For some reason I love hearing stories from alcoholics who had/have it as bad as me. I’m not sure why these stories make me feel so good inside, but they do. I don’t think I get off on hearing the misery, so much as I feel a little more complete inside knowing that I wasn’t alone. Knowing that someone else understands what I experienced in my darkest times of rock bottom alcohol withdrawals and Delerium Tremens is comforting to me. I look back on my decades of active, uncontrolled alcoholism with some confusion and a whole lot of shame and regret. My years of sobriety have been soooooo much better. Thank you for this.

@_BatCountry

Ай бұрын

Steve that is exactly it, I couldn't put it better myself. That perfectly articulates my own feelings to this stuff. Thanks so much for saying that, I am pretty nervous about how this kind of thing is received so this is reassuring to read. Congrats on your sober time mate.

@janpen78

5 күн бұрын

Those histories from fellow alcoholics are always a hoot at AA meetings. I myself came to meetings just for that more than once, always felt better after. Bat County, thanks for the previous video. I also have uneven irises and suffered head trauma. That could explain it. Thanks for Your great work.

@_BatCountry

2 күн бұрын

@@janpen78 Ah thanks Jan, I appreciate it!

Oh Brother… What a story! Being from Central Asia myself I can attest messing with the police is a no-no, good thing u got out of that unscathed… But overall an insane story… Been a heavy drinker myself and recently sober. I suppose some of us watching may think “I haven’t gone to that extent”, but man oh man does it escalate without a person noticing… Best wishes to you brother, thank you for sharing your story, stay healthy and sober

@_BatCountry

13 күн бұрын

Thanks for the comment brother, and apologies for the slow reply. I wish you'd been there to tell me not to F with the cops in the first place, but I had to find out the hard way.

I find your honest experiences with being an alcoholic informing and inspiring. I went into withdrawal on the Mon 29th April. I spent a week in hell but came through the other side. The Kindling effect is real and this was one of the worse i'd ever experienced. This coming Monday is going to be 2 weeks sober. I'm feeling optomistic but cautious. I know that just one can of beer can start me on the road to drinking a litre of spirits a day again. I can't let that happen. Drinking has cost me too much. I nearly lost my freeedom recently because of it but somehow by the grace of God i was given another chance. I won't throw that away. Too much is at stake. I'm taking it day by day and i feel great but i don't want to get too complacent. Keep up the great work. Videos like yours are a lifeline to someone like me. Thanks.

@_BatCountry

Ай бұрын

Thanks so much for the comment CJ, when I saw I'm grateful that people take time out of their day to watch I really mean it. And congrats on two weeks: you're over the hump. Optimistic but cautious is exactly the right attitude. Keep us posted on your progress, we get through these things together.

The most brutal story ever, your posh accent adds to the intensity.

@_BatCountry

Ай бұрын

Hahaha thanks Odorless! Being a bit posh has its advantages sometimes I guess :)

Out of all the delusions alcohol can cause during extreme abuse and withdrawal, I think the most telling when looking back on my own struggle at least is just how long the general denial of having a problem goes on in the face of such dire rapidly escalating consequences. That delusion sets in at the beginning and gives way for everything else to come. Thank you Bat Country for sharing and helping me stay on track.

@_BatCountry

Ай бұрын

A thousand percent. That's the big one: convincing yourself you're ok. Thanks for the comment, and for the follow on instagram!

Glad you’re here to tell the tale brother. Thank you for sharing this story. It’s absolutely insane the situations we put ourselves in because of our addiction. Though I’ve never had a story like this, there are definitely parts I can relate to. Keep up the good work bro. 💯

@_BatCountry

Ай бұрын

Thanks mate! Plenty more to come. Hope you're doing good today

incredibly touching video. thank you for sharing. i hope this is cathartic for you-- i feel your pain and your joy.

@_BatCountry

2 күн бұрын

Hey Brendan, thanks for your comment. It really was cathartic for me.

You can’t imagine the sigh of relief that I had in my brain after stumbling upon your videos. I believe you every bit. Deeply. Thank you.

@_BatCountry

Күн бұрын

Thank you Ashley, that means a lot.

