So I’m a truck driver gone throughout the week and home on the weekends, so staying away from alcohol is a breeze through the week. But as soon as I get home on Friday evenings it’s on, and doesn’t stop till late Saturday night. It’s caused several fights, disconnects, etc. I’m over 22 years old and every since I turned 21 I’m not sure if there’s been a weeekend I haven’t drank the whole time till I just would pass out finally. The horrible thing is I have a wife and 2 boys. My oldest is 2 and then I have a 2 month old, and I just feel like a horrible father but I can’t break this cycle. I feel like joining this app is helping my confidence but today will be my first day back home and I’m just wondering if anyone had any advice with breaking that habit of taking advantage of the little amount of home time that you have and drinking as much as you can with it? I know that sounds horrible but that’s where I’m at. Any advice would be great, even if you’re home everyday.
Hello @TheDad and welcome to TS. You’ve made a good choice to pop in for a chat. This shows you’re determined to make changes to drinking habits that have caused friction at home. Raising two little ones can also be like a full time job, on top of your truck driving role and other responsibilities.
I just want you to know that you’re not alone. There are heaps of people here who get you and can offer support at any time. The beauty of a worldwide community. Read stories and ask questions. Keep on truckin’, you’ve got this!
Welcome! You’ve made such a smart choice to find some support and community in the process of making this change, and a great change it will be. I used to be a weekend warrior, much like your experience, until I wasn’t and progressed further to daily drinking. It’s great you have a good reason to abstain during the week and you can focus on this pattern on the weekend. I’m going to post some links here for threads you might want to read through. Reading here will take up some time and be helpful all at once. In my early days I spent soooo much time on here, before, during and after cravings, but especially during. It helped me put things into perspective when I was tempted to fall back into those old patterns. 2+ years later and I’m still here!
I actually began coming here in late 2019 and had some stints of sobriety but it really stuck after I was willing to try more of what people said worked for them instead of thinking I could do things the way I thought was right for me. Had to stretch my comfort zone a lot. The more you educate yourself and are willing to make plans and take steps to change the better. That being said, planning your time and including recovery/sobriety specific activities or reading really helped me. I’m glad you decided to join us! I encourage you to try checking in every day (or every day on the weekend depending on what works for you). I will link a thread for that too.