A Drunkard's Diary (Part 1): The First Time I Quit Drinking

I was 25 the first time I swore off drinking for good. I’m not sure of the exact date, but I know it was a Saturday. I was living in the dorms at RAF Lakenheath and I’d made plans with a few friends to go to the zoo that day. However, I planned poorly the night before and decided to get absolutely shit-faced with other friends in the dorms. I woke up that morning wondering if maybe I couldn’t just die instead of get out of bed. But, being I had a crush on one of the friends I was to go to the zoo with, I forced myself through the motions of being human and set about the day. Unfortunately, about 30 minutes into our drive, we hit a traffic jam that looked to go for miles and my stomach decided just then to deal with the complications of too much alcohol. So we turned around to get back to base ASAP and the day pretty much ended up a complete waste for me.

I was pissed at myself for screwing up what not only would’ve been a day hanging out with a girl I had a crush on, but also possible extra credit for an anthropology class I was taking at the time. And I vowed to myself to quit drinking so something like that could never happen again. To ensure myself of this, gave away a mostly full bottle of Grey Goose I had as well as half a case of Red Bull to someone else in the dorms later that day. Because nothing says “I’m serious about quitting” like giving away all you have of the offending habit.

I’m not sure if it was the next weekend or the weekend after that, but it didn’t take me long before I was back at the club on base making sure my liver was being put to work. Still, in retrospect, I did alright back then as far as drinking in moderation. I might have a beer or two when out with friends on a work night, but I made sure I kept it at that; the last thing I wanted was to be hungover at work. And when it came to my weekends, after the afore mentioned incident, I was pretty good at making sure to not drink on weekends I had other plans and to plan ahead for weekends I knew I’d be out with friends. It wasn’t until I got to my next assignment at Holloman AFB that things began to slowly change.