In one very real sense, I am like my father. Like many children of alcoholics, I myself have a drinking problem. Certainly, it is not as severe as his is. I do not consider myself an alcoholic. But I do find that drinking damages motivation, and I have too many things going on in my life that require a clear head and a lot of ambition. When I drink, I do not run. When I drink, I do not climb. When I drink, I find it difficult to stop. I realize that I have to be careful because the odds are against me.   more...

My world had withered to my closet. I was a dead soul...no, that's not exactly right...I was a bottled soul. The "me" that I was as a little girl, college coed, autumnal bride and loving mother didn't exist anymore. I had killed my own soul by involuntary suicide. And so I knelt, closed in my womb room, swilling from a half gallon bottle of cheap vodka...tears flowing as briskly as the booze. There was nothing left of me, there was nothing left for me. I wasn't particularly afraid of dying in fact the idea seemed rather inviting to my fogged sense of reasoning. I'd blown it. I'd blown it big time. I knew I had no one else to blame but myself...but, how did this happen? How did I find myself HERE after the maze of choices I'd made so far in this lifetime? ...........TO READ THE REST OF THIS STORY AND MORE LIKE IT, CLICK ON THE LINK ABOVE   more...

My name is Gabriela Byrne. I am 45 years old, happily married with two healthy children. We live in Warrandyte, one of Melbourne’s beautiful outer suburbs in a lovely big house and in general have everything you could ever ask for (in worldly terms). About 8 years ago this was about to be changed because I began a “hot, passionate” love affair with “George”. I became hooked on Poker Machine Gambling. I deliberately chose the analogy of a “hot, passionate love affair” because most people can comprehend an “affair” but have problems understanding how “anybody” can become addicted to something “stupid” like Poker Machines. I will share with you my story, how it started, how far it progressed and how I eventually was able to “break free”.   more...

What’s your relationship with God? For twenty-five years the only thing I did “good” was sin. Today is much different, sure I still make mistakes and life’s normal troubles are there. God makes all the difference. Ever seen the bumper sticker “no Jesus no peace, know Jesus know peace”?   more...

Drinking and drugging was my thing.My parents wrote me off,and off to the races I went.I would use just about anything to get away from feeling.I loved being wasted.I showed up at my moms door 8 months pregnant needing my mom.I needed a hug.I needed that maternal insinct thing.   more...

Then I found alcohol. I don't remember crossing over the line from social drinking. But I soon realized I had. Very quickly I found myself drinking alone and experiencing blackouts. I remember to first time I had a blackout. I had spent a rainy afternoon at the horse stables where I rode frequently. Everyone else was drinking. I joined in. I remember going out to pee behind my car. The next thing I remember I was at home gagging over the toilet. I wanted to die I felt so awful.   more...

My path into the forest was riddled with dishonesty, greed, hatred, jealousy, fear, ignorance, selfishness, and a whole slew of other character defects that I practiced at various times in my life. It was evident that I could not take this path back out of the forest.   more...

When I drank I learned how to control my emotions, never again would anyone make me cry, or see my hurt, never again would I show anyone the fear with-in me. If you hit me I would laugh at you, if you yell at me I would laugh at you, laughter was my mask for every thing, the only emotion I would ever show was total defiance of anyone who got into my face   more...

I was 12 years old, when I had my first drink, beer and it tasted gross! After a few minutes I felt different, I knew I wanted that beer no matter how bad it tasted. I drank all night one after the other; I loved the way I felt. I was beautiful, fun, popular, full of energy. Everyone liked me. Well that’s how I felt for the first few hours, as the night went on bizarre things started happening, I kissed 3 guys   more...

Wow! What a day! Basically, decent day. No worries with the boss. No work to do, but no boss to look over shoulder to make sure I'm doing something to make myself look busy. I am not in a great place though. It started when I got ready to leave for work. This overwhelming sense of dread came over me, and I just didn't want to come home. I just wanted to say forget it, go write a HOT check for a case of beer, come home, lock myself in my bedroom and get totally wasted.   more...

When drinking I never really cared if people witnessed my vomiting, but frankly I was scared to death that someone would observe me on my knees praying. In addition to locking the apartment door, I braced a chair against it for added privacy.   more...

He seemed to be a normal baby. When he was 3 we realized something wasn't right so I took him to a number of doctors. It wasn't until I quit drinking that I got honest and told the specialist that I had drank during this pregnancy. I was told my child had Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.   more...

Then one morning I don't know what happened. I awoke. The airbags had been deployed. The railroad crossing was on top of my rental car and it was sitting on the island in the middle of a four lane highway during rush hour. Thank God know one got hurt. I got arrested for driving while intoxicated. I was on my way home to overdose on heroin and I went to jail instead for 4 hours.   more...

hi, my name is Lisa, I live in a small town in Ohio. Right now I am 26 single mom, my son is 8. I have been batteling alcohol addiction since i can remember . I can remember when all my friends were done partying, there was never enough for me, and the party always ended to soon. Those were the good ole days before i discovered pills.   more...

When we entered that church, I felt the power of God wash over me, and immediately I knew that I was a sinful man. Later, I thought of how Peter must have felt when confronted with the holiness and power of Jesus Christ. "Leave me, Lord! I'm a sinful man!" Peter cried. I knew indeed how Peter felt. My entire being was shaken in the presence of God's holiness. It was a presence I could feel, though I did not see anything but people -- lots of people, friendly, warm. People who had something I did not -- but what was it? What did they have?   more...

By my senior year in high school, my drinking had progressed drastically. I was drinking whenever I could, not caring about the consequences, or my mother. I was dating a guy at the time that smoked marijuana frequently, and he was always trying to get me to smoke with him   more...