Re Introducing Myself

About a month ago I made a post asking mods about changing my username, and the reasons why for such a request. It wasn't possible, without making a new account. Since then, I haven't really been on ATS. Busy working and such. I won't really make this long. Many people here already know me, or at least recognize me. I've made a few friends here but generally just stay on the outskirts. Not only that, but I honestly stopped trying to contribute much other than stupid sarcasms and the like. Can't compete there, with some others here. But not the point..

I came to a crossroads about a month ago. Choose booze and drinking, and essentially continuing on being a mid thirties man child, or get my # together. In the past six years, I've jumped from crap job to crap job. Nothing against these crap jobs, if you have one. It is what it is, and sometimes you have to do what you have to, before you can do what you want to. So... lots of convenient stores and whatever. Lost every one because of drinking. I'd either be caught drinking on the job, or known to have done it, but without proof. Shameful, lack of willpower, and all that goes with drinking.

Well, nothing against drinking. None at all. But for me, it got out of hand, and the reasons changed from having fun, to having a habit. Becoming an alcoholic. Look, I know I will probably get lots of support from the great community here, but just to be sure, that isn't my reasons for posting this re-introduction. It's more helpful for me to get it all out there with people. Even if I don't know them personally. Support and kind words are of course always welcomed. I don't mean to sound like I'm frowning on them. Opening up with people will help me remain accountable to myself and loved ones around me.

So anyway.. No more WakeUpBeers for me.

Also.. I know I've been a jerk to some people on here in the past.

DB I'm looking at you. There have been times where for whatever reason I let something you said get under my skin, and lashed out at you. I sincerely apologize.

Cheers! (It's cranberry juice!)

a reply to: WakeUpBeer

On your other thread I almost made a comment, of the "don't count your chicken before they hatch" kind...

I mean wouldn't you bite your ass if in one year you were back to WakeUpBeer?

Just kidding... I'm glad you could break the vicious cycle

being sober isn't gonna improve the DBCowboy experience...

a reply to: WakeUpBeer

I had my battles as well. I am one of the lucky ones when it comes to addictions. But regardless of what group you are in, the trick is finding what works for you. For me it was the realization that if I want to drink or smoke there is no one and nothing on this Earth that can stop me. That also meant that if I didn't want to, there is no one and nothing on this Earth that could make me. It all came down to what I wanted most. It didn't take long to convince myself what I wanted most was to quit.

Good luck to you.

a reply to: WakeUpBeer


I was in your same predicament years ago with the addition of other substances but booze was always my drug of choice.

One day at a time...you know all the cliches and the steps to take. Worked for me....

a reply to: WakeUpBeer

I just want to say congrats and may you be blessed for making a wise decision!!!

I recommend spoiling yourself a bit with some of that money you are saving by not drinking so much. That can make breaking a bad cycle easier.

a reply to: WakeUpBeer

Congrats on your journey...and remember One Day at a Time!!!

Blessings to you!!!

a reply to: WakeUpBeer

That's about the time I stopped, that and my 2nd DUI. It took about 5 yrs to get totally away from it for me.
25 yrs now and not one drop, nor any fat dobbies or little helpers.

Believe it or not there are times when a certain songs come on the radio or do something I used to do during my partying days, that I want to fire one up, pop a top, and haul ass down the interstate.

a reply to: WakeUpBeer

Fortunately I missed that problem. My father, my brother, my uncle and my grandfather were all alcoholics, so it runs in the family. One night my friends poured me back into my home after a drunk and it was months before even the smell of booze stopped making me retch. I took that as my sign and did not start back at it.

You're use of the term ''man-child'' is an interesting one. Not pointing fingers sir, just commenting. This notion was brought up in a video a few days ago about how this society seeks to create '' man-childs'' as part of the program for mental control of the population, keeping people in a perpetual state of immaturity. It doesn't just come at us via alcohol, it comes at us via drugs and gaming and insipid hero movies and simplistic ideologies. It is nothing to be ashamed over as we are all targets. I'm 75 and realize every day that I'm still a target myself.

So cheers to your realizations sir and thank goodness for cranberry juice as it keeps things flowing........

a reply to: WakeUpBeer

I've had several friends over the years who were alcoholics . none of them still here.

