r/stopdrinking • u/soberingthought 2283 days • 28d ago
'Tude 'Tude Talk Tuesday for August 12, 2025
Hello, fellow Sobernauts!
Welcome to 'Tude Talk Tuesday, where you're invited to share what changes you've noticed in your attitudes and perspectives since you've gotten sober.
I once heard someone say "It gets worse and worse and it can always get worse" and that resonated with me.
I bailed out of drinking earlier than some. My rock bottom isn't the highest and isn't the lowest. But it was bad enough that I knew in my heart I needed to stop drinking.
I'm a firm believer that if I ever go back to drinking, I'll eventually, perhaps quickly, perhaps slowly, but inevitably, get back to that rock bottom. And if I continue drinking at that point, it will, perhaps quickly, perhaps slowly, but inevitably, get worse. I have years of personal experience, and countless examples from fellow Sobernauts, to prove to me this is how addiction progresses.
I've often said that my sobriety was not a panacea. It did not magically solve all my problems or turn me into a healthy, functioning person. Heck, when I first got sober, for a while things got worse. But what I know is that when I was drinking, things were guaranteed to get worse whereas in sobriety I have at least a chance, often a good chance, that they can get better.
So how about you? What do you think your chances of things getting worse are in sobriety versus when drinking?
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u/False-Judgment2591 36 days 28d ago
100% chance of things being worse when drinking. It's funny, I had thought the whole year hasn't been that bad in terms of drinking. I love a paper diary, and marked each day I drank with a simple dot. So after a week or so not drinking, and being surprised by my digestive system improving, I looked back at the diary. Only one week went by without a dot. Most had 2, a lot had 4... Given my circumstances (heavy care role, abandoned by other family members), the moments I need every day to decompress is valid. The reasons I have for feeling depressed are real. But I was blind to the role my drinking was playing in making it all worse. Because every one of those dots was not a glass of wine. It was drink until you pass out. Totally negligent, this I knew. But I didn't know until now how much it was dragging me down. The situation I'm living in will pass. I'm sure I'll want to drink again, but after this, I'll be faced with many more tough situations (that's life). So if I don't extend the liberation that is sobriety into all the days, weeks, months and years that will follow this. If I pick up drinking again, the chances of having a worse time than is necessary are 100%. I've seen the evidence.
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u/PreviousMess9829 48 days 28d ago
Oddly enough, the "come to Jesus" talk that got through to me wasn't about my drinking but was about the state of my home. And when I stopped drinking, it's like something snapped inside of my brain and said "Holy cats I don't want to live like this anymore." It's not perfect or even great yet, but at least at this point, it's apartment inspection safe and I almost feel comfortable having people over again.
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u/666nix 127 days 28d ago
IWNDWYT!
After quitting some days things got worse, and some days they got better, but life still continued - just now without alcohol.