Can an alcoholic recover by sheer will?

Elenitsa

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I mean, in that setting AA doesn't exist, neither going to the psychologist. It exists only "desalcoholisation", which means costly medical treatment and isolation like for the people with drugs. (Yes, I know some countries of this kind). And my character can't be isolated such a long time.

He is sort of a functional alcoholic. He might get drunk and cry (rarely getting violent) during his free time, in week-ends or so, but never at work. He is doing his work sober and accurately, being conscious that several lives depend on his technical job. (And he might not drink for days in a row, while he is at work, but let it wild in the free days at home). Maybe he has some drink buddies who are happy to see him drink with them...

Since he had promised a child not to drink anymore, he wants to keep his promise. I think first he'll break off with his drink buddies and he'll tell his work friends about his decision, in order to hold him accountable. Then he'll do things to occupy his time, not to enter in a restaurant anymore. What else?

I also think that he might relapse in taking a drink ocasionally for a big holiday - Christmas or New Year, when everybody is together - but realise what he was doing and putting down the glass without emptying/ refilling it again. Which might mean occasionally 2-3 sips of something,before remembering that he had promised not to drink again, and being afraid that if he empties that first glas, he'd refill. Does it make sense? Can he have the will to recover, and succeed?
 

Chris P

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Sure he can. Lots of people have. Do what you need to for the story to go how you want it.
 

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For alcoholics who drink daily, their bodies become dependent on it, resulting in very dangerous withdrawal symptoms. If your character doesn't drink every day, though, and it doesn't affect his work life, he won't be at risk for physical symptoms. This means he could quit by sheer force of will, but realistically there will be some sort of psychological dependency that caused it in the first place. This psychological dependency is why there are support groups, because it's so difficult to see psychological problems in yourself without someone else to point them out, and help you cope with them in a more healthy manner.

So, basically, yes, but he'd most likely need a close friend or two who is willing to be there when your character needs them. Like, at the drop of a hat. It's not necessary to do so, it would just be a little more realistic for those who may have experience in such a situation.
 
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blacbird

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A lot of (possibly most) alcoholics will tell you that they never "recover". They may be able to stop drinking alcohol, but that's not the same thing. The craving remains, permanently, and must be resisted, all the time, every day. This is why so many ultimately "fall off the wagon". So my suggestion is to be careful about using the word "recover" in this context.

caw
 

jennontheisland

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Binge drinking is totally a form of alcoholism. It may not occur daily, but it can still be a form of alcoholism.

The one binge alcoholic I knew (my ex) regularly went long periods between drinking, but if he had one drink, he'd drink everything in the house and then go out to get more. He would start with a glass of wine with dinner at a family gathering. One glass. He'd then need to stop on the way home for a 6 of tall cans. Once, I drove thinking I'd refuse to stop, and he just walked to the store to get it. He then drank all 6, plus the extra large one he picked up, then started in on whiskey... which I poured out while he was in the bathroom, so he went out again and picked up another 6 tall cans... Then he didn't drink for 2 months. And then he had one drink...

But as long as he never had that one he was fine.

He even quit for years once.

I think there's a difference between daily alcoholism and binge alcoholism in terms of quitting. There's not the same physical dependence in a binger; it always really seemed like just a lack of self control. And as long as that control was maintained (and not loosened by that one drink), there was no issue. So I can totally see a binger self-managing recovery. He just really needs to be aware of and avoid triggers.
 
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Roxxsmom

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I know some who quit drinking cold turkey without 12 steps or other cessation groups. My dad was one. He had some fits and starts, but he was dry for the last 12-15 years of his life. He did benefit from antidepressants, though those weren't prescribed specifically to make him stop drinking.

As I understand it, the success rate of 12 steps is no better than for other means of quitting (and the success rate is low for all, or at least it may take several attempts for drinking cessation to quit).

I don't know what percentage of successful attempts by alcohol addicts to stop drinking are solo, nor do I know the overall success rate of solo attempts vs the different groups, therapy, and treatment methods. It may be hard to get statistics on solo success rates, as there is no one to collect the data.

One factor that might affect the success of your character would be the drinking culture and environment he's in. It's much harder to give something up if you are surrounded by it all the time. Do his friends and family members drink? Do most social events in his culture revolve around drinking? How much pressure would a non drinker face by friends/family/peers to conform (if they all drink) vs support for his attempts to stop drinking?
 
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MaeZe

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Sure he can. Lots of people have. Do what you need to for the story to go how you want it.

