- Alcohol
- Drugs
- Friends & Family
Submitted by: Susanne Johnson
Andy started using marijuana at age seventeen and all through college, alcohol came a little later and also was used regularly. He tried several other drugs as well, like mushrooms and LSD, but marijuana and alcohol always were always his drugs of choice. Andy got sober at age 53 and now celebrates seven years of continuous sobriety.
His life was unmanageable at the end of his addiction. He isolated from his wife and children, just going with his dog in the backyard to get drunk. His wife stayed with him, and never left him. He was writing her notes like ‘Leave me alone, I’m good at this drinking thing, I know what I’m doing.’ and she left him alone. He was going to a bar almost every day right after work. His wife was drinking as well, just not as much as he did. In 2007, they had a conversation about their alcohol use and decided together to quit. She never had a drink from that day on, while he only stayed sober for a short time and then went back out again.
One day, he woke up and knew he had to stop again. Total abstinence is the only way for him in his eyes– so he stopped drinking and pot the same day, both the things he enjoyed. But he understood that they go hand-in-hand and in order to be successful he had to let go of both. He walked into a 12-step-meeting and said that he had a problem with alcohol. He has been going to that meeting for the past seven years now at least five times a week and never felt anywhere near that much at home before. He loves that the people in meetings listen and are always willing to help.
“It is not so much the world that has to be changed, it is me,” Andy loves to say. His view on life has changed a lot in sobriety. “I’m not afraid to look in the mirror instead of blaming other people today.” When he was drinking he used to blame the world for everything; today he is more accepting. “There is a better way to live,” Andy says.
Most of his friends are in the program as well, but he has some that still drink, especially during the holidays. He does not go to the bars anymore, he goes to a meeting instead. Andy used to be a teacher and now he loves helping others work the steps. “You never learn more than by teaching it,” he mentions. Andy loves his new life and loves that he is not so angry and upset all the time anymore. He developed a relationship with the God of his understanding and enjoys to be around likeminded people. He states, “I was sitting in a corner, isolating and drinking myself to death. I don’t have to do that anymore.”