Sober Living: Basic Principles, Motivation, and Benefits of Sobriety. Sober life in a drunken world

I accidentally came across an article in LiveJournal entitled “Five years - normal flight! (experience of a sober lifestyle).” I really liked the article, and I am reprinting it here.

As far as I understand, the man made his firm decision five years ago and quit. It's very interesting to read his thoughts. Because if your head is always clear, your worldview changes.

As always I will bold italic express your opinion on individual passages in the article.

Most experienced smokers dream of getting rid of their bad habit. This desire is understandable: deteriorating health, psychological and physiological dependence on cigarettes, restrictions on smoking in public places and in the workplace. The financial part of the issue also remains on the agenda...

There is no need to explain or prove anything here.

What about alcohol? White, red, cognac, beer? A Russian person can’t even drink?! Three immutable truths sit firmly in the consciousness and subconscious of Russian people: 1. If a person does not drink, then he is either sick or vile; 2. Even teetotalers and ulcers drink at someone else’s expense; 3. He who does not smoke or drink will die healthy. There are many other jokes and jokes on the topic of alcohol: Nehru (Jawaharlal Nehru) said: Drink in moderation!, and Nikita (Khrushchev) - drink until you are full! Now all the conditions have been created for the people to drink “in moderation” and “until they are full.” Go to any supermarket. Racks with alcoholic beverages sometimes stretch for tens of meters. My eyes widen - what a range! Every Russian knows that “cognac with shish kebab is very tasty!” This is what the guy with the guitar said from the stage.

Is it possible to do without alcohol at all? Probably possible. But why? How to relax after a hard day at work? How to cope with stress? How to cheer yourself up? Disorder! Truly, all teetotalers are either sick or villains!

In America this is much easier. There is a lot of entertainment available, and within your budget. These include golf clubs, bowling alleys, and simply swimming pools and parks where you can relax very well. Moreover, alcohol is absolutely prohibited on their territory. And the rule is sacredly observed. Actually, it never occurs to anyone to get drunk and jump into the pool.

I'm not trying to convince anyone of the benefits of a sober lifestyle. I’m not going to hit myself in the chest with my heel, showing: Look how cool I am, how smart I am, that I don’t drink! No. But five years of freedom from alcohol poisoning already gives you the right to look at your past life from the outside, compare what she was like BEFORE and what changed in her AFTER.

Everything happened quickly. “By chance” I came across the website pravdu.ru. "Alcohol terror against Russia." The Internet back then was unlike what it is today, but in a couple of nights it was possible to download a 500 MB file. A lecture on the dangers of alcohol was given by some guy, sobriety professor Vladimir Zhdanov. He gets scolded sometimes. They say that he is not an authoritative professor at all, that his entire sobriety academy consists of one room, that he is a charlatan and a fraudster. The authority of Truth is here habitually replaced by the truth of Authority. For people today, the main thing is not what is said, but who says it. I will not retell the contents of the lecture. I won’t be able to convince those who drink “culturally” to stop drinking, and I don’t need to explain anything to the teetotalers. I’ll just tell you what exactly made the greatest impression on me.

Alcohol, entering the blood, washes away a thin layer of fat from red blood cells (erythrocytes) and they lose their weak negative charge. As a result of the loss of charge, the cells begin to stick together, sticking together into lumps of red blood cells. These lumps with the general blood flow enter the smallest and smallest vessels in our body and clog them. The organ begins to experience local oxygen starvation, which disrupts its functioning. A lump of red blood cells, after a while, also dies and, according to the laws of biology, begins to decompose. As they decompose, small blood “corpses” release toxins, which does not have the most positive effect on the functioning of the organ and the entire organism as a whole. And our thinnest vessels are located in the eyes and brain. Therefore, it is these important organs that are most affected by the effects of alcohol.

Then this information almost blew my mind. It felt like I forgot the iron was on at home and remembered it when I was already in another city. I was in psychological shock for two days. I could hardly talk to others about everyday topics. There was a desire to tell people the whole truth about alcohol, how it affects the body, human consciousness and behavior; who benefits from supporting the myth about the harmlessness of “cultural drinking”. I told my friends: “Can you imagine, I quit drinking. Forever!". For me it had a meaning comparable to the birth of a child. I was waiting for a response. But the majority did not react to this seriously, even with a joke. I gave them CDs with recordings - it was useless. Nobody is looking. A month or two later - “there was no time to look”...

