Tim, with 2 days of sobriety, shares his story. On today’s episode Paul talks about 2 articles that discuss alcohol use.  Links for these articles can be found following the show notes.  The first article, published on May 7, 2019 in USA Today, says that alcohol use is soaring worldwide, with the average adult now consuming about 1.7 gallons of pure alcohol per year.  Just in the past 27 years the total volume of alcohol that people consumed globally increased by 70%.  Even though on a global level alcohol consumption is increasing, if you are listening to this podcast you have made it further than 95% of people out there.  You are starting to make changes.  On the brighter side, an article published on January 17, 2018 in Bloomberg, reported that Americans drank less alcohol in 2018, for the third straight year.  Total cases of beer, wine and spirits consumed in the US dropped by .8% in 2018.  This was the third straight year that there had been a decline in consumption.  So globally people are consuming more alcohol, but in the United States consumption is declining.  There’s a new term called ‘sobor curious’, which includes a large population that doesn’t necessarily have an issue with alcohol, but are waking up and are recognizing that maybe messages that big alcohol is telling us aren’t panning out to be true in real life.    SHOW NOTES [12:30] Tim, with a sobriety date of May 13, 2019, has 2 days sober.  After having this interview scheduled for about a week Tim emailed Paul to let him know that he had drank.  He felt like he might not be the ideal candidate to be on the podcast.  After reading the email, Paul let Tim know that he is exactly who he wants to have on the podcast. [15:10] Paul introduces Tim.  Tim is 36 years old and was born, and raised, in Boston Massachusetts.  He came from an Italian family that was in the construction industry.  In middle and high school, he developed a real passion for music.  He dedicated himself to hours and hours of voice, guitar and piano lessons, which led him into a career in ministry as a worship leader.  Tim got married at 19 and is still married to the same woman, they are about to celebrate 17 years and have 3 children.  His career in ministry is in the past and he is working as a project manager for a company that installs high end woodworking beams and bookshelves.   [16:45] Give us a little background about your drinking.    Tim started drinking at 15 and the first night he drank he got alcohol poisoning.  He spent that first night in the shower throwing up and blacking out.  He says he was never able to drink casually.  Getting married at the age of 19, to a woman that is a couple years older than him, meant that he had someone that could buy alcohol for him.  In his early 20s he was drinking about a 6-pack a day.  At the age of 25 Tim attended his first AA meeting, just to see.  By this time, he was drinking 8-10 beers a day.  After listening to someone’s story at that meeting, he decided that he was not an alcoholic.  Tim says he went to a few more AA meetings throughout his 20s, but he continued to drink and started to mix it up with hard alcohol and found his favorite drink, Captain and Coke.  As he moved through his 30’s, Tim and his wife started to have pretty regular arguments about his drinking.  Tim says he was looking for his wife to put her foot down and give him an ultimatum, but that wasn’t happening.  He tried to moderate, and that didn’t work.  He had some periods, 3 – 6 months, when he did not drink, but once he would consume alcohol again it would take about a week and he would be right back to daily drinking. [21:30] In regards to those times of abstinence, what was it that brought you back to drinking? Tim would tell himself that because he just went 3, or 6, months without drinking, that he must have control over it.  The thought of having a glass of wine with his wife, while they watch the sunset, would just seem nice.  That first drink always took h