I was an alcoholic at 26 years old. Here's how I successfully learned to replace the role that drinking played in my life.
Melissa Petro
- Melissa Petro is a freelance writer who lives with her husband and two children in New York City.
- In her mid-20s, Petro says she struggled with an alcohol addiction. She would drink recklessly and way too much, often racking up a hundred-dollar bar tab in one night.
- When her drinking began to impact her relationships and schoolwork, Petro knew it was time for a change. She signed herself into outpatient rehab and joined a 12-step program.
- Over time, Petro found that she could still make friends and have fun socializing without alcohol — it was challenging at first, but she realized the relationships she was forming while sober were more genuine, and long-lasting.
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There was a time in my life that nothing could have kept me away from the bar. In spite of the risks to my health, as well as the harm my drinking posed to my community, I spent a good part of my mid-20s getting drunk in bars.
My drinking had started clandestinely in high school and continued into college, but it wasn't until grad school that I became your typical bar fly. I was that girl — we all know the one. Before, after and sometimes in lieu of class, you'd find me wherever booze flowed, toddling around in dangerously high heels, skirt hiked up my thighs.See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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