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Here Is What Happened When I Quit Drinking Four Years Ago

Four years flew by, and I remember every single day.

Sara Burdick
6 min readJul 8, 2024
Photo Credit Sara B
Image made by Canva: Photo Credit Sara Burdick

“Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.” ― Carl Bard

The other day, there was a party here at the school. Everyone was drinking, and I and a few girls were playing pool. The game was taking forever since we were all pretty bad.

All the guys were watching us, and each had chosen their side.

As the game continued, everyone was slowly getting drunker. I had my soda water.

I had set my soda down on the bar with all the other drinks. After my turn, I instinctively reached over, grabbed my soda, and took a drink.

Except it was not soda; it was someone’s beer.

Instantly, I ran and spit it out, not because I was afraid of drinking but because it was so disgusting. My initial reaction was to spit it out.

It was as if poison had entered my mouth, and effectively, that is what it is. Alcohol is poison.

I then found my soda and rinsed my mouth, but it took time to get rid of the aftertaste.

“If you can quit for a day, you can quit for a lifetime.” ― Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Four years ago, I decided to quit alcohol for many reasons.

The main reason is that I was using alcohol as my therapist.

I was sad and had a drink.

I was happy to have a drink, but I was bored and had a drink.

For years, I have quit alcohol off and on. I would go for months without drinking, and then I would have a bad day and turn to it to soothe myself and my emotions.

Then, slowly, I began letting it go, and finally, after drinking too much wine one night and having the worst headache the next day. I consciously decided to quit for good.

In the past, when I had quit, it was simply to stop; it was never to quit for good. I do this with…

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Sara Burdick
Sara Burdick

Written by Sara Burdick

I quit the rat race after working as a nurse for 16 years. Travel and Storyteller. I live in Colombia. https://substack.com/@saraburdick

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