Damn man. I never thought of it before, but I initially got addicted for the reason you've said, "to live an interesting life, have interesting stories, be an interesting person." I thought of it as being cool. I read William s Burroughs and believed that shooting up heroin was like, super bad ass. I found something almost religious in his enduring the suffering of withdrawal. I wanted to experience all of it. It's a horrible mistake, insidious because it's not entirely wrong. Your stories are really, fucking compelling. I'm so glad you're sharing them. I've always thought, and I am a heroin addict, so please no one listen to me, but I've thought that, to be an artist, at least to be a really good one, you have to sacrifice yourself to the gods. I think of Charles bukowski, whose poems really make me feel something, something terrible and beautiful. But in order to write it, he had to live his life in rat infested hotels, hang out with losers and prostitute, just living a life of pain. It's not worth the price, honestly. It's better to be a boring nobody, mercifully ignorant of how horrible being alive can be.

Thank you for sharing -- such a poignant, compelling story very inspirational -- for me and for many -- stay sober & happy & wonderful You told it beautifully & Love your Microphone ~~~

@_BatCountry

Ай бұрын

Thanks J! Yeah I love that mic too, it makes me feel important :)

Love the video as always brother!

One thing I've learned about my alcoholism is that my favorite way to drink is set in stone. I like a liter of vodka a day, not unlike you. Sure as I'm breathing, if I start drinking again it's only a matter of time before I work my way up to a liter a day. And every time I relapse that window of time gets shorter and shorter. Thanks for your note about selfishness! I get the sense that the alcoholic knows they're living selfishly and they suffer silently with a nameless cognitive dissonance whether or not they're presently aware of it-- you encountered it with the guy who had been giving you money; you realized that you had been taking advantage. That realization is coming for all alcoholics in time. It was a hard realization for me knowing that I'm alive not due to my own resourcefulness, but rather the kindness of others.

@_BatCountry

Ай бұрын

Thanks Seb, it's good to see you here again. You picked up on what I think is the most important part of the whole video, that interaction with the couple, and how it forced me to recognise my behaviour. Maybe that's why that has such with me more than most of the really dramatic stuff. I hope you're doing good today!

Thanks for this.

Really honest and emotive real experience. Such a powerful story of the battle you are going through. Keep up the good, and strength to you brother. Thank you for sharing, as I see myself in much of your story and this solidifies the will to stay away from the abyss.

This has moved me so much ,, thank you so much for your videos and stories you are inspiring 😊

@_BatCountry

Ай бұрын

Thanks Melissa, good to see you here again! Hope you're doing good?

Love your podcasts...Sterling work. X

@_BatCountry

Ай бұрын

Thanks Dee, I'm really happy you like it.

This is a great story (and it's well-told). I watched and fully enjoyed Part I as well, and am glad to hear its continuation.

@_BatCountry

Ай бұрын

Thank you Benjamin, you must be one of the few people who took the the time to take the whole journey with me :) I really appreciate it! Just purely out of interest, you need to answer if you don't want to - are you a sober person?

Bravo Stuart. Funny, emotional, harrowing and so so interesting to listen to your adventure. Thank you and please continue the great work.

@_BatCountry

Ай бұрын

Thanks ASIF, good to see you here again!

Wow, great story, thanks.

Great upload as always. I always get drawn in and find it fascinating to hear your journey and stories of your past and how you had to deal with everything to end up where you are today. They are stories that any alcoholic struggling now or have struggled with in the past should hear. Look forward to more videos!

@_BatCountry

Ай бұрын

Thank you James, good to see you here again! And thank you for the compliment. If one single person looks at my stupid face and thinks "if he can do it, I can do it" then it'll be worth it.

Hi there. Well done on surviving. You've come a long way. Keep on keeping on. I enjoy the narrative style. One question: do you think you might have an underlying psychiatric problem driving the alcoholism or is the alcoholism the origin?

@_BatCountry

27 күн бұрын

Hey Thomas. Good question, and I know the answer. The alcoholism is just a symptom of a much larger network of problems. I think that's probably true of a lot of people.

Very good video and story, man. Had a hell of a time getting on that airplane. That made me laugh. Sorry. It always gets worse before it gets better. Coincidentally, when I started my channel on New Year's Eve, my third video was all about alcohol withdrawal and I think it's the video with the most views (8.8K) It got me a bunch of subs quick and it's the one with the most comments. My channel kind of ebbs and flows. I'm now six subs shy of 300. You were sub 200.

