Doing It Sober Podcast Episode 7

My name is Amanda Washington, and I am 35 years old from Atlanta, Georgia!! I currently live in Southern California with partial custody of my 13-year-old son Ethan. I am currently going through a divorce after almost 15 years. My husband is an abusive alcoholic and his entire family drinks!!  I have been drinking since I was 13 years old and never really gave it a second thought cause I made good grades, went to school, participated in activities, and kept a job at a small hometown pharmacy. On the outside, I was the perfect teenager!! My mom even allowed us to have a “night capper” as we called it at around 17 or 18 years old. My brother and I were allowed cause we didn’t cause a problem. It was the South, and we were angels compared to the teenagers around the neighborhood!!   To make a long story short, I was already an avid drinker before marrying my husband, however, his military status sent the drinking out of control!! We were constantly trying to impress people with the amount of alcohol we could consume, never knowing that it would soon become a Terrible addiction in which I would need to fight for my life to break away from!!   Eventually, my husband was kicked out of the marines, and we moved to California where all his family lives. Naturally, I took up more and more drinking because it was the thing to do!! Drinks It started at 5 pm and my in-laws always had a margarita waiting for me. They contributed day in and out until I became out of control. I would fight with everyone, blackout, and fall all over the place.   After many years of drinking, it started taking a toll on me and physically my body could not go without alcohol. The family eventually came together with an intervention for me. They sent me to some non-medical detox centers in Garden Grove Ca. After a couple of days Of detox, I started having delirium tremors and was admitted into the hospital for alcohol withdrawals. That was the worst I had ever felt in my life coupled with knowing if I drank again I risked losing my family.   They insisted on me going to an AA meeting right away after returning home. I did go to one, however, it left me feeling lost and depressed. I have not had a drink of alcohol since I was sent to detox on April 3rd, 2013. I credit Instagram and perfect strangers, as well as my own hard work and determination as contributing factors in my ongoing sobriety. My son, Ethan is the main reason I got sober!! I did not want him to see me drunk day after day as he was growing up. Thank goodness my son was too young to remember all the bad times from drinking.