Absolutely right. I also encountered this. At least there's a stake on your head. Until a person decides to stop drinking, it is useless to persuade him.

I believed that when people learned the truth about the effects of alcohol on the body, they, like me, would immediately and forever stop drinking it. That soon all of Russia will become sober. Now I think differently. People don't need the truth. They are afraid of her. Because when a person learns the Truth, it requires him decisions made, performing some actions, deeds, But the life principle “I see nothing, I hear nothing” has become typical for the average person. Therefore, they continue to drink with or without reason. On holidays and days of mourning. For health and peace.

You can find a lot of information on anti-alcohol issues on the Internet. There is a lot of literature, videos, websites, groups are being created in in social networks. Read, study, join. But a person must come to this himself. Realize for yourself that alcohol is harmful. This is poison. This is a problem. Only after this is he ready to free himself from vice.

I will say more, this is not just poison - it is death itself. First social, and then physical.

A convinced teetotaler indifferently walks past shelves with alcoholic potions. He looks at the feast scenes with sympathy, even pity. He doesn’t have any thoughts about “relaxing” on Friday, and on holidays he doesn’t have a good time relaxing. He is disgusted to hear about the drunken adventures of his friends, jokes about alcoholics.

You will see most of your past favorite films differently. Everyone drinks there: “Office Romance”, “Irony of Fate”, “Afonya”, “Ivan Vasilyevich”, “Moonshiners”. There are all drinkable words there: “Why do you always drop me…” Or: “I demand the continuation of the banquet!” etc. Have you noticed? Well, at least now pay attention to how people are getting drunk. Because everyone and everything is repeated just like their favorite heroes.

He does not enter into scientific discussions about the meaning of life with a tipsy neighbor. He's not afraid to drive on Monday. He's not afraid to blow into a traffic cop's pipe. He won't take anything from him today. A person leading a sober lifestyle always remembers where he was and what he did last night. He has absolutely no understanding of types of beer, whiskey, wines, and does not know what is the best way to drink vodka. He doesn’t know how to cure a hangover, he doesn’t go to the kiosk for beer in the morning. He doesn't get richer because he stopped drinking, no. But it’s not getting poorer either – that’s for sure. When visiting, he drinks juice or mineral water. He explains that he has health problems, that “he’s already drunk his tank.” Those around him sympathize with him, and he sympathizes with them. For some reason, tipsy guests want to tell him about all their problems in personal life. And often they find understanding. Sometimes, after feasts, the teetotaler takes the guests home.

In America, no one pays attention to whether you drink or not. It's personal, which means it's taboo.

Tomorrow I have to go to work and working week It’s better to start with a clear head - believe me!

I made my choice five years ago.

Hello, hello, my dear readers, and again I want to talk to you about a healthy lifestyle and the topic of sobriety. Frankly speaking, when I start writing each article in the “don’t drink, don’t smoke, think about the future” series, I first of all think about what it will be about and how it should influence the public.

Today I want to do something like a global overview on the topic and talk about why specifically I prefer a sober lifestyle. Even if you have never drank, or have given up this addiction forever, still do not be lazy and read the article, at least in order to know the enemy by sight. Perhaps sometime in the future, the arguments presented in it will be useful to you in order to convince someone or defend your point of view. After all, as you know, knowledge is power!

What is a “reason to drink”?

