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Jul 21, 2012, 11:41 AM
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Member Since: Sep 2011
Location: Northern California
Posts: 14,805
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mojave_rose8
I didn’t start drinking until I was 19, and I didn’t start drinking a lot until I was 23 or 24. My bipolar diagnosis came when I was 21.
I spent most of my mid-20s in bars, getting drunk almost every night. It was not a good time in my life in general: I was out of college and working a dead-end retail job. I started drinking at home. It became a ritual – four or five glasses of wine pretty much every night – enough to get me pretty drunk. It was an escape, and a wonderful one. I loved the feeling of being drunk, especially when I was “buzzed” but not yet completely incapacitated.
Then a couple of things started to happen: I noticed my anxiety, which has been an almost constant companion since before high school, was getting worse, almost unbearable. The other thing was I felt incredibly guilty about my drinking, because it was interfering with my ability to move my life forward.
So last spring, as I finished off a bottle of chardonnay, I decided it was time to apply to grad school, and I knew that drinking and grad school were not compatible. So, that was the last night I ever drank, and will ever drink.
It wasn’t too hard to quit drinking, probably because I had a new focus: applying to grad school. I can say with certainty I will never drink again, and I can also say I don’t miss it.
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Congratulations! Best of luck applying to and studying at grad school!!
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