r/stopdrinking • u/stupre1972 468 days • 1d ago
Sobriety - a cautionary tale
460 odd days ago, I stopped drinking.
460 odd days ago, my wife lost her drinking partner.
Directly or indirectly, so did her parents, my sister, brother in law and a number of friends.
Today, we have had a get together of 10 of us and what would have been a very boozy get together (historically double figure bottles of wine plus various other) has been a very gentle affair where the grand total is 2 bottles of wine and a half dozen bottles of beer.
All of that because I stopped and others followed....
So a word of caution - your (and my) sobriety can have positive effects way beyond your own little world.
Ladies and Gentlemen of the sub, I raise a glass (of hot chocolate in my case) and salute you all - Be you on day 1 or day 1000 - and say once more IWNDWYT
3
u/CourageKitchen2853 440 days 1d ago
I'll be getting together with a group of college buddies tonight. We're in our early 40s. We've been having this get together on the last Friday of the year for probably 15 years or so and it was an afternoon/night of completely debauchery in the past.
One of the guys quit drinking just before COVID. I quit 14+ months ago now. Last year was a much more calm event. This year we're actually planning the day around having a good meal together and not just eating at some dive bar or Chinese food place once we are hammered enough.
Turns out, I was one of the biggest drivers of the debauchery. Kind of an eye opener when you realize your own drinking is influencing the drinking of other people around you.