I’ll immediately note that no, I’m not going to say that I don’t drink because I’m so cool, not like these drinking nonentities. I am an ordinary person, just like you, just like those who surround you and me, with the only difference that I chose a sober path for myself, without fog in my head during the holidays, without a hangover after joyful moments in life and without inappropriate actions , which many regret throughout their lives. But let's look at the main reasons why the vast majority of people are not averse to drinking:

1. "For company" The most popular youth reason, thanks to which hundreds and thousands of destinies are broken every day. In childhood and adolescence, we are all susceptible to suggestion in one way or another, and this is not a matter of upbringing. A guy who is brought up strictly, within the framework of almost army discipline, will get involved in the same company simply to spite all those who forbid him to live like everyone else. After all, a teenager is, first of all, a contradictory character and a flaw. life experience coupled with the eternal desire to be right in everything. Everyone went through this and everyone was like that, some more, some less. This is due to the fact that man is a social being, and we simply cannot live outside of company, without friends and public approval.
2. "In honor of the holiday" And this is the same reason to drink, but in a more adult interpretation. A sober life is not for big and grown-up uncles and aunts, because how can it be that everyone drinks at the holiday, but I can’t drink? By the way, it is in such situations that our children, seeing how their parents drink from the bottle and have fun, begin to think that if you drink alcohol, that means you are an adult. Based on this, we can say that drinking “in honor of the holiday” is doubly harmful, since it sets a completely wrong example for the younger generation.
3. "To relax" Another very striking example of how a drinker can cleverly find a reason to drink from the bottle. After all, a person leading a more or less sober lifestyle will never drink alcohol for such a stupid reason. Why? It's simple: you can drink on this occasion to relax after a hard day at work, to make your vacation brighter, or to brighten up life problems. And if you combine all this, it turns out that you can and should drink around the clock, just without drying out. And if someone considers this reason to be quite valid, then let’s think again: will your vacation become brighter if you poison your brain with alcohol? Will our problems be solved by themselves if we feel sorry for ourselves while sitting on the couch with a bottle of beer? No and no, it’s not difficult to draw conclusions.

But I think that’s enough talking about the reasons, because you, my dear readers, most likely already understood what I’m talking about. For those who are not yet in the know, let me explain: this is a self-sufficient bad habit, and once addicted to it, a drinker will always find a reason to drink. And for the most part, he does this simply to justify his weakness and unwillingness to live fully. After all, the time that could be spent usefully, improving yourself, learning something new, communicating or spending time with loved ones, is simply drowned in tens of liters of alcohol, which also slowly kills you physically. But drinking once or twice a week is not enough! – many will object and will be completely wrong. After all, alcoholism as an addiction is already detected when the frequency of drinking alcohol is more than once a week for a long period of time. Think about it, most likely there are alcoholics among your friends, and they simply do not suspect that alcohol addiction is speaking for them!

Why do I choose a sober lifestyle?

So, I have already said a lot about the fact that drinking in any form and in any doses is bad. I think everyone already understands that there are no “healthy” or “safe” doses of alcohol, just as there are no similar doses of cocaine or potassium cyanide. But why is it so good? sober life and is it so different from life? ordinary person? Firstly, a sober person is responsible for all his thoughts and actions. The biochemistry of his body is independent of various chemicals, alcohol and other substances that cause various addictions and poisoning. A sober person will never wake up in the morning with a headache, trying to remember what happened last night, and how he got home in the first place. The first advantage is a clear mind and an unclouded memory. Secondly, a sober person is a healthy person and his physical condition is a quarter better than that of someone who drinks once a week and 50% better than that of a binge alcoholic. Is it worth saying that a teetotaler will live 10-15 years longer than his drinking friends and acquaintances? After all, his cardiac system is not constantly attacked by pesticides (which it is) and suffers only from natural factors environment. And finally, thirdly, a sober person is a responsible person with healthy morals. Anyone who is influenced by alcohol, one way or another kills not only himself, but also sets a bad example for those around him, children and grandchildren, not to mention the fact that in a state of alcoholic intoxication such a person ruins the lives of all the people around him. Is it worth talking about how the sober people around him will treat such a family man?

