Alcohol Recovery Stories: Alcoholism Impacted My Journey up the Corporate Ladder

A few years after college, after going through a few dead-end jobs, I finally landed a dream job. I was living in the city and working for a big marketing company. Early on, I started to feel overwhelmed by the stress of the job and the long hours. One night, I decided to treat myself to a martini to unwind. It worked; I felt so much more relaxed and fell asleep easily that night.

The problem was that one treat turned into an every-night cocktail or glass of wine. By the end of the year, I was having several drinks most nights of the week. I mostly drank alone at home and was able to manage my drinking when out with friends or at dinners for work.

Then one night, I had to go out for dinner with my boss and some new clients we were hoping to land for a contract. This was a huge potential job, and my boss had already told me that I would be taking the lead. How this dinner went would determine if I was ready for a promotion.

The pressure got to me, and I gave in to my usual coping strategy. I had several glasses of wine while everyone else had one or two. My speech started getting slurred, I lost my train of thought, and I generally embarrassed myself and my company.

I lost my job the next day, and it felt like rock bottom. I knew I had let drinking get out of control but thought that, because I only ever drank alone, it meant I could manage the habit without letting others see. I was wrong of course, and I learned that and so much more in treatment over the next couple of months. I’m in recovery now, and although I set my career goals back a few years, I’m getting back into work with a new job doing marketing for a small hotel chain. Thanks to rehab, I feel like I’m stronger now and ready to work my way back up to a career I love.

Working as a lawyer in a big firm in New York was all I ever wanted to do since high school. I did great in college and law school, and right after graduation I got a junior position in a great law firm. My next goal was to work my way up the ladder and eventually become a partner.

Drinking came with the territory. We all went out after work a few times a week and would unwind and bond together at nearby bars. I had never been a big drinker, but I felt like I had to in order to fit in and be part of the team. It got to be too much for me, and putting in the long hours needed to advance in the firm got harder and harder. I couldn’t keep up and it showed.

There was no big rock-bottom moment, but I finally realized I was spinning my wheels at work. I tried to drink less but found I couldn’t. I took a leave from work and went to rehab. I learned how to use more positive, healthy strategies for coping with the stress of work. I took up running and yoga and continued with therapy even after leaving rehab and being in recovery.

Back at work, I felt refreshed and ready to start over again. Drinking was still a big part of the job, and at first it felt like I would get nowhere with the partners if I didn’t join in. But then I took a big step. I started a running club and found out that a lot of other people at work felt like I did—that they were drinking too much. My new club was successful, and a couple partners have even joined in some of the runs. I’ve already been promoted once since getting back, and I feel better than ever.

I worked at a pharmaceutical company for several years before my drinking really became a serious problem. I had long been a social drinker, but then I lost my husband unexpectedly. He had been my rock and biggest supporter. I felt lost without him and started to get overwhelmed with stress and anxiety.

At work, my performance didn’t suffer too much. I still kept up with my normal duties, but my ability to do more, to push my research and try new things, started to wane. My heart wasn’t in it, and part of the reason was that I had started drinking more. I just didn’t feel good, and I was doing the bare minimum to get by during the day.

When I should have realized that I needed help was when I started bringing alcohol to work. I would drink half a bottle of soda and add vodka. Keeping it at my desk or lab bench during the day, I could sip as needed to get through until 5:00.

Then one day, I guess I was more impaired than I realized. My hand slipped while working with some equipment and I cut myself. My boss figured out pretty quickly what had happened, and I was sure I would be let go. But he actually took a kind approach, knowing what I had been through with my husband, and gave me leave time as long as I committed to going to rehab.

Drinking kept me from being my best at work, but my boss gave me another chance. I couldn’t be more grateful, and after two months in rehab and ongoing therapy I went back to my job. My boss didn’t trust me immediately, but after a year he started giving me more responsibilities, and I am once again thriving at work.