@_BatCountry

Ай бұрын

Yeah withdrawal seems to be a hot topic, and that's good for me, because I like talking about. Maybe 'like' is the wrong word there, but it's the most interesting to talk about for me. Hope you're good today meet, catch up soon.

I find your voice so soothing. I hope you continue to make videos. I also think you could make a career creating/recording sleep stories.

@_BatCountry

Ай бұрын

Awww that's very sweet, thank you so much! Pretty happy with my actual career right now, but maybe I can make time for a side hustle. Thanks for the comment!

Thank you again for an incredible video. It was unexpected to see you getting emotional, but completely understandable. Sometimes in the depths of our addiction its easy to start losing faith in not just ourselves, but other human beings aswell, it must have meant so much to be treated with dignity and care by others when you were at your lowest point. The "animal" comment from your landlord brought back memories of times when i had heard that kind of comment from my own mother after she had entered my room and seen the kind of state i would often leave it in. Whether its from a stranger or someone you know, that kind of comment stings, because you are feeling extremely vulnerable and soft in those moments, so criticism hits you twice as hard as it normally would, but its not just that, its that you know they are right. And of course the truth hurts more than anything.

@_BatCountry

Ай бұрын

Hey Harry, good to see you again! Believe me, the emotion caught me by surprise too, but haven't really talked about that before. And absolutely: the truth hurts

Great story and great storytelling. I am glad to see this channel growing. Listening to your story, I wonder what kind of long term physical consequences you still experience from your alcohol consumption. Seems like lost teeth is are one consequence…what else? And how’s your head injury playing out these days? Maybe you can share in a future video.

@_BatCountry

Ай бұрын

I'll do that, I'm always looking for video ideas. To give a quick answer though, there are quite a few physical consequences. I've broken a lot of bones, spent a lot of nights in jails, been medicated on and off, etc etc. It all adds up and I have to work hard to keep ahead of the consequences. Yeah, i'll have to do a video. Thanks Peter, always good to see you here!

Amazing video as always. You said in your hallucination video that people who have your kind of insight into the deep rungs of alcoholism are more often than not …insane or dead. I think that’s why I find it so fascinating. I am an alcoholic myself and have been rescued from Spain by my parents. But have only ever had auditory hallucinations during withdrawal. I suppose you make me feel not alone

@_BatCountry

Ай бұрын

That's why I'm drawn to these stories too - if we're honest with ourselves, we're all drawn to stories of the extremes of human experience. If we weren't, movies would be pretty boring right? Being rescued from Spain by your parents must have been a low point, but I'm glad you're out of it and congrats on your sobriety!

crazy story wow !

I haven't consumed much sobriety content, Delirium Dirk (RIP) being the only other channel I have watched other than yours. I have to say your story-telling, setting and honesty keeps me thinking about the monkey on my back, the one I am never safe from. I, like many others, see myself in what you say and your experiences (maybe not to some of your extremes but I can certainly draw parallels in the desperate, rough struggle of it all). I am curious as to the direction you go from here with the channel as there is only so many stories you can tell about your own experiences and how you got to the point of sobriety. Do you plan on exploring what worked for you and what didn't for getting you on the path of sobriety ( and what keeps you on it today)? Or does this seem like such a subjective process that you can do more harm than good with it? It's a space that is fraught with some ethical consideration that I don't envy. I do hope you continue and I am sure whatever direction you choose to go, you have a talent that will ensure you make a success of it. (Also you should shill the shit out of that book dude! How do I read it?)

@_BatCountry

Ай бұрын

Hey Stones! And I'm glad something about my stuff resonates with you, even though taken in its entirety it's not a particularly relatable story. As for the future of the channel, while I own a camera and a microphone, there's no stopping me. I think I'll stick with personal information but you're right about ethical considerations: people often ask me to talk about AA and that's a landmine. Even small channels like mine have an outsized influence in the community, the community is small but incredibly engaged, so I have to be a little restrained in what I say about things. I'm in no rush, it'll be whatever it becomes :) Thanks for the comment.

That is an incredible story and you are a great storyteller...