Finally

But all these are just general facts, and if we talk about those who are passionate about sports, train in the gym or on the horizontal bars, and then, when they come home, drink a bottle of beer, it becomes completely sad. What can we say about ordinary ordinary people, one way or another trying to make ends meet, if many of the athletes are also susceptible to this addiction? How can you dream of eradicating vice and hanging banners with the slogan “Sober Russia!” if those who should be an example for the country turn out to be no better than ordinary alcoholics? I say this not to shame such individuals, but to make those who, looking at them, begin to doubt the correctness of their chosen path, think. I would like to tell these guys and girls from the bottom of my heart: don’t worry! Don’t burden yourself with false ideals, don’t follow changing fashions, be yourself! Lift the iron, twist the horizontal bars, wash your sneakers and bruise your knuckles in the name of sport, in the name of health and in the name of a sober life. Always remember that every workout you do not only makes you stronger, but also motivates others to follow in your footsteps. Be proud of yourself, be proud of what you do and never give up on your ideals!

And as always, I would be extremely grateful if you would express your thoughts on the topic in the comments, share your stories, and also, perhaps, complement or correct me in some way. I do not consider myself the ultimate truth and am always open to constructive dialogue, so I look forward to your feedback!

SEE ALSO

People who drink are often in one stage or another alcohol addiction. Or they are close to the fact that the love of alcohol has become a pathological addiction. However, alcoholics often deny their inclinations, refuse to admit problems, and refuse to receive treatment. Many of them are very categorical in their judgments: “Don’t drink at all? How then can you relax (celebrate, go to the stadium, meet friends, live)? The benefits of sobriety are not clear to such people.

There are other people too. They don’t drink, but are only held back by an ampoule sewn under the skin and constant pressure from their relatives. The benefits of sobriety in this case are hidden behind constant dissatisfaction with others and the current way of life. But those who consciously gave up alcohol feel the full benefits of such a decision.

The benefits of sobriety: health, freedom, life

What does a person do when he drinks alcohol? Does it lift your spirits, get rid of stress, “flush your kidneys”? There are many explanations. But from a medical point of view, a person simply harms himself. Alcohol, especially strong alcohol, irritates the mucous membranes internal organs, disrupts the functioning of the digestive tract, overloads the liver and kidneys, and intoxicates the brain. Of course, your mood lifts and your problems seem insignificant. However, all this is felt only in a drunken stupor. Over the years, new ones come: alcoholism, illness, degradation and death, often painful and humiliating. Perhaps, against this background, it’s worth thinking about and understanding what the benefits of sobriety are:

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How to come to a sober life?

If you could just say: stop drinking, and that’s it. At the second stage of alcoholism, it is almost impossible to eliminate alcohol from life by volitional effort. For more early stages disease is available. But first a person must admit that he is addicted and sick. But not everyone is capable of this.

If there is the slightest possibility, then relatives of an alcoholic should at least try to return the person to a sober life. And this should not be done with reproaches, screams and threats. It is necessary to show maximum tact and patience so that the addicted person makes a conscious decision to get treatment and subsequently never drink again.

It is also important to know the signs of all, including preliminary. In the early stages of the disease, a person is still able to realize that he is falling into addiction and fight it. Later, reason and will degrade. If each of us clearly understood the threat, many could stop before irreversible consequences occur.

Experience in treating addicts shows that the most effective method is a 12-step program of Alcoholics Anonymous

The most important thing to fight is not the addiction to alcohol itself, but its causes. Many people do not think about the fact that alcohol does not help to rejoice, does not remove complexes, does not solve problems and does not relieve grief. All the effects of alcohol are illusory. A person simply slides down to a primitive level of thinking and ceases to perceive the real picture of his own life.

Here's something else you should think about. If the desire to “drown” problems can somehow be explained, then pouring alcohol over the joyful events of life is incomprehensible in principle. Don't good moments in themselves bring happiness? However, even pregnant brides spend one of the brightest days of their lives with a glass of alcohol in their hand, and feasts next to the baby’s cradle are even more common. Alcohol traditions, all kinds of gatherings in which huge doses of alcohol turn people into their likenesses, are one of the main reasons for rampant drunkenness.

Some are talking about tightening alcohol laws and introducing new penalties. However, prohibitions do not stop all people and not always. Sobriety will become a way of life for the majority only when people's positive attitude towards alcohol is replaced by a negative one, and the benefits of each without alcohol are obvious to everyone.

Attention!

The information in the article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute instructions for use. Consult your healthcare provider.