This ^

Also what was said about the withdrawals if a person has been drinking a lot, daily, over many months to years. Mild withdrawals are not dangerous unless you have a bad ticker or other cardiovascular disease. DTs are dangerous without medical intervention. People who have DTs generally are drinking more than a fifth of hard alcohol daily. But there are individual exceptions.
 
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CWatts

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This ^

Also what was said about the withdrawals if a person has been drinking a lot, daily, over many months to years. Mild withdrawals are not dangerous unless you have a bad ticker or other cardiovascular disease. DTs are dangerous without medical intervention. People who have DTs generally are drinking more than a fifth of hard alcohol daily. But there are individual exceptions.

This, plus the accumulated damage to the body from heavy use, especially if combined with drugs. That seems to have been what killed actor Nelsan Ellis at only 39: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/n...-withdrawal-complications-family-says-1019634

It sounds like your character is more like jenontheisland's binging ex. In that case he probably can stop drinking for quite a while but that sip at Christmas party could put him on a bender. Having him relapse is realistic, but so is having him eventually succeed with a lot of effort.
 

augusto

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Quit, yes. Recover, no. I was finally able to quit on my own after a couple trips through treatment and numerous AA groups failed. I would never use the word recover.
 

Elenitsa

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Thank you all. Yes, I think he is the binge drinker. And the initial psychological dependence which had caused it was loneliness in general, corroborrated with a deception in love.

Also, thank you who told me that there is a difference between quitting drinking and recovering. For me, it was the same thing. As long as he stopped drinking, he wasn't an alcoholic anymore, because he wasn't drunk. So he was recovered. I think this is how most of the people in my country think.

Of course I think he had mild withdrawal symptoms, and moments when seeking the bottle which isn't there anymore. Moments to need his friends around him. And this might be one of the reasons why his sisters insist to return to his hometown, by their side, to start life anew, far away from the drinking buddies he used to have for 20 years. :) I'll show his fight, his trials and his successes, here and there, in the novel.

I don't know what DTS is, but if it is a heart disease, he doesn't have any. Well, he surely doesn't have the best liver blood test results (not the worst either), maybe also some gastritis from eating irregularly, but he is generally healthy, as he works in a field where medical controls happen yearly and if deemed unfit, you are fired. So no heart problems and no other big health problems.

He had never consumed drugs. Vodka and brandy are enough :( I am not sure if he smoked, but even if he had, as a peer pressure in his youth, certainly he had stopped it many years before stopping drinking.

One factor that might affect the success of your character would be the drinking culture and environment he's in. It's much harder to give something up if you are surrounded by it all the time. Do his friends and family members drink? Do most social events in his culture revolve around drinking? How much pressure would a non drinker face by friends/family/peers to conform (if they all drink) vs support for his attempts to stop drinking?

True, I know it. Most social events revolve around drinking, indeed, and most of his friends (especially the drinking buddies from the town he is leaving to return to his hometown) would make fun of him, while his family will support him. Actually, for his family's sake he stopped drinking; he promised it to his teenage godchildren. I think back there he has a couple of true friends who would approve of him quitting, and they would be the ones to keep him company when he felt like drinking again.

Even upon return, the friends of his childhood and teen years would be the kind drinking in moderation (or maybe some of them letting it loose a few times a year, at holidays - you know the type) and when he'll offer them tea and juice at the welcome home party, they will be a bit shocked :p Where's the wine, where's the vodka? But they would learn to accept him. Ultimately, everyone knows the story of a man or another who drank his life out and who was abandoned by family or kicked out of work for drinking, and nobody would wish to get there. So they would admire his strong will. And yes, his life will turn out for the better, ultimately.
 
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MAS

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A very close friend, who has been sober for many years, doesn't believe he would have ever been able to stop drinking (and how he tried!) without AA. He acknowledged that some people do quit by just white-knuckling it. He explained his story to me in an email once, and I have pasted it below in case you find it helpful in developing your character.

"I don't have a drinking problem. I have a stopping problem.
After a few years of regularly attending 12-Step meetings, I decided to research the causes of alcoholism. I wanted to find out...

