That Painful Limbo Period

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For the longest period when I was drinking, I never viewed my alcohol use as a problem.

I'm pretty sure every addict has said the same!

I honestly thought I could stop drinking at any time because there were times when I'd been able to stop.

I mean I couldn't be an addict if I didn't drink every day, could I?

I actually went 3 months without alcohol once.

It never occurred to me that I had a problem despite going straight back to drinking the exact same destructive way I'd done prior to stopping. I thought that was normal.

I thought that because I'd successfully stopped for that long I'd earned a drink! That was the addiction talking… but I didn't know that yet. I just listened and drank again.

I could go days or weeks without alcohol. But every time, if not immediately, I'd eventually revert back to my old drinking habits.

Prior to finally being able to quit, I spent years wanting to put down the booze. That time was tough.

I've said this before but it bears repeating, the limbo period between wanting to quit drinking and actually being able to was one of the roughest and most heartbreaking times of my ‘drinking career’.

I don't say that lightly as someone who became an everyday drinker towards the end and who just wanted to end it all.

Later in this article, I will share a personal story about the pain this limbo period caused me.