
Gary Nichols
- Age
- 63
- Sober Since
- June 4, 1980
- Sober For
- 46 Years & 114 Days
01 What it was like
I never fit in with my peers, so I drank and that ostracized me from the ones I wanted to be with. I got lower and lower, and people started noticing I wasn't sober on weeknights. I blacked out at work and finally quit with help of my mother.
I never fit in with my peers, so I drank and that ostracized me from the ones I wanted to be with.
02 What happened
with a threat of being thrown out at home I dropped out of college. My dad would hire me and I lost hope. I was then 20 years old going nowhere fast. I could write a book on my story but I think that would be vain of me. It's enough to not drink and I live for the day.
03 What it is like now
Don't get me wrong, life is no bed of roses and handling mental and physical illnesses is difficult but being sober is not one of the things I have to worry about. I have enough on my plate and I would not have made it without optimism for the future. Something the drunk me never had. Now I play Lumosity games at an extremely high level and I'm even planning on doing graduate work in college.
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