  1. Exactly what had been happening to me whenever I took a drink.
  2. Why 90% of the population never has alcohol problems.
  3. Why alcoholism is a disease.
Here is what I learned:
The human body cannot directly metabolize alcohol. It requirs our liver to produce two different enzymes necessary to digest alcohol. This is normal for everyone.
The first enzyme (alcohol dehydrogenase) changes alcohol into a different carbohydrate, one called acetaldehyde. This acetaldehyde is what makes us feel woozy. It is not the alcohol people feel.
Next the liver produces a second enzyme (acetaldehyde dehydrogenase) which changes the acetaldehyde into yet another carbohydrate one called acetate, which the body can metabolize into carbon dioxide and water.
A normal person's body will completely metabolize one ounce alcohol (one mixed drink, one bottle of beer, one 6 ounce glass of wine) in about 1 hour.
Some people's livers don't produce enough of the second enzyme - the enzyme that changes acetaldehyde. Therefore these folks build up a large amount of acetaldehyde in their system when they drink alcohol.
When acetaldehyde is not removed from the bloodstream, it joins with several neurotransmitters to produce another chemical called an isoquinoline - an opium-like chemical naturally produced in the body – a chemical as addictive as heroin.
This only happens to alcoholics, and not to the rest of the population. It is this isoquinoline to which alcoholics become addicted.
What makes this process insidious is the fact that the isoquinoline turns off the brain's prefrontal cortex, the executive part of the brain that monitors actions to determine whether or not an action has consequences.
This addictive isoquinoline turns off the part of our brain than can say, "No, I've had enough." The isoquinoline turns off the part of an alcoholic's brain that could make a difference.
This is what causes alcohol addiction. An alcoholic is not addicted to the alcohol, but rather is addicted to this isoquinoline – the chemical his or her brain produces from alcohol. The first drink of the evening triggers it.
When an alcoholic takes the first drink, doing so starts the craving for more. Actually it's a craving for more tetrahydroisoquinoline – the isoquinoline that comes from acetaldehyde.
This chemical reaction does not happen to non-alcoholics.
As a comparison, think of it this way: A diabetic is a person whose body does not metabolize carbohydrates correctly. An alcoholic is a person whose body does not metabolize alcohol correctly.
Alcoholism is a physical disease. It is not a moral weakness. It is not a matter of will power.
When an alcoholic takes a drink, within minutes the craving for “more” begins, and it is off to the races. There is no way to prevent this reaction other than to just not take the first drink.
But how do you stop forever? The answer is, you don't. You only stop for today – one day at a time. For example I might drink next weekend. I don't know. Next weekend hasn't happened yet. I'm not going to worry about it, because I only need to stop just for today. Tomorrow I get to make the decision again.
What would always happen for me whenever I drank is the first drink would go down quickly, and begin to feel good. Then I wanted more of that feeling, so I would have another, then another, then...You know the drill. I did not understand what was happening inside me that was different than what happened to “normal” people when they drank.
Eventually I found myself with much depression – even thinking about suicide. That frightened me. I didn't understand that alcohol is a central nervous system depressant. I decided to try controlling my drinking by limiting myself to two drinks
The first night, I had two regular drinks, and white-knuckled it. The next night I filled the glass half full of booze, and told myself, "It's only two drinks." The third night, I filled the glass to the brim with booze. The fourth night.............. I got a bigger glass! But hey, it was only two drinks. :)
A short time later I decided to see about getting help, so a couple days before I went to my first AA meeting, I called the Council on Alcoholism, and they told to think of alcoholism as being an allergy to alcohol, with the allergic reaction causing a feeling of wanting more.
Over the phone the counselor suggested I go to a care-unit. "I'm not that sick," I said. Man, was I wrong! So the counselor suggested I go to AA, and I did.
I was shocked at my first meetings to see a group of people who were happy (I was not), and who laughed at the stupid stuff they had done while drinking. (Things like getting a bigger glass.)
Twenty-eight years later I remain sober, because not drinking, for one day at a time, has kept me sober all this time."


 

Chris P

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As others have said, being able to "plug the jug" on willpower alone is quite common, but the consequences of the route the person takes will be very important to the realism of your story, and the experiences your character endures. As MAS says, not only is alcoholism a disease (not exactly an allergy or like diabetes, but the analogy explains a lot) it has certain symptoms, as does the psychological and physical effects of withdrawal. Of course not everyone experiences all of the symptoms, but someone who goes through it without a support network is likely to experience things differently than someone who has a support group, but the experiences of someone getting sober through church and religion are going to differ from someone who gets sober solely through cognitive therapy or though 12-step approaches. There is no one approach that works for everyone, and most people I know have employed bits and pieces of several.

The good news from a writer standpoint is recovery memoirs are almost a genre unto themselves and you have oodles of source material for inspiration. In this case, I've found the self-published inspirational memoirs more accurate than the sensational best sellers.
 

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I'm not sure if appropriate for your setting but there may be legal issues that also are involved in drinking. I'll be pming you and seeing if you need any help in that regard. I wish you the best of luck.
 

Elenitsa

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I'm not sure if appropriate for your setting but there may be legal issues that also are involved in drinking.

Thank you for your wishes! The same to you.