You've made a wise choice for both yourself and those who care about you , I wish you strength and long life.

a reply to: WakeUpBeer

Congratulations! Cheers! I have lemon water.

a reply to: WakeUpBeer

Best of luck with it.

I find drinking a glass of water when I crave liquor helps. It addresses the desire to drink, but the taste of water reminds one to keep the booze at arm's length. Find whatever works and stick with it.

--Cav

I don't know who you are, but here's a blessing.

The next time you flip a coin, choose the opposite of what it lands on.

originally posted by: WakeUpBeer


DB I'm looking at you. There have been times where for whatever reason I let something you said get under my skin, and lashed out at you. I sincerely apologize.

Cheers! (It's cranberry juice!)

No worries, hope the road you're taking is a better one.

originally posted by: putnam6
being sober isn't gonna improve the DBCowboy experience...

originally posted by: Terpene
a reply to: WakeUpBeer

On your other thread I almost made a comment, of the "don't count your chicken before they hatch" kind...

You're all good with the jests. It's only been one month so, still plenty of time to go. I'm feeling good but will feel better the more time that goes by. So not yet counting my chickens before they hatch, but so far, I'd at least have a few eggs? Lol.

originally posted by: F2d5thCavv2
a reply to: WakeUpBeer

Best of luck with it.

I find drinking a glass of water when I crave liquor helps. It addresses the desire to drink, but the taste of water reminds one to keep the booze at arm's length. Find whatever works and stick with it.

--Cav

I can't express how many times my brain still thinks I have a beer or some other form of alcohol by my side. I'll reach out to grab it, just out of sheer habit. It's sad really but it is what it is. At least so far I haven't spit out my juice or whathaveyou expecting whiskey. Used to do that as a kid. Not with whiskey but thinking I had a glass of milk when it was water, or whatever.

a reply to: TerryMcGuire

Well can't say if I'm the victim of an agenda or not, when it comes to man child. I probably am, to some degree I suppose. Probably hard to avoid with my generation. Nonetheless though, I just use the term as an umbrella for my, well, failings. Maybe being to harsh on myself but no matter. The point being for myself is, that I'm mid 30's, and have been able to see my own stumbling blocks and the like. The lack of will power, integrity, maturity, in the face of seeing and knowing, is what to me, has made me more or less a man child, lol. So I can assure you that I have not been brainwashed. Or succumbed to a diet of fish crackers and milk.

Which leads me to me to ask,

Have you been vaccinated? Was 9/11 an inside job? Does Alex Jones turn the frogs gay or is that the government? Have we been to the Moon? Who told you the Earth wasn't flat? You do know the Loch Ness Monster founded SETI, yeah?

a reply to: WakeUpBeer

I can't say as I know how to make an exact distinction between brainwashing and simple conditioning. I think there are different kinds of brainwashing. One is a hypnotic type such as was dramatized in The Manchurian Candidate. Another kind is be immersion into a specific mind-set that requires the person to believe that they have made decisions on their own to believe what they have been manipulated to believe.

Conditioning however is more like that latter form but not as dramatic. For instance, say football. Young males are fed foot all as a ''guy'' thing. They are taught the rudimentary in grade school and then they move on to higher education. It is played up as a manly thing to do and or observe and root for.. Colleges and on into the pros. Stadiums filled with college students and fans at least two days a week for months culminating int the big one. It's not brainwashing but it is social conditioning.

It's the social conditioning that I was referring to, not brainwashing. We are all of us in one way or another conditioned into being who we are. It takes an awful lot to break that conditioning. You seem well on your way to snapping some of that conditioning. Keep at it.

It just might have been the hops not really the beer... it is a member of the mint/cannabis family and carries essential fatty acids as a plant.

Buying some brewer quality hops and chewing it like tobacco or smoking it like cannabis may prevent or quell cravings in those that have them.

I personally haven't ever craved it... My 23 year old nephew told me he drinks three bottles of wine a day.

Whomever's go to alcohol is has a main ingredient that keeps them coming back to it... finding it would be the same as hops for beer.

The idea of addictive personality is nonsense' it means one has to wear a chemical face instead of one's own in some situation... like not calling your current girlfriend/boyfriend/bar tab on two legs by the last one's name.

If research hasn't been done in that spectrum for quelling alcoholism? It's a start.