I write this thread, at 3:30 am feeling ****ty and down on myself. I am a 23 year old, who goes to a state college in MA. Since June, I have played on Bovada,and have treated it as my job. I've had success, winning about $10,000, primarily through thousands of sng's. Unfortunately, also from June till now I've spent the majority of that money at bars,strip clubs,and on alcohol, whether it be for myself, or buying others drinks.

I admit I have a drinking problem, not that I cant go without drinking, it is when I start drinking, I absolutely cant drink in moderation, and have to get wasted. I've told myself I can quit, go out and still have fun. So that week I decided ill try quitting, I went out that weekend, and over to my friends house where we'd meet up before going out. Just being around them, seeing them drink and have a good time, I couldn't help it and started to drink heavily along with them.

The reason why I'm writing this is because, I want to stop drinking, but still be able to have a good time, and not revolve my life around drinking and feeling like ****. My grades are ****ty, I spend all my money on booze, and feel a little helpless. So here's my plan...

1.Find a way to quit drinking
2.Improve my work ethnic, focusing on poker,school,family,and budgeting my money.
3.Reach out to people, who are facing similar struggles then I am
4. Don't look back, enjoy life, and head into 2016 without having to drink alcohol.
*If you guys have any advice or anything to say, obv feel free.I wrote this to encourage myself but also for any feed back. I know I can fight this and am willing to give it my best effort.

If you're always associating yourself with people who are drinking and partying heavily then this is always going to be a struggle. Separate yourself from them people for a month or two and see how you feel then. Don't go to strip clubs, don't go to bars.

Meet new people, be nice to strangers, focus on school and poker, sleep well and most importantly exercise every day, even if it's only for 15 minutes.

You can do this...

Here is a good thread that might be helpful: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/34..****ohol-642366/

Gl.

I'm coming from a similar place, I'm 23 and trying to quit drinking. Same issue, it's never been an "I need to drink every day" thing, it's a lack of control on whether a night of drinking turns out to be a few beers and fun, or blacking out and waking up afraid to find out what I did the night before. Like others said, avoiding drinking contexts is pretty helpful. The one time I slipped up since deciding to go sober was at a rap concert, thankfully though I still just had one beer and decided I didn't like that I had it and didn't want anymore. Tailgating a college football game was rough too, and I don't think that's something I want to do again for hours on end in the near future because of that.

What I'm finding helpful is incorporating it into my fitness goals. I want to get leaner and stronger, and alcohol ****s up both of those things. It makes it harder for me to hit my protein goals and stay under my calorie goals, and it ****s with your hormones making recovery from lifting a lot less effective than it would otherwise be. Setting up a budget could be helpful too. It doesn't have to be anything super planned out, but just having savings plans every week (put away 10% of your profits each week, or however you want to ration it with poker winnings) is nice too in feeling more in control over tempting things like drinking, especially when you realize how much money you were spending on alcohol and nights out that could be put into other things or simply saved up for financial security and big budget stuff (large purchases, taking a trip somewhere, whatever).

I hope you continue to post here, it's always nice to have someone else with the same goals in mind to talk to about what's working, what doesn't, and how things are going.

Hey guys thanks for the replies, means a lot. Dano you hit on the nail..focus on school,poker,sleep,and exercise. Throw in family and money and that's all i'm going to be focused on. And Oxygen, thanks for that link, always helps to see others going through similar and even tougher battles. And uscpf, do you live at home or at college? I ask this because when I was living up at school until last year, it would be IMPOSSIBLE for me not to drink while living on campus/the apartment that I lived at next to school for two years. Peer pressure+college is a brutal thing.I have a solid man cave back home, so i'm living here and commuting to school twice a week. Few more classes to take then I will have my bachelor in Business Finance.

Another great reason to quit drinking, I agree, is for fitness goals. I've played basketball/baseball my whole life in HS/college, so when that was over + drinking + eating ****ty, i went from cut up and a 6 pack, to meh and a slight beer belly. This alone makes me feel ****ty, then add awful school grades, nonstop drinking on the weekends, and spending all my money, I've fallen close to rock bottom. When your 18,19,20,21 you can get away with these things, but when your 23 and almost done school, its time to turn this ship around, and this is what im going to do.

1.I've come up with a fitness plan so ill be lifting+cardio 5-6x a week. This may sound like a lot, but I've done it in the past and especially without drinking, I'm more motivated then ever to get in the best shape of my life.
2. Every day, for school work take 2-3 hours out of the day to study. The main reason why my grades have been sucky is just waiting to the last minute, If i put in the effort each day consistently ill be fine.
3. Log 40 hours of Bovada each week. I haven't really talked about my poker life, but I haven't had a losing week since June playing sng's all day. I'm also a good MTT player but I've been sticking to sng's cause its almost guaranteed solid profit for me.
4. Me and my friends are thinking of booking a Spring Break. Yes this may sound crazy from what we've been talking about, but hear me out. It would be in March and were thinking Daytona Beach Florida. Now its easier said then done, but my plan down there is to still not drink, and just enjoy the weather and bang some college chicks. Booking a spring break, would also be a great incentive for me to focus on working out and avoid drinking. Living in MA, or anyone living on the East Coast for that matter knows how brutal it gets in the winter with the amount of snow that we get. This trip is still in the works, so we'll see how it goes. I went to Fort Myers last year for break and it was a good time.

Lastly, this seems like it will be a hard month to quit, but im ready. Xmas eve/New Years eve will be the huge tests. Thanks guys!

I'm not in school. It seems like there's a bit of incongruence there between feeling it's impossible to not drink while living on campus, but thinking you can go a week on spring break surrounded by people drinking 24/7 and make it through alright. How is that different?

I know this suggestion is gonna get dismissed, but hear me out. Try AA for a while. The strategies they discuss for dealing with stressors and difficult situations are invaluable and the support and stories are incredible. At least think seriously about it. I know a number of people who have gone only because OTHERS in their lives are alcoholics or abuse drugs. Even though they aren't dealing with the issues in their own lives, the positive impact is huge. However you choose to deal with this, you can do it. And it's really impressive that you've identified this as an issue and you want to change. Keep it up!