MacGyverisms

I have never been drunk, and have never intended to allow myself to get wasted. I think getting drunk is pretty much the dumbest thing you could do. Its why so many women wake up in bed next to a strange man and assume they were raped. Its why people get into fights and get into their cars and drive, then end up crashing into a tree or something.
How many women end up pregnant from a one night stand, which would never have resulted had they been sober? I could never allow myself to be so irresponsible - there is no such thing as a responsible drunk.

But even though I never allowed myself to get drunk, I did have a problem with alcohol, which I was able to recognise.

I never used to drink much, but when I got my job, I could afford to buy alcohol, and I did. I'd buy slabs of Vodka Cruisers (the drinks referred to as alcoholic cordial) and drink them in a matter of days.
When I got my own place, I could buy more. My fridge was filled with Cruisers, all different flavors - lime, lemon, orange, blackcurrant, blueberry etc.

I'd have my first drink first thing in the morning, at 10am. I'd have another for lunch, for for dinner, and one later while relaxing. Sometimes I'd wake in the middle of the night and have a craving for a drink. I remember one night waking at 4am, needing a drink, so I went to the fridge and opened a bottle. It satisfied my cravings and I was able to go back to bed. I drank the rest of the bottle in the morning when I woke up.

I thought that I didn't have a problem because I had never allowed myself to get drunk. I always drunk on a full stomach and stopped drinking if I felt light headed.

After a few years I got sick. My stomach kept giving me trouble so I was booked in for an endoscopy, where a camera would be inserted down my throat, into my stomach. I got the results of that test a few weeks later - gastritis, which is basically an inflammation of the stomach lining.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastritis

I was told that one of the main causes of gastritis was excessive alcohol consumption. I didn't think anything of it, because then I didn't think I had anything to worry about. It was only when I had my next drink that it finally hit me. The craving for alcohol early in the morning, having an alcoholic drink with breakfast, it was dangerous, and it was making me sick. I had ruined my own body because of my drinking.

That same day, I tipped all my bottles of drink down the sick and put them in the bin. I haven't touched a drop of alcohol since then. Its been nearly 3 and a half years since my last drink, and I am glad I made it this far.

I won't deny its been hard - having a grog shop in the local supermarket was hard, as I had to walk past it every day and see the displays. I'd want to go in and buy just one drink..but one drink would turn into 2, then 3...I couldn't do it. Sometimes it would be almost impossible not to go in and buy a drink, but I walked past that shop every single time. I used all my willpower not to enter, and over time, the cravings started to lessen. In about six months, I still had cravings, but not as severe. Within a year, it was only the occasional craving. Three years on and I have no cravings at all. I've done it. I've rid my life of a poisonous drug which had the potential to do me serious harm.

So when anyone else out there says that they can't stop drinking, I don't listen to them. I had a problem, I recognised it, and I quit. Yes, it is hard, yes it takes willpower, but we all have willpower and we can use it to better ourselves. If I can do it, so can you.