Being drunk often leads to many problems - with health, mental health, relationships with loved ones and family, with work, creativity and self-realization. Let's look at what sobriety is, what aspects it consists of, and why it is important.

What is sobriety

Sobriety is the permanent abstinence from drinking alcoholic beverages. In rare cases, this concept refers to “moderate” alcohol consumption.

In societies such as Alcoholics Anonymous, etc., sobriety requires the presence of a number of conditions - for example, achieving life control and balance.

What is sobriety

IN last years An active struggle for sobriety began in Russia. Many temperance societies and movements arose. According to VTsIOM surveys, since 1996 the proportion of the population leading a sober lifestyle has increased by 7%.

Attitudes towards sobriety differ among different religions. So, in Orthodoxy it is moderation in the consumption of food and drink, Islam completely prohibits alcohol, like Hinduism, and Judaism welcomes it in moderation.

What is drunkenness?

Drunkenness, or alcoholism, is a chronic disease during which a person becomes dependent on alcoholic beverages (from the point of view of both the psyche and physiology). The disease is characterized by loss of control over the volume of drinking, an increase in consumed doses, damage to internal organs, and memory loss.

According to WHO, in 2000 there were 140 million alcoholics in the world.

Why sobriety is beneficial

Complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages is the norm. Regular consumption of alcohol is harmful to both the health of the body and the psyche. In advanced stages, irreversible processes begin, so it is necessary to give up alcohol as early as possible.

By the way, a comic sobriety test has appeared on the Internet, which can reveal the level of adequacy of your perception of reality (https://meduza.io/quiz/test-na-trezvost).

Let's consider the impact of alcohol on human health and life from three aspects.

Physiological aspect

1. Alcohol contains ethyl alcohol - only its amount differs in different drinks. So, beer contains 5% ethyl alcohol, wine – 9%, and vodka – 40%.
2. The ability of alcohol includes its ability to dissolve fat. When ingested, it is absorbed through the gastric walls, and from there passes into the blood.
3. Red blood cells, which carry oxygen in the blood, in the normal state of the body repel each other, since each of them has a charge with a negative value. Their sizes are suitable precisely for passing through the smallest vessels, feeding all the cells of the body with oxygen.
4. Penetrating inside, ethyl alcohol dissolves the fatty membrane of these cells. As a result, they are attracted to each other and form large lumps that begin to move throughout the body. The moment they reach vessels that they cannot pass through, they clog them, and the cells die in the absence of oxygen. The brain suffers especially in this regard.
5. Neurons, or brain cells, build long-term sequential chains in which human memory is stored. When large lumps of red blood cells clog blood vessels, resulting in neurons not receiving enough oxygen, their entire chains begin to die out. Because of this, after the holidays, people often forget how yesterday went, and during a long drinking binge, many events disappear from their memory.
6. At the same time, some clogged vessels burst due to excessive pressure, which is reflected in a reddened nose or eyes, and one of the negative effects of alcohol is deterioration of vision. Even if you drink alcohol in small quantities, but regularly, this process still occurs.
7. Soon the dead cells in the brain rot. To remove all this, the body pumps large volumes of fluid into the head, and the person wakes up the next day with a severe headache and wild thirst. Then the rotted cells are eliminated from the body on their own.
8. A similar process occurs in other organs. Drinking alcohol causes irreparable harm, reduces immunity, and this leads to permanent diseases. It doesn’t matter whether a person drinks alcohol moderately or regularly and in large quantities, the harm will be the same.
9. Alcohol is especially harmful to women, since their bodies are designed for procreation. In men, sperm renewal occurs every three months, and a woman is given a supply of eggs once in her entire life. The eggs are under reliable protection, however, the only thing that can penetrate the lining of the ovaries and harm them is ethyl alcohol. Therefore, drinking alcohol negatively affects the health of not only the woman herself, but also her child.
10. As for men, alcohol not only affects their reproductive functions, but can also negatively affect potency. Some people mistakenly believe that alcohol increases their desire, but it should really be small - no more than two glasses per evening. As for chronic alcoholism, in the case of it, sexual desire almost completely disappears.

