Inspiration: Quitting The Drink. (Pearl Jam Related)

NoCode78 · December 2007

Hi guys,

First time Poster LONG TIME WATCHER

.

Well some will say im crazy some will say well done. Well im quitting Alcohol for good (fingers crossed) at probably the craziest time of year. I was just wondering if any of you guys know besides Mike if there is anyone else who doesn't touch alcohol at all? I am looking for inspiration and would even love a list of musicians anyone might know who have kicked the habit as well.

Anyways Merry Christmas guys and have a safe year.

NeverNamed068 · December 2007

Don't use Eddie as a role model...

And good for you,

Stay off it.

broken_joystick · December 2007

NoCode78 wrote:

Hi guys,

First time Poster LONG TIME WATCHER .

Well some will say im crazy some will say well done. Well im quitting Alcohol for good (fingers crossed) at probably the craziest time of year. I was just wondering if any of you guys know besides Mike if there is anyone else who doesn't touch alcohol at all? I am looking for inspiration and would even love a list of musicians anyone might know who have kicked the habit as well.

Anyways Merry Christmas guys and have a safe year.

No list of musicians for inspiration, but just wanted to say good for you. Seriously, keep with it

I, as well as a lot of people I'm sure, wish you the best of luck!

whgarrett · December 2007

I'm guessing this has become a problem for you. Well there are organizations out there that can help you in your quest. Its hard to do by onesself sometimes. Good Luck. How old are you?

epierce3 · December 2007

The only musician I'm aware of that is a recovering alcoholic and doesn't drink at all is Chris Cornell.

Kirkwood · December 2007

James Hatfield doesn´t use alcohol sicne a long time habit
And Mike Jagger???(i pretty sure he doesn´t drink anymore)
Alot of the old musicians that still play have had their alcohol and drug abuse, and in the end had to choose to live or die, so I think it´s alot of oldies out there.
Write them a letter, I´m sure the would love to inspire you.
Best of luck!

restlesssoul · December 2007

once youve been drinking for a while, its really hard to quit. going to the bar with friends...friends call you up and they want to go for drinks, its as if social life revolves around the drink. its AS IF it does. IT DOESNT. you can do it!!!!! find other, healthy stuff to do and if friends feel like you are distant from them, then so be it...be distant. get healthy and you will feel great! then you will be ready to hang out again with them....

master yourself, then master relationships with your friends.

Fitz · December 2007

I stopped over three years ago, no problems with it just fed up feeling like shit with it. One of the best things I have ever done.

NoCode78 · December 2007

I really appreciate all the encouraging comments guys. PJ fans are a wicked and unique bunch. Im 29 and have been going hard for 11 or so years. I can relate to how our society is so driven by the drink. If its not BBQ's its really any excuse to go and have a drink ie watching movies, going out for dinner, birthdays and being a typical aussie all my mates love to get on it regardless of the occasion.
Im pretty much over it. I need to stop hiding behind the alcohol and let people accept me for me. Congratulations to you guys who have had the balls to quit.
I will keep you guys updated and would love to hear from anyone and everyone who has gone through the highs and lows or just to tell me to stop being such a sook and get on with it

.

Cheers.

IamTom · December 2007

I stopped for seven years then went back to it for 3 yrs on n off and that was one helluva bad decision. It's been a bit over a year now the second time.

I'm glad and blessed. My life had hit real depths with drugs, homelessness et al.

I went to a non-12 step organisation for support. They were very big on finding my own way. Non prescriptive. Now I'm a Trustee for their charity.

For me stopping drinking wasn't enough. I chose to go back into therapy. I need to find out who I am, what makes me tick. Most of all I need to not be afraid to be my authentic self. Need to find this true integrity. I'm a good way there and I know it's a lifelong journey.

I relish this.

I'm spending Xmas alone. Cos my Dad cant invite me t Xmas cos he's scared of his wife. This hurts. Not haveing a close and loving family is excruciating this time of year.

