Nearly 8 months alcohol free and it’s been a bit of a roller coaster. I’m still struggling to accept that I’m an alcoholic but hoping it sets in more over the next year or so. I think it’s more a sense of embarrassment than anything, which I know is unjust and down to the society in which we live. Still, my why? Because I want to live and honestly think drinking will end up killing me or that I’ll take my own life, as on the downhill slope things get darker and darker every time. What’s your why? Wishing you all the best and thanks for reading my first post.
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My why is that I want to be alive and present with my wife. In my addiction, I live alone in my head, always alone, and I do nothing to foster loving relationships. I want to change that.
Welcome to Talking Sober! 
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Why why is hope. I was living a hopeless existence and it was dark. My why is improved quality of life, health, relationships. Why? I dont want to go back
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Absolutely my “why” is to live. I watched my mom slowly kill herself by 69 and I knew I was on that same path. I have too much more I want to do.
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Amazing work on coming up to 8 months
My why is because my life is bigger then the bottle. I have a fairly new wife, a 1 year old boy with her. I quit drugs and alcohol and I ended up creeping on 2 years with this job full time with benefits
If I drink it’s because I want to fk myself over
You take care and keep reading and posting
Good thred
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Living life sober
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My why is my kids. One has depression, one is newly diagnosed ADHD/Autism and I know I need to stop drinking so I can help them with their lives.
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My why at first was many things. I guess at first was my mom and people around me telling me I had a problem, so to please then I kept trying to cut back or w.e.. then I needed to do it for my kids, but honestly a lot of that still wasn’t really enough, I always felt angry or dry I guess I’d say. Then the why was to show everyone how awesome sobriety is and oh look at me I’m running, biking 50 mile trips and getting in shape. And those were all just shitty why’s… The why needed to come within myself, being comfortable finding myself, even after going through rehab, going to a half way house, lying, cheeking pills,sneaking cocaine or meth and acting sober. I finally realized like man this shit is just plain fucking boring, getting drunk or high completely sucks and is not even a little fun, waking up feeling like shit. Coming up on 18 months and each day I just see little parts of why I do not miss drugs or alcohol. I mean life can be real testy sober to don’t get me wrong lol, but those testy life moments won’t be better with alcohol or drugs because we never actually work on them.
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260 days alcohol free today! My why is because life is better without the poison in your body and mind. We are meant to BE here FEELING it all. Emotion is energy in motion and when we don’t FEEL what comes up, it stays in us for longer than it needs to.
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Congratulations on your sober time. My WHY was originally to not get divorced. Today it is because my sober life is the most amazing existence I have ever experienced. I do hate to say I am glad I am an alcoholic.
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Thanks for the replies on this everyone and well done to you all on your time sober. Some really brave and honest responses, which is very inspiring. Thank you.
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My why has changed over time. I knew it was damaging, but when I could physically see what it was doing to my body is where my journey really began. Then my why quickly became realizing I was going to end up leaving my son from this addiction like my dad left me from it. Now, 7 years later, my why is I really LOVE this new life! My worst day sober is a gazillion times better than my best day drinking. I have this opportunity to do this sober thing and live in a whole new way that many I’ve loved never got to find so I dont intend to waste it. 
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Could tell many whys but the root why is that I choose to be at control myself. I am an alcoholic meaning it’s a disease that gets just worse. If I allow myself to drink one then I am not at control anymore but the addiction is. Only way to control addiction is to choose a sober life.
You are thinking about the word alcoholic. Could it be easier to think that it’s an addiction where is no other cure than total denial? Unless you have had no problems with drinking ever before…
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Welcome to the forum! 8 months is amazing, go easy on yourself. It takes a while to fully come to terms with your addiction.
My why is simple. I decided I wanted to live. My worst sober day is still better than my best drunk day.
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My why is that I’ll die, and die alone, if i drink and I need to want to live.
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My “why” changes every day. In the early months of sobriety, I didn’t really know why I wasn’t drinking—I just knew I couldn’t go back to those dark places. The depression, the anxiety, the fear, the paranoia, the emptiness… I never wanted to feel that way again.
Now, with time, my reasons have shifted. Just like we change, grow, and learn to accept ourselves, our motivations evolve too.
These days, I simply feel better—and sometimes, that’s reason enough to keep going. The best days of my life have started to arrive… and I believe even better ones are still ahead.
Congratulations on 8 months sober—what an incredible milestone!!
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I wanted my life back. Or at least a life. I was stuck in such a dark place while I drank, always hoping for someone or something to help me out of it. Taking action was the key to bringing the colours back. Today I am grateful for every day I get to experience - the good and the bad days.
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For me to continue to use meant prison and death. I at one point was fine with dieing as an addict, now I’m working on 7 years off alcohol marijuana and narcotics
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Numerous why’s. To stop the endless cycle of sadness, anger, hate, anxiety, fear that alcohol had given me for too long now. To be able to sleep through the night rather than pacing around all night. To put an end to the misery I brought to so many and to myself. To stop the suicidal thoughts when I’m deep in a bender. To finally have a year that was better than the last. The list goes on and on but most importantly, it’s to take my life back. I’ve never given myself a chance to live and be happy.
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Major congratulations on seven years. That gives me hope. I agree with your first sentence on why. It’s the same for me. I also was OK with dying an addict or alcoholic. It wasn’t if it was when . I don’t know how many times I was brought back with Narcan or woke up in the hospital with severe alcohol poisoning with my organs shutting down and still it was not a wake up call. To be honest the wake up call was sitting in jail with very serious charges about 16 or 17 months ago and the best thing my parents did was not bail me out and I had time to really think about my life and where it was headed. I took the deal that was offered and I thank God for the opportunity To get my life together and to have freedom. I definitely don’t want to go to prison and that’s exactly where I’m going to end up if I go back to drugs and alcohol because All good decision making and proper judgment goes out the window. I don’t want to become another statistic. But the truth is if I stop working my AA program Or pick and choose what I’m going to do then I already know what the outcome will be. For all of us there might be a different why But really it’s the Same for all of us. Alcohol and drugs do not work in our life And all it does is produce a crazy amount of consequences and heartache
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