Wow, this place has surely changed! Oct 17th will be three years without a drink for me. I pretty much quit on my own with some motivation from this board, I think we had a good group of active people on here which was a godsend for me. I counted days for a long while and am glad the days of counting are behind me as well. I don’t consider myself “sober” but just that I don’t drink. I don’t think much about drinking aside from thinking it would be fun but I remember how that fun turned into not so fun.

Since I quit drinking my wife and I had a baby who is turning 2 next week. He was born three months premature and, boy, if I were drinking through that I can’t imagine where I would be. It was a real testament to how serious I was about quitting and knowing I could get through anything without it.

In January of this year I started running and in June I did my first 1/2 marathon. On Sept 12 I raced in my first Olympic Triathlon (1 mile swim, 25 mile bike ride, 6 mile run) and it was amazing. I am going to start training for a half and full ironman next year which I definitely couldn’t do if I were drinking.

To all of you struggling and on the fence about it… hold on to the feelings that got you to where you wanted to quit. I think about them a lot, down to the last swig of vodka I had and pouring the last little bit out. I think more about how much I hated being hungover than how much I loved being drunk and how my life had spiraled out of control and just kind of sucked in general. Today I am inspiring people through not drinking and doing things like triathlons, etc.

Hang in there, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Sometimes it gets worse before it gets better but either way you will feel much better in the end.

Good luck to everyone and congratulations on everyone who is happy with where they’re at today!