And as long as he doesn't drink at work, but only in his free time, I guess there might be no legal issues. Or, well, if he had, in the past, fought with someone when drunk, I guess that was a fine, a warning, and it's long time behind him.
 

ironmikezero

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Never underestimate the power of a determined will; people have gone through hell and back on sheer determination.

What does your story need? Does your character have sufficient motivation? Every obstacle faced and subsequently overcome gives you a potential scene to work with, enrichening the personal depth of the struggling character. Are there supporting (literally) characters? Can you envision the interplay?
 
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Elenitsa

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Yes, there are characters supporting his choice (and a few wondering or joking on his expense, that he wants to become a saint, etc.) But he had left behind already his drinking buddies by returning to his home town, and most people are supporting. Yes, I'll describe him struggling and needing a drink in stressful situations :) Maybe once he'll give in - and someone would just enter before he succumbed to the desire to drink again.
 

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I believe you will need to define your definition of Alcoholic. Lots of people like to drink. Some will drink too much and are defined as harmful drinkes. That's to say the volume of alcohol they are drinking is damaging their health. But that doesn't make them alcoholics. Binge drinkers and people that get drunk on a regular basis may not be alcoholics. They can stop drinking too much, or stop, by themselves. Alcoholics are people that have become totally dependent on alcohol. There interest in anything, or anybody is secondary to drinking. It is very difficult for most, and impossible for some to stop drinking. Most alcoholics only stop when they have a collapse of both physical and mental health and come into the health system. The alcoholics I know have all stopped drinking when the doctor pointed out, not to do so would result in their early death. However, there is no actual cure for alcoholics.
 
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Elenitsa

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I believe you will need to define your definition of Alcoholic. Lots of people like to drink. Some will drink too much and are defined as harmful drinkes. That's to say the volume of alcohol they are drinking is damaging their health. But that doesn't make them alcoholics. Binge drinkers and people that get drunk on a regular basis may not be alcoholics. They can stop drinking too much, or stop, by themselves. Alcoholics are people that have become totally dependent on alcohol. There interest in anything, or anybody is secondary to drinking. It is very difficult for most, and impossible for some to stop drinking. Most alcoholics only stop when they have a collapse of both physical and mental health and come into the health system. The alcoholics I know have all stopped drinking when the doctor pointed out, not to do so would result in their early death. However, there is no actual cure for alcoholics.

My definition was already identified a few posts earlier. My character used to be a binge drinker. He kept sober at work (and this might involve 1-2 weeks in a row, aboard the ship) but when returning home alone, he fought his inner demons by drinking, both alone and entouraging himself by drinking buddies. Therefore, he wasn't yet totally dependent on alcohol, and he could mobilize his will and motivation (when he got that motivation and shame) to stop drinking. Who says it's easy? It isn't. He had slipped once or twice in the past, but he is stronger now, and even when he feels the urge, he will be able to resist the impulse to start drinking again.
 

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My definition was already identified a few posts earlier. My character used to be a binge drinker. He kept sober at work (and this might involve 1-2 weeks in a row, aboard the ship) but when returning home alone, he fought his inner demons by drinking, both alone and entouraging himself by drinking buddies. Therefore, he wasn't yet totally dependent on alcohol, and he could mobilize his will and motivation (when he got that motivation and shame) to stop drinking. Who says it's easy? It isn't. He had slipped once or twice in the past, but he is stronger now, and even when he feels the urge, he will be able to resist the impulse to start drinking again.


You are defining your character as an alcoholic but go on to describe someone that isn't.
 

akiwiguy

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Hi Elenista.

Looks as though you've got a lot of very good feedback here, so not sure that I'm adding much...but a couple of thoughts.

It looks as though you've determined that he's a binge drinker after mentioning earlier his perhaps being a functional alcoholic. In my mind they can be very different things.

I think of a functional addict as being someone who, as the name implies, is very definitely alcoholic and probably drinks every day. To all intents and purposes, in terms of their finances, ability to do their work, absolutely clean criminal record etc. there might to a casual observer be nothing untoward about their life. At an extreme they may have quite sophisticated ways of covering up their drinking, possibly even during work hours. At my high-school there was a couple who taught different subjects, and it was simply obvious to us all, and of course the butt of many a whispered joke, that they were quite often plastered. They were OK teachers of their subject, but.

A binge drinker, again in my mind rather than a textbook, from... ummm...experience, observation, whatever (smile), tends to really intend to have a normal fun night out with the mates or whatever, do what lots of social drinkers do every night of the week, but inevitably find themselves unable to stop or control themselves once they start. They would probably drink more frequently, if it were not for the fact that the morning-after hazy sense of guilt and fear of what they've done the night before gives them enough of a jolt to stop...for a while. They may be wondering, where did get these cuts and bruises come from, or where the hell did I end up with that woman I was with last night? Or maybe simply, how am I going to face those people again after saying THAT!

