Alcohol’s place in my life

My mom’s drinking and her boyfriends’ drinking gave me some scary experiences. This affected my relationship with alcohol, which showed how challenging life can be. I knew I drank often, but I didn’t think I had a “problem” until I became pregnant. After that, it was hard to stop drinking, much harder than I thought it would be. From age 30 until now (age 55) I have occasionally thought about it.

There may be a problem right here

Alcohol became an issue for me once I stopped drinking while pregnant. It was harder than I expected. That’s when I realized I had an addiction. I had a difficult childhood with some abandonment issues, etc. But I think my drinking really increased when I realized I was a lesbian and considering ending my marriage of 20 years. I also had two children.

I had a lot of complicated feelings about my mother’s behavior, and I was very scared of making the same mistakes. It didn’t help that when I was getting divorced, I was the same age as my mother when she ended her marriage (in a much more dramatic way than I did). There was a lot of sadness for my husband and I when our marriage ended. We still lived together for a long time “for the kids” which made the process longer and more difficult, but I do not regret it. During this time, we both drank a lot. I also had some unhealthy relationships with other women, which made the situation even worse. I was trying to cope with the problems by self-medicating, even though I am now in a healthy relationship with my current wife.

Making makes an attempt to vary

When I was feeling down about myself, I thought about going to AA to find a way to stop drinking. I also looked for something that I thought was missing in my life. I tried to use willpower to control my drinking, and sometimes I made agreements with myself to only drink on certain days of the week or only a certain amount. I was looking for some kind of trick or secret to being able to stay away from alcohol. I tried going to AA once, but it didn’t work out. In the end, my options for changing my drinking habits were limited.

Discovering the key to fortunately dwelling alcohol-free

I’m so grateful that I found out about This Bare Thoughts through a Google search. Before that, I didn’t fully understand what alcohol can do to people, and how difficult it can be to break free from the cycle of addiction. It wasn’t until I did the Alcohol Experiments that I truly grasped the concept, and it took me four of them to really get it. Finally, I joined the PATH, and that’s when I realized that I need to keep engaging with the content and ideas to stay motivated in my alcohol-free life.

Begin studying and begin fortunately dwelling alcohol-free

Do you want to know how Darcy started to live without alcohol? Get a free sample of This Bare Mind to start your journey!

My secret to fortunately dwelling alcohol-free

These three programs – Bare Thoughts, The Alcohol Experiment, and The PATH – have been very helpful to me. The Alcohol Experiment introduced me to new scientific knowledge, which was exciting as a scientist. I also enjoyed the book, and the podcasts help me stay on track to reduce the “fading effect bias.” To sum up, I have benefited from the science, Annie’s personal story, her enthusiasm and commitment, her research, the immersion in content, and my involvement with all the programs. Reading is enjoyable for me, particularly when it surprises me, and the curiosity factor works like magic.

Residing free

I have been living an alcohol-free life for the past year. My current period of abstinence is almost 90 days long. The biggest difference is that my relationship with my wife has improved drastically. I no longer harbor resentment and stress over things that don’t matter. I am generally much happier, though I still have some progress to make. It’s not always perfect, but it’s much better than it was before and I now have the motivation and ability to make positive changes. To sum it up, I am much happier and I have the tools to make positive changes.