And also I'm facing having just ended a relationship with the only woman I've ever been in love with fully. From my heart, my soul. A woman I wanted to create a life with, to grow with. And I'm so so very sad.

And I'd rather be weeping deeply about this than sat with a bunch of cans and a needle or pipe. Thats how it was in the end.....running, running from me. From life, responsibility.

Now I don't. And sometimes this hurts like hell. the pain literally left me in a ball on the floor yesterday. Sobbong. And I'm glad I could do this. Be this alive. Engage with life so fully.

Cos when its good I've arrived at a place where tears of joy are frequent.

My life is incredible. I've an amazing job, on a massage course, I'm able to put right wrongs I did in the past.

My tears have shown me how deeply I want to share my life with someone. To meet and be met in love. It'll happen one day. Just not with Anna, my first true love. Im sad n angry about this. I gave myself fully and this is to be rejoiced even tho it hurts.

So, I believe there is a whole amazing freedom ahead of you. Alive, life, beauty. All waiting for you as you engage more fully with life.

Bless you and your courage. Live your life well, for it is yours.

Tom

einatshaul · December 2007

Dear Tom and NoCode98,

I wish for you guys to hold on tight and live through this rough time, remember, it's just another day on the calendar with the sun rising and setting and you will see many better days yet.

Hold on to your resolutions, find the strength with everything in this world that uplifts your spirit - and makes you feel alive! True, pain and crying is part of the experience, you are not the only ones going through it!

you must know that you hold the power to transform yourselvs and move to a better place for you. you alone owe it to yourselvs.

JordyWordy · December 2007

IamTom wrote:

I relish this.

the pain literally left me in a ball on the floor yesterday. Sobbong. And I'm glad I could do this. Be this alive. Engage with life so fully.

Bless you and your courage. Live your life well, for it is yours.

Tom

wow. beautiful.

happy for you that you got to that point of living.

and to the OP, this is what lies ahead. feeling alive. happy christmas and congratulations, truly hope you succeed in all your aims

mdgsolo · December 2007

Good luck on your journey. My little brother is a hip hop artist out here on the western front. His name is Todd G and he has been clean and sober for almost three years. His story is amazing, but unfortunately not uncommon in one way- almost every bad experience revolved around the drink. I'm not saying that bad experiences always follow the drink, but for some that is most definitely the case! He is the healthiest right now that I've ever seen him, physically and mentally!

locked · December 2007

here's some "rock performers in recovery" off the top of my head:

1) Alice Cooper
2) Chris Cornell
3) Paul Rodgers
4) Bonnie Raitt
5) James Taylor
6) James Hetfield
7) Pete Townsend
8) Ringo Star
9) Joe Walsh
10) Aerosmith (the entire band I believe?)
11) Eddie Van Halen
12) Eddie Money
13) Scott Weiland
14) Duff McKagen
15) Gregg Allman..

Mr. McCready remains my personal inspiration..

It's an "Inside Job" for sure!

locked · December 2007

forgot to mention:

1) Eric Clapton
2) Elton John
3) Ronnie Wood...

and a few who never drank to begin with:

1) Gene Simmons
2) Paul Stanley
3) Ted Nugent

Simonsen Art Studio · December 2007

Keep it simple my friend...sobriety is 1st no matter what...

I never have followed Modest Mouse, but had a chance to listen to the "Good News for People who Love Bad News" album. There are songs on there that lead me to believe there front man is battling it out.

locked · December 2007

and here's some who never recovered:

1) Layne Staley
2) Keith Moon
3) Jimi Hendrix
4) Janis Joplin
5) Jim Morrison
6) John Bonham
7) Bon Scott
8) Joe Strummer
9) Syd Vicious
10) Steve Clark
11) Pete Farnden
12) James Honeyman-Scott
13) Shannon Hoon
14) Andrew Wood
15) Phil Lynott
16) John Entwistle
17) Kurt Cobain

somewhere in the universe there is one all-star jam going on..!