@_BatCountry

Ай бұрын

Thanks so much Alex! Feels good to finally put that stuff on camera :D

@AlexxxGrrr

Ай бұрын

@@_BatCountry I am dead serious, I already commented on a previous video, batsh*t crazy story. I am quite fond of longer bicycle trips myself and have done quite a few, all across Europe and know how demanding it is to bike 100K+ every day for days and weeks and that "just" on modest european roads and trails and when you are in top physical condition, well fed and hydrated. The idea of biking across whole of ASIA with its vast deserts and steppes with no civilization for hundreds of miles while drinking liters of hard booze every day is insane...

@_BatCountry

Ай бұрын

@@AlexxxGrrr As scary as I made it sound, Kyrgyzstan is an incredible place for long bike tours. If you're in control of yourself, than it's safe. If you're looking for your next adventure, I recommend it a thousand percent. It's the world's best kept secret.

After part 1, I took a google map tour through Aktau. Brutal. Baku looks nice though. Glad you made it home, reminds me of Psalms 116:6. Recounting past experiences that had this much potential for disaster has to be terrifying, I can't do it.

@_BatCountry

Ай бұрын

Oh wow, they've mapped the entire city on streetview now! It actually looks nicer than I remember. And to be fair, I could probably fill another video with all the pleasant and good people I met too. I might actually do that in the future, for balance. Thanks for the comment, it's much appreciated and I'm grateful you followed along closely enough to want to see it for yourself!

I've never had an issue with alcohol. I often choose not to drink because I hate hangovers. I shouldn't be interested in your channel, but I somehow stumbled across it while putting myself through caffeine withdrawals and lying around distracting myself with KZread. Not to compare the withdrawals at all - stopping caffeine just involves a headache for a couple days and a lack of energy/motivation for a week or so. Just wanted to give props because you're a great story teller. Although these videos aren't particularly relevant to my life I find them very interesting and there are parallels in the way addicted minds work. If you had another channel that explored other topics (assuming you want to keep this one focused on alcohol) I'd definitely check that out too. Cheers!

@_BatCountry

Ай бұрын

Thank you very much, that's very kind of you to say!

Another great video. Keep up this invaluable work! I noticed there are now YT commercials at the start of your videos. Perfectly fine for you to monetarise - heck, I would even pay for your content. But please never go down the route of putting commercial blocks into the video. It would spoil your narration. Keeping them to the begging is just fine. 🙏👍🏽

@_BatCountry

Ай бұрын

Hey Adrian! Thanks for the feedback. Out of interest, did you actually see ads in the middle of the video? I don't want that and I don't know how to turn them off. I'm in no great rush to make money off this content, ya know.

@Adrian78

Ай бұрын

@@_BatCountryNope, didn’t see ads in the middle of the video. Very grateful for that. I understand that you could enable this function as a content creator and I appreciate that you don’t. 👍🏽

Hi from Dublin i just found your channel. I find these stories helpful as i have a serial relapser. How do you stay sober now? Did you try AA or 12 step meetings? I tried AA but it didn't work i am not good at speaking in public sharing or listening to othere stories and also labeling Alcohlic even when spber many years. Great story but very harrowing. My poison was white wine and lager mostly.

@_BatCountry

Ай бұрын

Hey Linda! I've been sober a while now. I was three years sober, then had a year or so of relapses, and I've been sober ever since. Like you, I have a difficult relationship with AA and 12 Step stuff. It's still in my life, but I have a umber of other things that I uses day to day. I'll talk about it in a future video I'm sure. Thanks for the comment, it's good to meet you!

@lindarobinson8381

Ай бұрын

@@_BatCountry That would be great thanks and i am sure it would help others . x

I also meant to add that I’ve had the grand honor of trying out a Polish….”police hotel”…they called it…

Gripping story

@_BatCountry

Ай бұрын

Thanks Ross!

What happened to Dirk?

@_BatCountry

10 күн бұрын

That's not for me to say, but the informations out there

Good video 👍🏻. This is really random but sometime when you have a chance look up beardmeatsfood. He’s another KZreadr and he reminds me a lot of you haha. Maybe the beards and the great camera work

@_BatCountry

Ай бұрын

Hey thanks Jeff, I checked out his channel and I dig it too! Maybe we can do a collab where I walk in the pub he's eating at and slap a beer out his hand.

@jeff67788

Ай бұрын

@@_BatCountry that would be epic lol