Tomorrow came

Old 06-24-2014, 10:34 AM
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Tomorrow came

Since http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...13-fallen.html I've been wandering among sobriety, moderation, and drunkeness.

Got the new job, moved to Atlanta, was doing pretty good at controlling myself. Then they downsized me. I didn't lose all of my control but I got much worse.

I started keeping a journal of my drinking, feeling, thoughts. I started researching. In my sober moments, I made a plan.

Then my dear 70-something parents unknowingly pulled a page right out of the RR methodology. Knowing my plan was not doable while I was uninsured and underemployed, they offered to pay for it and made a doctors appointment for me. As long as I did it right now.

So, a very good office visit, a prescription, and a counselor referral later...I'm back.
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Old 06-24-2014, 10:45 AM
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Originally Posted by trachemys View Post
Since http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...13-fallen.html I've been wandering among sobriety, moderation, and drunkeness.

Got the new job, moved to Atlanta, was doing pretty good at controlling myself. Then they downsized me. I didn't lose all of my control but I got much worse.

I started keeping a journal of my drinking, feeling, thoughts. I started researching. In my sober moments, I made a plan.

Then my dear 70-something parents unknowingly pulled a page right out of the RR methodology. Knowing my plan was not doable while I was uninsured and underemployed, they offered to pay for it and made a doctors appointment for me. As long as I did it right now.

So, a very good office visit, a prescription, and a counselor referral later...I'm back.
Glad to hear it, t. Done a bit of wandering myself......RR has been the only thought construct that actually helped me STOP.

The prescription helped me make it through the withdrawal.

Rooting for you.
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Old 06-24-2014, 11:31 AM
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Never used anything for withdrawal. Just tough them out. I always manage to taper down before quitting. This scrip was for an antidepressant.
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Old 06-24-2014, 11:47 AM
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Welcome back Trachemys. Good to see you! There is so much riding on our success, I imagined I was going to get only one shot at this, and I was going to succeed.

I know you can succeed. What does your plan look like?
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Old 06-24-2014, 11:53 AM
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Slow and steady wins the race!

Welcome back!
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Old 06-24-2014, 12:01 PM
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Originally Posted by freshstart57 View Post
I know you can succeed. What does your plan look like?
^^^^^ x2! ^^^^^

Great work on the doctor visit and managing your depression. Big step.

What are you going to do to keep off the drink?
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Old 06-24-2014, 01:18 PM
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Originally Posted by trachemys View Post
Never used anything for withdrawal. Just tough them out. I always manage to taper down before quitting. This scrip was for an antidepressant.
Understood. So often alcohol and depression go hand in hand, don't they?

Wishing you all the best.

B
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Old 06-24-2014, 02:26 PM
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Plan? I need a plan? :help
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Old 06-24-2014, 02:27 PM
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Woot your back! You were here when I first got here. I remember when you left you said we would have to carry on without you. Naw...we just waited.
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Old 06-24-2014, 05:29 PM
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Well, speaking from experience: yeah, it's best to get a plan together. You have to make some changes.

I was prescribed anti-depressants late into my drinking career. I felt like maybe depression was the "problem" and everything would be fine. Alas, taking a pill didn't help me change my behavior, things got worse and I ended up in an ambulance with seizures and eventually in rehab.

It's pretty tough, most people feel stuck in a spiral and they can't get out. In my case, treatment was a must - I spent the last of my savings, quit my job, etc - and there I learned a bit more about feeling powerful in my resolve.

Meeting others with similar struggles can also help. I'm not an AA'er myself but I went in the early goings and it helped. It's not as bad as you think, probably. Some kind of peer support goes a long way. That said, many make it work with SR alone and perhaps that's enough.

The bottom line: you have to have some kind of idea what you're going to start doing differently. Whatever your daily habits have been, you've got to try and start altering them, I think. Others might have good ideas.
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Old 06-24-2014, 06:31 PM
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big, we're limited to five smilies per post. I couldn't add the :biglaugh smilie.

I'm not new to this rodeo. I have a plan. A medically consulted and approved plan. On a timetable. With a backup plan. And a whole lot more insight into myself, my condition and my goals. Last year, I didn't.
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Old 06-24-2014, 06:44 PM
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Those are very positive steps, trachemys, an excellent plan. When I finally was honest with my Dr., I found it went a long way towards me being honest with myself. Like finding and going to an AA meeting or two, it helped cement my decision and my resolve - I had decided to quit, and I was going to make it as easy as possible on myself to succeed.

This might sound trite, but at some point you will consider yourself a non-drinker, and it will help you to visualize what that will mean for you. Are you a calmer person? A happier person, more easy going maybe? Less anxious? How will you get to that place?

It helped me to look at things that non-drinkers did and how they did them, and I imagined myself doing those things. The visualization became an important aspect - I set goals and met them, and this became a self reinforcing loop that left me stronger and more confident in myself, more easily able to deal with the daily slings and arrows. It was a huge relief to finally feel as though I was getting things back on track.

Hope you keep posting, trachemys. Best to you.
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Old 06-24-2014, 07:00 PM
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trachemys,

it's good to see you go for it again!
and it seems people who not only have plans but actually follow them do better.
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Old 06-24-2014, 08:48 PM
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Originally Posted by freshstart57 View Post
It was a huge relief to finally feel as though I was getting things back on track.
I've never been "on track". Even before I started drinking and drugging at 16, I was off track. Biologically.
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Old 06-24-2014, 09:11 PM
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Originally Posted by trachemys View Post
I've never been "on track". Even before I started drinking and drugging at 16, I was off track. Biologically.
Continued as I missed the editing deadline

That lead to me going farther off track chemically. By 21, I had my already screwed-up brain chemistry so far "off track" that my current condition is no surprise. If I'm lucky, I'll never be back on the track I've lived on all my life.

I have to make a new track. I have to make a whole new me.
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Old 06-24-2014, 09:38 PM
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It's sounds like you're at least working your way into a better track, trachemys! Glad to see you back and trying to grab ahold of a better life.
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Old 06-24-2014, 09:49 PM
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Hey, Myth! I'm just trying to grab life.

I nearly killed myself with vodka last year.
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Old 06-24-2014, 09:55 PM
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do good trachemys, do good
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Old 06-30-2014, 07:34 AM
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Update: One week in and my first thought upon waking was NOT: Let's have a drink.
:
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Old 06-30-2014, 10:03 AM
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This is really great! You must be feeling empowered right now? hold on to this feeling tightly own It!
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