51 www.ReadMPM.com | www.MountPleasantMagazine.com | www.MountPleasantPodcast.com The new year is a time for resolutions, selfreflection and – for some – a fresh start with sobriety. Life in the Lowcountry is hardly conducive to any attempt at alcohol sobriety, many would attest and Charleston is the place to be if you’re inclined to imbibe. According to the South Carolina Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services, Charleston County ranked first in the state for binge drinking (nearly 1 in 4 people), second for heavy drinking and fifth for alcohol hospitalizations in 2023. For those with a desire to quit drinking, you’re not alone. Regardless of how you got to the point where you are, help is out there. Several residents have shared their stories, offering understanding, perspective and support from the sober side. LIFE IN THE FAST LANE For Robert Hopkins, sobriety came unexpectedly. “I grew up a partier – life was a highway in the ’70s and ’80s and it was part of having fun. While some people could stop at two drinks, I would be the one to turn it up,” he said. With his drink of choice being beer, he didn’t think he had a problem. “I was always employed; I had good relationships with people. I wasn’t drinking liquor from a brown bag and wearing a trench coat under a bridge, which is what I imagined a drinking problem looked like,” he explained. It was over the course of four days in 2009 that Hopkins continued to tell himself he would take a day off from drinking but found himself unable to stop. “I realized on a Tuesday, ‘I’m about to drink again and I don’t want to. You have to be kidding me; I’m actually drinking against my will!’” He walked out the door that day and found a 12-step program, rekindled a relationship with God and never looked back. Now in his 16th year of sobriety, he still attends daily meetings. A FAMILY TRADITION One Mount Pleasant mom, Jane (whose name has been changed for privacy purposes), was used to being around alcohol from a young age. “I come from a fun family and thought it was normal for parents to wake up on Saturdays and pour a screwdriver,” she said. Jane began drinking in her early teens, but her party lifestyle morphed into drinking to cope with anxiety and depression in her late 20s as she struggled with her mental health and a bad breakup. Last summer, Jane – now married with a young child and two teenagers – was fed up with regularly spending days recovering after bouts of heavy drinking and worried about the example she was setting for her children. She finally asked for help. After spending five days in a detox center, she doesn’t miss alcohol. “I haven’t felt this good since I was 16 years old,” she mused. “I’m not anxious that I’ll embarrass myself because I drank too much.” She regularly attends meetings through a 12-step program. “I was surprised to discover that I am in there with a bunch of other Mount Pleasant moms who have gone through the same thing.” A COPING MECHANISM Though Johnny McDonald was used to drinking daily, he never considered himself to have a problem. Admittedly, his drinking increased during COVID as he coped with the passing of his mother, coupled with anxiety and depression, but not to what he thought were significant levels. “My Sober Stories Drinking journeys with silver linings BY ANNE TOOLE health & wellness
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