saying so long to an old friend: my experience with quitting booze

I've actually gotten quite a few requests from people for me to write about my experience with quitting drinking. so here it is.

Where do I begin? The last time I had a sip of alcohol was probably around 3am on the 27th of June. How do I know this? Well, for one, it was the weekend before the 4th of July, but also, if you've had the long run with booze like I had (about a solid 14 years), then you really fixate on when your mind can start to think clearly again.

I used to drink, a lot. Not often, just every single weekend, and when I drank... I DRANK! I know what you're thinking, "dude, I drink a lot too".... well, I'm just gonna go out on a limb here and say, put your baby shit away.

I'd like to preface this next sentence with the notion that in no way at all do I think the amount of how much I was able to put away in a night is something to be looked up to or emulated. When I talk about drinking a lot, I'm talking about something in the ball park of maybe a 750ml bottle of vodka or an 18 pack of Guinness... to pregame, and then, I'd go out to the bar and more than likely, have about 8-10 beers, or else I'd go straight for the Jim Beam and cokes... doubles, just a spritz of coke, for about 6-8... and all of that isn't counting possible shots that I might take... although, I'm not big on doing shots... I mean, come on, I do have my limits

Oh yea, I also forgot to mention my affinity to buy about 2 or 3 Four Lokos around midnight, when I'm slowly fading away to "see you next week" land, and slam those so I could hang for a couple more hours.

I know what you're thinking.. "bullshit" and I wish I could say that it was bullshit, but its not.

I'm not proud of it at all. Now that I'm sober and look back on it, I'm actually pretty ashamed. The sad fact is though, I've been drinking like that since I was in high school. I used to carry a 30 pack around with me at every party I'd go to, and I've been known to finish it on more than several occasions.

So fast forward to June 27. I woke up the next morning, and after several months of hating the way I was, I made a decision. I decided to quit drinking. I mean, sure, I had a lot of good times going out with friends, but I put it into perspective. Any time I actually had a good time, I wasn't that drunk. (You know how good of a time you can have when your little buddy won't wake up? not a very good one)

I know that most people would just say, "Why don't you just not drink as much?" Well, lets take a look at my life. I joined the military at 17 and decided to jump out of planes. I got out, moved to Ohio and took up a sport that has put me through injuries in 3 years than I ever had in the entirety of my life beforehand, I threw on 60lbs of body weight in less than a year, and now I'm going through poverty so I can make my dreams of never having to work a 9-5 job come true... I'm not one for moderation.

I don't understand the concept of moderation. Fuck moderation, its stupid. Either I'm doing it, or I'm not. I don't do anything "once in a while". I'm stubborn as fuck and I love to do things to the extreme, which has its downfalls, but I guarantee you'll never have to question my commitment toward something, whether its a friendship, relationship or sport. So on that note, I had to quit cold turkey, otherwise, I wasn't going to quit at all.

Don't get me wrong, I definitely miss going out and getting a buzz going, but I have bigger fish to fry. You know what its like to have a 4 day hangover and to try to be productive? And I'm not talking about the 4th day just being a day of lingering effects... its still a full on hangover. It sucks.

Oh yea, lets not forget that I smoked about a pack of cigarettes, if not more, every night that I drank. It was horrible. I constantly felt like shit and had the audacity to wonder why my training wasn't going anywhere.

I was blowing smoke up my own ass. I was telling myself that I was a strength athlete when in all actuality, I was a drunk who participated in a sport.

I hit my own version of rock bottom and it was awful. Thank God my version of rock bottom is only fucking up my grades and not going anywhere in my sport. It could have been a lot worse... lets just say, I'm happy I never had to suck a dick.

Well, lets fast forward to today. I feel great. I'm a lean, mean, machine. My priorities in life have changed drastically. Once I stopped focusing on what I was going to drink that coming weekend and started focusing on working toward goals to get my dream going, doors began to "magically" open. Its amazing what happens when you start to actually work hard instead of just wondering why shit never goes your way.

I'll admit one thing though. Its a lonely road. If you're going to make a decision to change your life like I did, make sure you have a good support system. I have a great support system, but like I said before, I'm a "face things head on" type of guy and asking for help isn't exactly my strong suit, but I know its there and I'm thankful.

Being on a college campus doesn't make things any easier. I might as well be a fucking leper. I'd like to say I don't care, but I'll always have that feeling like I'm missing out on something. My only saving grace is the fact that I'm a narcissist and I know that the work and dedication I'm putting into the moves I'm making now, are going to pay off in the future.

I mean, lets face it... I wish I was out every night chasing down hot college broads and getting shitfaced with my friends, but I also know that in 5 years, when I'm on top of the world, none of that shit will have mattered... those college broads will be telling there friends how in one point in time, they knew me and I'll be laughing in my bath tub full of hundred dollar bills (yes, I'm going to bathe in money when I get rich)

I dunno... my experience is just like any other decision. You just have to do it.. not "want" to do it, JUST FUCKING DO IT. Making the decision to do something is 99 percent of accomplishing a task... the actual execution is easy. (I should site Dave Tate here, since I got this idea from one of his articles.)

If there is something not going your way in your life, or you're wondering why things aren't going your way, take a look in the mirror and wonder why that is. For me, it was because of alcohol. What's your "excuse"? How are you holding yourself back?