DriftingByTheStorm · December 2007

Don't do it!
You'll miss it!
:(

Seriously,
do you REALLY have a problem,
or do you just think you should quit?

I mean, have you ever broken someones nose, wrecked a car, or otherwise ended up in jail?

Unless you are the type of person who picks up a jug of whiskey\vodka and wakes up with their underwear on their head THREE DAYS later, you're probably okay.

I mean, do you REGULARLY black out?

Man.

I guess if you're trying to quit, you must know you have a problem.

I just never understood why people didn't try to just MODERATE their consumption.

Beer is such a fun thing.
I can't imagine going without PERMANENTLY.

:(

mookie9999 · December 2007

I quit drinking at 21 and haven't looked back since. On an occassion I may want a drink or two, but never have. I used to get bombed out of my mind, and while I was the life of the party and never hurt another soul, (or got behind the wheel of a car), I was hurting myself. I definitely prefer the clean life and wish you well in your quest. It should be noted that I wasn't an alcoholic so it made it easier for me to quit. However, knowing my family genes I would have been one by now.

PureandEasy · December 2007

why would any of you try to stop him/her? It's a life choice, if one doesn't want to drink, they don't have to

no big deal

could never see me doing it, but I would never suggest to try and stop anyone from something like that

Good luck to you.

LukinFan · December 2007

locked wrote:

here's some "rock performers in recovery" off the top of my head:

1) Alice Cooper
2) Chris Cornell
3) Paul Rodgers
4) Bonnie Raitt
5) James Taylor
6) James Hetfield
7) Pete Townsend
8) Ringo Star
9) Joe Walsh
10) Aerosmith (the entire band I believe?)
11) Eddie Van Halen
12) Eddie Money
13) Scott Weiland
14) Duff McKagen
15) Gregg Allman..

Mr. McCready remains my personal inspiration..

It's an "Inside Job" for sure!

Didn't Scott Weinland just get stopped for a DUI a week or so ago?

NoCode78 · December 2007

Thanks guys its a pleasure checking out this thread. Tom thanks for your message was really moving and I hope things start to look up for you in the very near future, you deserve a break thats for sure!!

Well as for me I have a long line of drinking in the family. Mum, Uncle, Aunty and Grandmother are all alcoholics and except for my Aunty who is clean they all drink to excess each day which my Grandmother has been doing for the past 60 odd years and somehow is still alive.

Well a little about me. I started drinking at parties and clubs because I was really self conscious and fairly quiet when not drinking and felt that I never contributed enough being sober so I started to get dutch courage from the drink and havent looked back since. In the last 11 years I would be blind from wednesday to saturday or when i went to clubs basically but it got to the point I couldn't go anywhere where there was a social situation and not be extremely intoxicated to feel safe. I never drank much or even at all when at home because I guess I felt comfortable and safe there.

I am not proud of myself and have among a few things been arrested for urinating in public, probably drink drove over 400 times, lost my licence for 6 months as I got caught drink driving, I have written off my sisters car because I was drunk behind the wheel, I have been in fights, damaged property and recently have just been a really nasty drunk and been abusive mentally towards my beautiful girlfriend who seems to cop the brunt of my drunken insecurities and gibberish I go on with. I have been drunk at work on numerous occasions because we went out to the pub for lunch and have drunk enough to kill a horse, i have missed countless days off work because I didnt get home until 6am and was in no way capable of doing anything other than sleeping it off.

I black out for hours and cant remember a thing and have to be told what kind of crazy stuff I have been doing and now to add to the mix I have been on anti depressants for the past year which has affected me even more once I am drunk.

This past year I have been on benders where I have drunk for 2-3 days straight and to say the comedown was a killer was an understatement. I have tried to only drink one or two which I can do at home but when around people I just have no control.

I have a beauitiful daughter to a previous relationship and a wonderful girlfriend who puts up with my crap and I know if I dont stop she will walk and I will lose something special. Its time I grow up and be a responsible adult and stop being a scared little kid.

Fingers crossed.