They are maybe generalisations, but my point is...I doubt that people who drink too much every now and then and wake up with a really bad hang-over but know they had a really good evening are going to worry unduly or feel a need to seek help. Whether they are technically an alcoholic may well never occur to them. But for someone to realise they need to do something drastic, there's something going on in their life that is increasingly worrying to them and those around them. And it's quite common that some final occurrence is enough to give them the motivation. Maybe the love that they've finally found but is about to be lost, or whatever.

So there's a whole lot more to your story obviously than is apparent here...but the interesting question to me is what the problem is that is worrying his relatives, having him at one point promise his god-child that he'll stop, etc? And what is that really motivates him to make any changes? My thought regarding the "sheer will-power" question is yes, IF the motivation is strong enough.

Not sure if I've added much to the thread, but all the very best for your writing.

Cheers
 

Elenitsa

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It looks as though you've determined that he's a binge drinker after mentioning earlier his perhaps being a functional alcoholic. In my mind they can be very different things.

I think of a functional addict as being someone who, as the name implies, is very definitely alcoholic and probably drinks every day. To all intents and purposes, in terms of their finances, ability to do their work, absolutely clean criminal record etc. there might to a casual observer be nothing untoward about their life. At an extreme they may have quite sophisticated ways of covering up their drinking, possibly even during work hours. At my high-school there was a couple who taught different subjects, and it was simply obvious to us all, and of course the butt of many a whispered joke, that they were quite often plastered. They were OK teachers of their subject, but.

Not sure if I've added much to the thread, but all the very best for your writing.

Thank you, and yes, you have added to my world view :) . I am going to use the present tense now, even if the drinking problem is now in the past, only in his history (but still struggling with the need to drink in certain situations), because the situation reflects how he had used to be for several years.

He can't be the kind to be drunk at work and not be caught, due to the nature of his work. He is a sailor. The work aboard a ship can be dangerous, and the controls more often. He works in close quarters with others which would sense him. Besides, he isn't as reckless as to put the others in danger, because he had been through a shipwreck when young (even if not caused by drinking). Furthermore, given the reason of his drinking, while being with all the others, aboard the ship, a few days/ 1 week at a time or a bit more (it's river transport, so not long haul), he feels well enough in company not to need the comfort of drinking.

The problem is when he returns to an empty studio and stays home for 1 weeks or so. Then is when loneliness and past shadows overcome him, and he seeks forgetting and comfort in alcohol and drinking buddies.

A binge drinker, again in my mind rather than a textbook, from... ummm...experience, observation, whatever (smile), tends to really intend to have a normal fun night out with the mates or whatever, do what lots of social drinkers do every night of the week, but inevitably find themselves unable to stop or control themselves once they start. They may be wondering, where did get these cuts and bruises come from, or where the hell did I end up with that woman I was with last night?

Exactly my character :)

I doubt that people who drink too much every now and then and wake up with a really bad hang-over but know they had a really good evening are going to worry unduly or feel a need to seek help. Whether they are technically an alcoholic may well never occur to them. But for someone to realise they need to do something drastic, there's something going on in their life that is increasingly worrying to them and those around them. And it's quite common that some final occurrence is enough to give them the motivation. Maybe the love that they've finally found but is about to be lost, or whatever.

For him it would have never occurred to think about himself as being an alcoholic, neither to seek help. The wake-up moment had been the encounter with his godchildren (twins, actually the boy named after him, the girl after his sister), now in their late teens. And they happen to be the adoptive children of his lost/ unrequited love. They had heard already the gossips that he was an alcoholic, and they saw him drunk first. Let's say not as drunk as not able to walk straight/ to talk, but more than a little buzzed. Drunk enough to have emotional effusions and so on. So during the all afternoon and all evening discussion, they make him promise not to drink anymore. They aren't sure he would keep his promise, because he is far away from them not to be able to check. In a letter, or even at phone, one can say anything and pretend things are fine.

In that first moment, he takes things easy - why drinking right then if he is with them? Afterwards, shame sets in, making him keep the promise. (They might tell their mother, his lost love, how low he had got, how drunk they saw him... They could tell it to all his relatives in his native town.) And yes, they sort of do it - the twins alert his sisters too, who come unexpectedly to check on him... And this is how he wakes up to sobriety. Family shame might be a strong motivation for someone raised in a tradition of tight knit families. Almost two years later, the sisters convince him to move back to his native town too.