A woman has revealed how she overcame her addiction to alcohol and turned her life around, winning her husband back and reuniting her family once again.
Seija Nelson, 38, told Jam Press that she believes her own addiction to binge drinking is linked to her father’s addiction to alcohol, noting that she has a ‘genetic predisposition’ towards the compulsion.
The mom-of-three, who works as a branch manager for a home care company, said she began her drinking battle in 2014 after relocating from the suburbs of Chicago to the Denver Metro area.
Heartbreak: Former alcoholic Seija Nelson, 38, has revealed how she overcame her drinking addiction after it destroyed her family and forced her husband to divorce her
Secrets: The mother-of-three began drinking heavily in 2014 after her family moved to the Denver area – and she would regularly binge on vodka even while caring for her children
Lessons: In 2014, Seija’s husband (left) gave her two garbage bags filled with empty bottles and told her she needed to get help. They divorced in 2016, but she has since won him back
Moving forward: After Seija’s husband walked away from their relationship, she was motivated to make a change, and she immediately sought professional help. She’s been sober ever since
‘We had no family here and really knew no one. So, I wasn’t accountable to anyone outside myself and my kids,’ she said.
Seija said that not knowing anyone in the area allowed her to ‘stay home and drink almost all day,’ which had a dramatic effect on her search for a job, leaving her with little to no desire to look for regular work.
‘Looking back, I was always a “drink to excess” drinker,’ she explained. ‘I couldn’t ever just have one drink and be done. I would wake up in the middle of the night and wonder how I’d passed out when I did.’
‘I downed two large bottles of vodka a day, mixed with whatever I could find in the house – Gatorade, sparkling water, any of it to add a splash into a large cup of vodka,’ she said.
Seija said there were times when her husband would come home from work and all three of her children would be home but she’d be passed out from drinking.
‘I would think my oldest knew, he was 12, but my younger two only knew by my lack of engagement,’ she said.
Shaping up: When Seija (pictured left while drinking and right now) got help, she managed to beat her addiction – and she’s been sober ever since, managing to lose 55lbs in the process
Memories: Seija’s husband divorced her in 2016, 12 years after they first tied the knot
Reunited: After the mother-of-three beat her addiction, she and her husband got back together and in 2019 they remarried
Looking back: Seija (pictured now) said there were times when her husband would come home from work and all three of her children would be home but she’d be passed out from drinking
‘I would turn the TV on for them and not engage much more than that. I wouldn’t drink to the point of blacking out during the day, but I could have absolutely been more present.’
For the last two months of her drinking habit, Seija said she would start the day off with enough booze to ‘take the edge off from the night before,’ which she said could ‘easily be two or three drinks.’
‘But at that point, my tolerance had built up so much that two or three meant less of an effect than when I started drinking years ago.’
At other times, she would put her kids to be bed and then pass out from drinking by the time her husband came home from work at around 8 or 9pm, but noted that she would ‘never be passed out all day while I was home with our youngest child.’
However, Seija hit rock bottom with her drinking battle in April 2015, when her husband finally confronted her with two large garbage bags full of empty liquor bottles and threatened to divorce her.
‘He told me that I needed to get help or he would file for divorce and take our children back to Illinois. In that moment, I knew it was a turning point. I called several treatment programs and found one that could help me that day,’ she explained.
Bad habits: The mom used to start her day off with two or three drinks in order to ‘take the edge off the night before’
Look at her go: ‘I was miserable with myself for not only how I looked, but how I felt. It was a vicious cycle that I couldn’t seem to get out of until I stopped drinking,’ she said
While Seija and her husband did divorce in 2016, they eventually remarried in August of 2019 after working through their issues.
Speaking about her recovery from alcoholism, Seija explained, ‘When I stopped pouring poison into my body and finally got sober, a huge part of starting a new life was taking care of myself.’
The mom said she began working out every day and watching her diet, thinking of food as fuel as opposed to ‘comfort.’
Since becoming sober in 2015, she has lost a whopping 55 pounds and says life is better than ever.
‘I was miserable with myself for not only how I looked, but how I felt. It was a vicious cycle that I couldn’t seem to get out of until I stopped drinking,’ she said.
‘When I live and work my program of recovery one day at a time, my life only continues to get better.
‘Every single thing I have in my life today – my relationships, my health, my children, my career – are all a direct result of choosing to live a sober life.
Family: Seija says her life has been completely transformed since she gave up drinking, and she couldn’t be more grateful to have been reunited with her husband and kids
Ongoing: Seija now attends recovery group on a daily basis, checking in with other alcoholics, and reaching out to those who are still struggling
Inspiration: Seija urges others who are battling alcoholism not to give up
‘I lost all of those things when I was drinking, but most importantly, I lost who I was. I couldn’t be more grateful today to have found who I was supposed to be all along.
Seija now attends recovery group on a daily basis, checking in with other alcoholics, and reaching out to those who are still struggling.
To anyone who may be batting with an addiction to alcohol, Seija urged them not to give up.
‘No one is more worth doing the work than you are. All of the clichés are true: Just do today. One day at a time. Do the next right thing, play the tape forward,’ she said.
‘Another thing that has always helped me, especially in early sobriety, was knowing that my brain can only think one thought at a time,’ the mom added.
‘So, if the thought of drinking came into my mind, I would immediately start singing a song – Wasted, by Carrie Underwood was usually my go-to – and that drinking thought was gone.’