SPOTLIGHT ON…
Letters from
Readers
A number of readers have recently been in touch with Sober
24, telling their stories and sharing their experience, strength, and hope with
us. If you’d like to be in touch, too, you can “Tell Us Your Story”here.
We’d love to hear from you.
‘I need a safe place’
I need to
stop binge drinking. I need a safe place to get help to do this. The idea of
going to AA gives me panic – I tried it for over a year once. Every member of
my family of origin is alcoholic. I have a history of major depression,
possibly other mental disorders (hypomania, ADD, panic disorder). Apart from
depression, partly relating to alcohol dependence (or whatever it should be
called), the other disorders are not presently issues for me. I can't stand the
pejoratives thrown around for people with an alcohol problem. "Alcohol
abuse" is a nonsense name for the problem. How about cigarette abuse? Caffeine abuse? No, I'm abusing ME, and I
want to fix that.
I am
assuming this site is a nonjudgmental one and therefore safe to share our
stories, thoughts, successes to help each other. I just want to get a handle on
the drinking so I don't ruin the rest of my life (which means the lives of my
husband, children, grandchildren) and so we can enjoy what should be about
30 more years.
Thanks for
caring and creating this site.
Wanabfree
‘A helping hand from
God’
I found
this site while looking for help from my alcohol addiction. To anyone who
doesn't realize what damage alcohol does, read on. I am 47 and drink most days
-- amazing what you do to get the money. I drink in the house on my own and
wouldn't like to think how many units. I have lost so much weight and find it
hard to move around, and I shake so much. Did I mention my wife walked out 3
months ago, and I don't blame her, and I will be evicted from here in the next
2 weeks and have no real prospects of a new home, as the job went, too. Alcohol
completely destroyed my life and as much as I would like to stop I can't
because I have distanced myself so far from everybody I have no support.
Please
folks if you can stop, do it -- because alcohol will destroy and kill.
* * *
Just a
follow up to my initial e-mail. I have not logged out of Sober24 since I
joined. I have found people’s help and advice unbelievable. This is my 3rd day
sober, and I have just come back from my second AA meeting in 2 days. Truly, I
have never looked for help before; now I understand what help is out there. I
intend to seize it and day by day get better from this disease. My member name
is oneday and I have been constantly
talking with everyone, trying to understand and gain knowledge and strength. I
have taken heart from joining Sober24. I got home to 10 messages from members.
As to my
other problems, well, they will work themselves out. God will show me the way.
Indeed I was very nervous going to my first AA meeting but when I arrived there
was a chap who I knew and put me at my ease. If that wasn't a helping hand from
God, I do not know what is.
Please
print this follow-up, as I wish to encourage everyone there is help out there
and that day-by-day recovery can be done. God bless you all.
Oneday
‘Why was I born like
this?’
I have been
on a rollercoaster trip that just won’t end. When I quit alcohol an eating
disorder made its way back into my life, and when I tried to cure that a severe
depression reared its head, and when I fought that my body gave in to a staph
infection that is almost worse than all the rest.
I am very
much a believer in God, but ask him 100 times a day why was I born like this???
For me it’s
not hereditary. I'm a mess and everyone else is normal. And this mess has been
in my life for 20 years and I haven't been given peace through many – too many
to count -- suicide attempts.
Being model
beautiful has only made things worse because it doesn't seem believable.
Truthfully, I've been incarcerated over the last 2 years and in treatment too
many times to count anymore. AA is a great thought, but it lets my spirit down
because I'm a failure!!!!! Any hope?
Kim
‘My story of
recovery’
I would
like to share my recent poem with all of you. A.R.K. ANGEL is included in
my upcoming book -- a journey through my early years of abuse at the hands of
my father, leading to my unhealthy behavior and ultimately to my addiction and
it's consequences. This is my story of recovery.
"A.R.K." Angel
Angels sent
from God above,
to
encourage us through times of pain.
They guide
us on the paths of life
to complete
our journey in his name.
Angels
share our thoughts
through
signs we often ignore.
They are messengers of God
who whisper
softly his words and more.
My Angel
speaks to me each day
to say it's
time to pave the way.
How you ask
can I succeed in accomplishing the Almighty's deed?
Build an Ark. But one was built
before our time.
So build us
another with Acts of Random Kindness. (ARK)
Dianna
‘Scared as Hell’
I guess I
feel that before I begin joining meetings, etc., I should tell a bit about
myself. This is my first attempt at asking for help from strangers with my
sobriety. I guess if I were counting days I' d be at day 8. I have gone longer,
of course, but the devil liquor keeps calling me back. I am a 26-year-old girl
with too long a story to tell.
The first
time I got drunk it was my 13th birthday and I blacked out. I started stealing
booze and cigarettes from my dad and other people shortly after. My mother
began supplying me with pot around the same time. By the time I was 16, I was
on just about anything I could get my hands on. I was addicted to meth, took
acid, ‘shrooms, special k, coke, and pain pills regularly. I tended to drink at
parties but only when nothing else was available. I was not only using every
day but also dealing.
When I
turned 18, I moved to a small town and quit using all but the weed. This to me
seemed a huge victory. Within a year I began to drink again. A friend and I
would easily split a fifth of vodka a night.
I have been
trying for some time now to figure out what it is I want to do with my life. I
have traveled far and wide, moved to different cities and countries looking for
what it is I crave. I know now that I have been running away all my life,
hoping that the next place can somehow heal me.
I am scared
as Hell that I will not be able to do this alone, and yet afraid to ask for
help or let people know my condition. I guess I am just looking for support
here.
Thank you
for listening and being here. Reading your stories has helped.
Anonymous