Psychological aspect

1. Drinking alcohol slows you down mental processes: a person begins to perceive reality more slowly and worse, loses touch with reality, and experiences difficulty concentrating. He constantly forgets about his planned activities, plans, promises, and perceives the world differently from what it really is. Soon sobriety becomes an unusual state for a person, as if he were lacking something.
2. Alcoholics experience sudden mood swings, logic in thinking disappears, events cause inappropriate reactions, ability to work and productivity decrease, problems with creativity, imagination and abstraction from the surrounding reality appear.
3. Often, a drunk person feels as if those around him are entering into some kind of “conspiracy” against him. As a result of such inappropriate reactions, clashes and fights often occur in clubs and other similar places.
4. A person who regularly drinks alcohol develops insomnia. Regardless of the number of hours he spent sleeping, the next morning he does not feel fully rested. Dreams become frightening, tense, gloomy, plots revolve around assassination attempts, attacks, intimidation.
5. Chronic alcoholism leads to mental disorders - for example, hallucinations (both visual and auditory). Often there is a desire to jump out of a window to escape a non-existent threat, or to start waving a knife. Relatives turn into enemies for the patient, and in this condition he needs emergency hospitalization.
6. Ultimately, moral prohibitions disappear, and a person becomes capable of committing unthinkable acts - for example, theft, murder. Work and family become secondary, which leads to deterioration in relationships, scandals, divorce, and loss of social connections. Parental drinking has a negative impact on the quality of life of children.
7. In addition, alcoholics often experience speech disturbances and characteristic changes in gait. If a person falls into a prolonged state of unconsciousness, bedsores will occur, which can lead to death.

Sobriety has undeniable advantages

Managerial aspect

There is a theory according to which government officials and other authorities prefer to hush up this problem. In some ways, alcohol is a way for them to reduce intellectual abilities population and their life expectancy.

Therefore, it is necessary to take responsibility for your own life into your own hands. The main reason people use to justify drinking alcohol is to relax and forget about daily problems and responsibilities.

But in reality, there are many other ways to unwind that do not lead to such harm to your health. In addition, you can arrange your life in such a way that there will be fewer and fewer reasons for wanting to get drunk and “forget yourself.” And if you remember that being drunk does not solve problems, but aggravates them, then you are unlikely to want to resort to this method next time.

Popular

Hello. My name is Evgeniy, I am 36 years old and I am an alcoholic. I never thought that I would ever say that about myself.

I drank for 20 years. Alcohol surrounded me everywhere, and often determined many things in my life.

Like many, I started in my youth. In high school, I had a great group of friends—the teachers were proud of us, we were good students, and we showed promise. But we were not nerds, we loved heavy music, and formed a school rock band. What's a rocker without alcohol? In addition, at this age we began to gradually join our parents’ feasts, where we were “allowed to try.” That's how it all started. I still remember the place where I drank a can of beer for two for the first time with a friend.

After school, I moved a thousand kilometers from home. Having decided to follow in the footsteps of his parents, he entered a railway university. The student period was fun and stormy. A group of like-minded people, mostly fellow visitors, gathered around me again. And we drank often and in large quantities. Yes, it interfered with our studies, but we fought. Already at that time I began to notice that some students were drinking alcohol. Alcohol broke them, they are for a short time changed beyond recognition. But we didn’t draw conclusions from this - we’re not like that, we’re not alcoholics, this doesn’t threaten us...

After graduating from university, I returned home and went to work for railway. He brought his future wife from Omsk. I got a job, a stable salary, met old friends. I didn't stop drinking. I was not a heavy drinker, but I drank often. The reasons came naturally. The most interesting thing is that regarding alcohol, my wife and I completely coincided - we were a good couple)))

At that very time I really fell in love with beer. I didn’t like strong drinks, but beer could be drunk anywhere and any way, it didn’t require a large snack and went great with company. We got together with friends, wives and had fun - at home, outdoors, in the bathhouse, in a cafe. And they drank, drank, drank. Even then, I began to notice that alcohol brings not only good things - I lost my phone, I said stupid things when I was drunk, I had a fight with my wife, I overslept. But, again, I didn’t draw any conclusions - we’re not like that...