NoCode78 · December 2007

Thanks locked for your list as well. I have just read the Eric Clapton biography which was a pretty good read. He used to polish off two bottles a day and kicked the habit. The only reason he didn't commit suicide was because he was scared that once he was dead he could no longer drink.

locked · December 2007

LukinFan wrote:

Didn't Scott Weinland just get stopped for a DUI a week or so ago?

note I titled the list "in recovery"..

its progress not perfection...

slightofjeff · December 2007

Good luck to all of those who want to quit. And I mean that seriously. Anyone who feels alcohol isn't for them shouldn't feel socially obligated to keep drinking.

I probably won't be joining you in your abstinence. I don't consider myself an alcoholic, although I suppose it depends on your definition.

I can -- and often do -- go days and even weeks without a single drink. I don't typically keep booze in the house at all, either. I'm one of those "once it hits your lips, it's so good drinkers." Once I start for the night, I usually keep drinking until they turn the lights out. It takes a lot of cajoling to get me to leave a bar before closing. I've done the whole, "let's just get a beer after work thing" and it usually turns into an all-nite thing. Granted, these nights usually start after 10, so it's not like I'm there an insane number of hours.

It's probably one of those social things. You're out with friends, the booze is flowing, the conversation is going, the jokes are flying -- and you don't want it to end.

I don't see myself quitting anytime soon. I work a job that keeps me up late anything. I like a couple drinks once the workday ends.

Kirkwood · December 2007

I asked one of my friends ,who is a doctor, why you always drink so much when you have had your first. And apperantly when you drink your drink, beer,wine the brain get like a reward(same as cigarettes) but after a few seconds it´s gone. and it doesn´t depend of how much you have drink, you get the same reward everytime. And then of course when you a really drunk you just overconsume everything(food, cigarettes, spirit).
It´s all make sence to me. I can go without drinking in weeks, but when I´m starting to drink I drink alot.

LeatherMosquitoMan · December 2007

DriftingByTheStorm wrote:

Don't do it!
You'll miss it!
:(

Seriously,
do you REALLY have a problem,
or do you just think you should quit?

I mean, have you ever broken someones nose, wrecked a car, or otherwise ended up in jail?

Unless you are the type of person who picks up a jug of whiskey\vodka and wakes up with their underwear on their head THREE DAYS later, you're probably okay.

I mean, do you REGULARLY black out?

Man.

I guess if you're trying to quit, you must know you have a problem.

I just never understood why people didn't try to just MODERATE their consumption.

Beer is such a fun thing.
I can't imagine going without PERMANENTLY.

:(

Have you ever dealt with alcoholics or alcoholism? It's not a choice, it's a disease. I'm not saying the original poster is an alcoholic, but i am. I've been off it for a year and nearly 4 months.

It's not about blacking out, or being violent. It has nothing to do with it. It's about drinking at 7.15am when your wife goes to work, and staying plastered all day, only stopping just before she gets home late that afternoon so she doesn't see how bad it is.

It's about filling your bourbon bottle back up to a certain spot with coffee and water (the right amount makes the perfect bourbon colour) so she thinks you haven't had much to drink that day, when there's a liquor store right across the road.

It's hiding it in the back of the highest cupboards in your house, so no-one would ever need to look there.

My marriage would have fallen apart if i'd kept going, so would my career. They're both way too important to me than any drink.

"Unless you are the type of person who picks up a jug of whiskey\vodka and wakes up with their underwear on their head THREE DAYS later, you're probably okay.

I mean, do you REGULARLY black out?

This doesn't mean a thing. Everyone who's ever drank hard will do stupid shit like this, and it doesn't mean that you do or don't have a problem with it.

It's a problem when it influences and affects every single day of your life.

