyone interested.

by the way -- the special that I am referring to (and specifically the part of the video) is this one at aproximately 7:45 into it.

[ngoduyviet]

Congratz, now let's all go out for a drink :) j/k.

I'm glad you got control of your life. I don't know if I can handle some of my addiction, nothing bad mind you, things like online games and lens collection, but still.

[Lexie]

Congrats Kent! A decision you will never regret! Proud of you!