When our eldest son was born, we thought we would stop drinking. But it was not there. We, of course, slowed down, the drinking became less frequent, but the pressure also became stronger. Around this time, the first bells began to ring in my head - maybe that’s enough? One or two drunks appeared in the circle of acquaintances, who still pretended that everything was all right, but in reality they had already lost control of themselves. However, my life flowed in a stable direction. I even made attempts to enroll in graduate school, but then I abandoned this idea and went to get a second degree to “cover the rear.”

One day I discovered Allen Carr’s well-known book “ The easy way stop drinking,” and it clicked in my head. I decided I'd had enough. Over some time, I read the book completely, at the very end I did everything as he recommended (those who read it will understand), and called it a day. Meetings with friends continued, but I switched from beer to juice. At first this caused bewilderment, but over time everyone got used to it. I was a solitary, teetotaler with no solid goals in an established alcohol company that lasted me for seven months. At a friend’s wedding, he “decoded.”

Then there was a small promotion at work and a move to another city. Soon a daughter was born. Contacts with friends were severed, and my wife and I became good drinking buddies. Honestly, I see this version of the family as much stronger than in the case when one person drinks and the other nags him because of it.

Little by little, getting bogged down in everyday drunkenness, I stopped liking myself more and more. My personal self-development has completely stopped; rather, it even went into reverse side. Health has deteriorated. In the mornings I cursed myself for yesterday, but in the evening I went to the stall again and bought the same amount as I had the day before. And most importantly - all this in front of the growing son.

Naturally, thoughts of quitting visited me regularly. One day I came up with an idea: to record each of our drinking sessions in the mobile phone calendar. In about six months, I accumulated some good statistics - where, when and how much was drunk, how much was spent, how much was lost... This gave a certain result. Several times I tried to quit, but with the wrong goal, thinking only about a temporary reduction in alcohol, and not about giving it up completely. At the same time, I started reading forums on the Internet. And the thought clearly formed in my head: yes, I’m an addicted alcoholic, this is bad, but something needs to be done next.

At this time, several significant events occurred for me. First, a good friend of mine quit drinking. Fully. For health. And he showed by his example that you can enjoy life without alcohol. We met him soberly New Year 2016/17 (although after that I quit and started several more times). Secondly, right under the balconies of my house they built and opened Gym. Thirdly, I came across Yulia Ulyanova’s blog, which, although it has a female focus, hooked me and captivated me. And then the final thought formed in my head that I needed to quit drinking completely, irrevocably and without hesitation. At the end of May I celebrated my son's graduation from junior school(he graduated from the fourth grade), where he got drunk - and with champagne. I haven't drank since then. That feast drew a line, dividing my life into “before” and “after.”

At the beginning of summer, I came up with #mysobersummer. Started Instagram account and began to write down his sober days, his thoughts and actions. At first it was even scary - wow, these are 92 beautiful summer days, and without booze! Am I depriving myself of something important and necessary? But new thoughts were already persistently growing in my head - hey, guy, you’re great, you jumped, you became free from poison, you’re cool!

Started going to the gym. And, oddly enough, I got involved. I never liked sports, but the gym became an excellent “outlet” for me, a replacement for dull beer feasts. He changed a little in appearance, revised his diet, made acquaintances with peers, of whom there were several in the hall. And I realized that I was going the right way. I brought my son to the gym, he likes it, and it’s very cool.

After summer, #mysoberautumn began. The thoughts in my head became noticeably clearer and fresher, and the reflection in the mirror began to please me. I began to forget what it was like to have a hangover. I discovered the amazing and aromatic world of bean coffee, made some myself renovation work in the house and in the car. I noticed that my performance improved and I became less irritable. I replaced beer with fruits, juices, vitamins, milk and coffee.

Now the sober autumn is over. I have already decided what will happen next. There will be both my sober winter and my sober spring. Six months is so little for an alcoholic with 20 years of experience. There's a lot of time ahead. I have wonderful children growing up, and I intend to set the right personal example for them. I will do everything in my power to ensure that my daughter never says: “Dad is drunk.”

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