JordyWordy · December 2007

i was a VERY bad drinker when i was younger (in the amount i had, how often i had it and the way it made me behave)......i like to think i have the worst of it behind me but every now and then ill still go out and have a few(too many) drinks the nite before im working (work in a health centre / rehab centre - really should not show up smelling of booze to that place)....and regardless of that factor i hate going out to have a good time and feeling like a walking piece of shit the next day......background = there is a family history, friends who booze alot, im in college etc...maybe once i start working ill finally kick regulate it...

i get a good kick up the arse everytime i realise that im not in control totally, but i want to be..

so kudos to those who grab the bull by the horns & sort themselves out.
a genuine congratulations to you for having the discipline

Kingmidget · December 2007

NoCode78 wrote:

Thanks guys its a pleasure checking out this thread. Tom thanks for your message was really moving and I hope things start to look up for you in the very near future, you deserve a break thats for sure!!

Well as for me I have a long line of drinking in the family. Mum, Uncle, Aunty and Grandmother are all alcoholics and except for my Aunty who is clean they all drink to excess each day which my Grandmother has been doing for the past 60 odd years and somehow is still alive.

Well a little about me. I started drinking at parties and clubs because I was really self conscious and fairly quiet when not drinking and felt that I never contributed enough being sober so I started to get dutch courage from the drink and havent looked back since. In the last 11 years I would be blind from wednesday to saturday or when i went to clubs basically but it got to the point I couldn't go anywhere where there was a social situation and not be extremely intoxicated to feel safe. I never drank much or even at all when at home because I guess I felt comfortable and safe there.

I am not proud of myself and have among a few things been arrested for urinating in public, probably drink drove over 400 times, lost my licence for 6 months as I got caught drink driving, I have written off my sisters car because I was drunk behind the wheel, I have been in fights, damaged property and recently have just been a really nasty drunk and been abusive mentally towards my beautiful girlfriend who seems to cop the brunt of my drunken insecurities and gibberish I go on with. I have been drunk at work on numerous occasions because we went out to the pub for lunch and have drunk enough to kill a horse, i have missed countless days off work because I didnt get home until 6am and was in no way capable of doing anything other than sleeping it off.

I black out for hours and cant remember a thing and have to be told what kind of crazy stuff I have been doing and now to add to the mix I have been on anti depressants for the past year which has affected me even more once I am drunk.

This past year I have been on benders where I have drunk for 2-3 days straight and to say the comedown was a killer was an understatement. I have tried to only drink one or two which I can do at home but when around people I just have no control.

I have a beauitiful daughter to a previous relationship and a wonderful girlfriend who puts up with my crap and I know if I dont stop she will walk and I will lose something special. Its time I grow up and be a responsible adult and stop being a scared little kid.

Fingers crossed.

I'm cheering for you friend..based on what you've said above do all you can to get things under control for all those in your life you have who care about you and do it for you!

Alcoholism runs in my family and almost killed my sister. It did kill two Aunts and it ended the lives of two people I went to school with while only 25-30 years old.

I doubt you'll be able to limit yourself to a few here and there...you could try, but from what your describing you'll need to stay away completly as my sister has to do.

Good luck to you! Live a long sober life!

guertin32 · December 2007

NoCode78 wrote:

Hi guys,

First time Poster LONG TIME WATCHER .

Well some will say im crazy some will say well done. Well im quitting Alcohol for good (fingers crossed) at probably the craziest time of year. I was just wondering if any of you guys know besides Mike if there is anyone else who doesn't touch alcohol at all? I am looking for inspiration and would even love a list of musicians anyone might know who have kicked the habit as well.

Anyways Merry Christmas guys and have a safe year.

I've been clean and sober for 2 years now. I haven't touched anything mind or mood altering related what so ever. It was hard at first, but the more you set your mind, keep the focus on yourself, don't care about what others think or do, stay strong and no matter what dont use you will be fine. Makin meetings help too. IMO.

Good luck and happy new year!

whgarrett · December 2007

"You've got time, you've got time to escape
There's still time, it's no crime to escape"

Each year four times as many deaths occur from alcohol related car crashes than the total amount of american soldiers killed in iraq thus far in the "war" and subsequent "police action"

Inspiration: Quitting The Drink. (Pearl Jam Related)

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