I had stuff...now I have a life

I am an alcoholic and my name is Mark.  I never wanted to be an alcoholic.  In my twenties, I wanted my life to look like a beer ad.  In my thirties and into my forties, I wanted my life to look like an article from one of the glossy food and wine magazines.  At the end of my drinking, a little over 18 months ago, I was suicidal and sitting in blue pajamas in the psych ward.  So much for my plans.

My drinking started at age 17.  From the outset, I rarely drank in moderation.  All that changed over the years was the frequency with which I drank.  My best guess it that there was not a day between 1992 and November 14, 2002 where I did not take a drink. 

I was raised in a loving, though highly disciplined home and was the eldest of three children.  Although I recall alcohol being an “issue” in the house when I was quite young it certainly wasn’t as I was growing up.  I was given every opportunity and advantage.  I was schooled abroad in my teens (when I first started to drink), and lacked for nothing in the material sense. 

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