Whoever hasnt done rehab can you talk to me about what your journey looked like? Therapy? Aa? Is it possible without rehab?
Is there anyone willing to be my pen pal/ sponser that we can keep each other accountable
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Welcome to the community. I’m almost 6 months sober from alcohol. I haven’t gone to rehab, I don’t attend AA but I do have a therapist and I lean on this community for support. I can certainly help in anyway I can.
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No rehab here and i live in a casino 3 days a week (free hotel rooms while i work away from home). So there is a lot of opportunity to say the least. I went from drinking not drinks but bottles. Anyways before i come to the “land of opportunity” i read and write down the affects of what it has on my body. I started a journal of it. I recommended listening to Andrew Huberman, very smart scientist. Anyways after writing i will hit up the gym and while looking in the mirror i tell myself your a little weak B if you drink and you are a failure. Personally i dont think i am a B so that alone will be enough to keep me away. As its working so far even when i basically live in a bar with free “sin” but this is me and you have to dig really deep and find what is that fuse that you say F it I am done!
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My journey was many years of wishing and hoping to “drink like a normal person” way past the time it was clear that I simply could not. After a decade or two of that, it finally clicked that I needed support. I read some quit lit, joined FB groups, even tried medication. I managed to put together a few months here or there but it wasn’t clicking, and the relapses were me getting back to square one quicker. I joined here, and after hearing people keep suggesting AA I tried it. I wasn’t taking medication to not drink by that point, but I had finally got on a mood stabiliser that helped. I did the steps and kept up regular AA meetings. After a couple of years stopped the mood stabiliser and am more or less active in AA depending on how I am doing.
A sponsor is usually found in meetings. Go to some meetings, find a person you click with and who is open to sponsoring. You could also make this thread your personal thread and myself and others can support you here. 
I personally took the AA route, but Recovery Dharma, SMART are great options too.
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Andrew Huberman probably had the single biggest impact on my psyche when it came to alcohol. Good tip.
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Therapy mostly, dabbled in AA and then SMART recovery. And of course this community, it’s wild to look back at my posts from 5 years ago! However I have two good friends who found rehab to be a good beginning to their new life. They have good insurance and leave benefits, which made it available to them.
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Im almost 2 years alcohol free, and with out any help. Well I have been on here everyday and could not done it without. The first days/weeks was terrible, to the point I was thinking I could not do it, the anxiety was so scary. But here I am sober 
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When i got sober only AA then no rehab as such ,no internet no mobile phones ,so it can be done wish you well
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I did not go to rehab.
My journey began around 15 years ago.
I was in my early 30’s and my drinking became uncontrollable. I’ve always drank a lot, but it had progressed into something else. I started getting in trouble with the law due to it. My behavior became less than awesome. I began to put alcohol above all else. This is when I realized I had a problem.
I continued drinking for 10 years, all the while knowing I had a problem. In 2018, my last paternal grandfather passed away, and at his memorial, I got wasted, like super wasted, inappropriately wasted. I swore, on my Grandfather (who was a recovering alcoholic), that I’d quit.
That lasted 2 months because I was just white knuckling it. I had no program, no plan, no direction or resources. All I had was me and my will, and that was not enough. I needed more.
I continued to drink for 5 months. One day, Sept. 22nd to be exact, I woke up and decided to quit.
I remember I had the Sober Time app before, so I re-downloaded it, and rejoined this community.
I was serious this time. I mean, I was other times too, but this time, it was different, much like other times too… but this time I meant it.
I came here everyday and read. I was like a sponge. I absorbed everything I could. I made small talk, that turned to big talk. I made pals and they turned to friends. I built a sober network of folks just like me. People on the same journey, people I could lean on and be leant on.
The comradery that was built was my accountability.
The blue print to sobriety has been scribed on the walls of this forum so at this point, it’s up to the individual to take it and build their own program.
Success in sobriety is possible and that’s how I found it.
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This was very helpful to hear! Thanks for sharing
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I appreciate that ! And congrats 
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Can you advise on any literature or links I can start with regarding this guy please, as it’s the first I have heard of him today
I won’t bother you with all the ways that didn’t work….
But when I finally did it I did a few sessions of therapy, she suggested AA, I went to AA and loved it. I will admit that I didn’t get a sponsor or do the steps but I loved meetings and doing the reading. It really was enough for me to hear other people share and know I wasn’t alone.
But I think the REAL reason it worked this last time was because I was finally ready to DO it rather than just wish and hope for it.
YOU CAN DO IT
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“Huberman Labs” Podcast, Episode 86. “What alcohol does to your body, brain & health”
He takes a straightforward, in depth look at the evidence surrounding the effect that alcohol has on various body systems.
There are lots of podcasts or books out there, but his matter of fact and non judgemental approach resonated with me. I re listen to this podcast when the cravings hit me. It takes care of them!