As my 28th birthday is just a few hours away, I can’t help but get emotional at how great my 27th year on this earth was. The best year of my 20s so far. The year I finally gave up alcohol. At 17 I started drinking, if somebody would’ve told me then that I would soon become a full blown alcoholic I probably would’ve laughed it off and told that person to fuck off. At 22 I started to notice that my drinking was becoming more of a problem, decided that it was normal and pushed the thought to the back of my head. At 24 i was drinking every single day, atleast 2 olde English 40oz, sometimes more if I could ingest it before blacking out. I would stock up and buy about 4 at a time so I could have more to drink after waking up from passing out. At 25 I started falling into a deep depression, drinking even more, attempting to quit alcohol, but to no avail. At 26 the drinking got worst, I was drunk more hours of the day than I was sober, my depression started getting worst and the thought of suicide started crossing my mind. I had fallen so deep into my addiction that it really started to feel that the only way I was gonna escape it was thru killing myself. At 27, after binge drinking for about 10 days straight, on October 14, 2020 I knew that if I didn’t quit alcohol soon I would either end up homeless, in prison, or dead within a matter of years. That day, I was probably at the lowest I’ve ever been. No ambition, no goals, nothing to look forward too, I became a shell of who I was, living a miserable existence, drunk almost all the time. I realized I could either quit now, begin an uphill battle towards sobriety and happiness, or continue on my downward spiral into an abyss of darkness. On this day, for the first time in 10 years, I am celebrating my birthday alcohol free. Sobriety is a life long journey, a journey that has many ups and down, probably the hardest thing I’ve done so far, but the most rewarding. This last year has been better than the last 7 years of my life, and it all started by giving up alcohol, having to sit with my thoughts and working thru shit I’ve gone thru in my life that I never did because of the fact that as I child, I was taught that showing any emotion other than happiness or anger equated to showing weakness. Part of me is sad that I have to give up alcohol at such a young age, not even in my 30s yet, but at this point I don’t care. I’m much happier, healthier, and on my way to finding my own definition of what a successful life is. I’m glad that chapter of my life is over now. One day at a time
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Congratulations and happy birthday 
. Such a great and inspirational story. Thank you for sharing.
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Happy Birthday to you! Very nice gift you have given yourself. Always remember the good feelings you are feeling about being sober.
I quit drinking right about my 28th bday. I have never felt like I missed anything. Always grateful I no longer drank and saved myself a lot of headaches, hangovers, calories plus it probably would have ended up killing me.
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Such an inspiring post! Congratulations on discovering yourself sober
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