I'll admit the transition to a life of not drinking was not that big of a deal primarily because at the end of my active alcoholism (drinking) I was unemployable due to alcoholic related illness and no longer working at my job, I'd driven away nearly all my friends and family leaving just my old friends J & R plus my parents. Even K-Sue, my using buddy most of that last 18 months was gone. Nobody else really wanted anything to do with me. Both of my kids couldn't deal with it anymore and who could blame them...I would be making the transition, if I could do it in relative anonymity....
I'm sure for some folks who are still working a job and have friends/family, changing to a life of sobriety can really confuse and upset folks. In my case, honestly nobody really cared...I'm sure they just couldn't picture me ever changing and they were alone in that line thinking: I couldn't see me making the change either. I figured it would be easier for me to sprout wings and fly then to stay sober and one day actually have a life where I'm actually happy without abusing booze and drugs! It was just not possible in my mind, not even remotely possible.
But it happened anyway...My more difficult issues were more related to earning back the trust of my family, my two children in particular were not inclined to believe anything that I would telly them. They had heard it all before...Nope, talk was cheap..I was going to have to prove it, day by day over the long haul.
That was going to be one of recovery's most difficult challenges. Earning trust again from the folks who loved and cared about me whom I'd hurt the most. That is a story for another time....
