For me, every day between 5-8pm was when the window of bad decisions would be open. I was mindless to it. I drank daily for decades. I am the guy that you want to drink with... expensive wine, awesome trips to the liquor store, massive bar tabs.

But secretly - Inside, I was miserable drinking. I hated it, but yet I still did it and I did it for a long time.

It was something that everyone I know - friends, family, business colleagues, etc do - it was normal. If you don't drink people assume something is wrong with you.

I wanted to be sober all the time. I was tired of being the hungover guy in the store, at my kids football games - basically every day. I would try to find normalcy in my hungover life. This went on for years.

On any random day, I would drink. Football game on? Drink. Cooking dinner? Drink. Hanging out doing nothing? Drink. Camping? Drink. Do anything or nothing? Drink. However, I was very functional. I have a happy marriage, healthy kids, thriving business but couldn't break this habit until I realized 3 things:

1. There was a time every day that I would start drinking. It was between 5-8pm (this is the drinking window). Recognizing this time frame was critical because it was truly the first step towards the awareness of my drinking for no other reason but to drink and for me this is when it would happen the most.
2. It was the desire to be sober more than have a drink. As mentioned early, I hated drinking but did it anyway. I knew I wouldn't quit drinking until my desire to not drink was stronger than my desire to drink. It had been growing for years. I finally gave in to it.
3. Realizing that I don't want to be controlled by anyone or anything and this thing was controlling me.

My desire to be sober had to be stronger than my desire to drink and if I could control myself and make it through this "window of time" I knew I could do it.

It took 7 months for the thought of having a drink to go away. As time passed, the drinking window would shrink. Meaning at first, I would struggle to make it through that 5-8pm window. The desire to drink was intense, but I knew that I could make it and it was the greatest feeling when I did. Making it past 8pm was the little victory I needed. It didn't control me for the day and I knew I had made it that day.

I continued this for months and as the months passed that window of time got smaller. Maybe it went from a 3 hour window of "holy shit, I need a drink" to only a period of 40 minutes and eventually down to 15 minutes. As more time passed it just became a simple passing thought.

Most of my family still drinks. All my friends and business colleagues do. I think about it, but my desire to not drink it still stronger than my desire to drink. When you get to this point then you can truly quit. I'll admit, weekends were hard. I became a hermit. I stopped seeing people. Didn't tell anyone I quit drinking. I hid my sober choice. I had too. No one would understand and I just needed more time before I could feel comfortable with talking about it.

It will be 4 years July 2019. It seems like it has been longer than that, but heck - I'll take it, so pass me a Topo Chico and let's keep that window closed.