Reinventing

Objective:
To remain sober. Embrace life. Be healthy. Look better. Feel better.
To stop this drinking cycle.


Experience:
Blackouts
Severe heartburn
Irrationality
No motivation
Procrastinator
Self loathing
Depression
Bloated/puffy/red face
Conversations not remembered
Arguments


History:
2004 - 2007 Drinking two bottles of wine every night, plus 3-5 martini (gained 60 pounds)
2000 - 2003 Drinking wine every night and many times to blackout
1996 - 1999 Drinking more wine and beer making it more of a priority
1994 - 1995 Learned about the romance and sophistication of wine
1990 - 1993 Enjoyed drinking beer (about 3) at the clubs while dancing
1986 - 1989 Light drinking with girlfriends at the beach, usually wine coolers and Lite beer.

Current:
March 2007 - Sept. 2007 sober (Lost 30#)
Sept 2007 - Dec 13, 07 Drinking off and on
Gained back 10#
Trying to get back on track

Hobbies:
Hiking, snowshoeing, exploring outdoors, cooking, reading, working out
at the gym

CarolD

Hi Reinventing...

Do you have a plan for sobriety?

Welcome to sR

nandm

Hi, welcome to SR. Glad to see your post. Interested in hearing more from you.

Reinventing

Thanks CarolD and nandm!

My plan is to never pick up another drink. When I drink,
I don't even like it. And the following days, I feel shameful
and disgust. I just am tired of that feeling.
Drinking gives nothing, but takes all.
Just sick of it!

CarolD

I suggest you read the top 3 sticky post on this page.
They have lots of info
as well as some of our experiences with de toxing

Keep posting...SR is open 24/7
:chatter

chip

Welcome Reinventing,
From your resume, it looks like you are ready to move forward with your life. You got a good start when you quit in March. I hope you can do it again. Many of us find that it's easier to go with a day by day plan not to drink. Can you go a whole day without a drink? If you can, you could stay sober. Just for today.....

I havn't had a drink since sept 24 2005. How long have I been sober? Since I woke up today. I am sober today, and that is my focus everyday.

Have you considered a support group or a recovery program? These things really help many of us.

I hope you'll stick with us. You can do this. You are not alone.
chip

Tazman53

I will back up what Chip has shared, the vast majority of alcoholics with years of sobriety have 2 things in common:

1. They have stayed sober "One day at a time"!
2. They work a recovery program.

This is not to say that there are not folks who stay sober for years by swearing off booze forever and not working a recovery program, there are, some of them are very happy, others are miserable because they are white knuckling sobriety..... in other words the only thing they have done is to quit drinking and sit around all the time just wishing they could drink but knowing they can't/

Reinventing

Ya know, one day at a time sounds so.....cliche, but it sure does work. Sometimes, it one hour at a time, etc.

I'm so ready to be done with drinking. So ready. I have drank resently, even when I didn't want to. No more! I am not giving in to the AV anymore. My
healthy, my spirit, my life is too important.

Someone here wrote about the book Letting Go. I have that book, but only perused it during times of a break up. Quitting drinking is like breaking up.
Time to revisit that book.

Every so often I read something that gives me that "WOW" moment. This quote from Chip was one of them. Thanks for that Chip!

Tazman53

Stuff like that is awesome, I was at a meeting where a guy picked up a 33 year chip, I was talking to him after the meeting and he told me about when he was in early sobriety and this old timer had just picked up a 25 year chip, he said he went up to him and asked him "How did you do it?" The old timer replied with a question "What time did you wake up this morning?", he said he replied to him "5:30, to get ready for work." The old timer told him "Well you have 2 more hours sobriety then I have today, you see I am retired and did not get up until 7:30!"

Just another way of passing on that we need to live in today to stay sober, not yesterday or tomorrow, simply today.

nolonger

Hey Reinventing. You got the job! Start today.
Welcome aboard, nl.

nolonger

Btw, have you read "Drinking, A Love Story" by Caroline Blackwood (think that's her name, I forget exactly)? The way you wrote about the romance of wine and the break-up with booze, you might be interested in her story.

Reinventing

Interesting you should mention that. I have it on my list for the
library.

I went to a birthday party last night and the booze was flowing.
I was only offered wine or beer. Funny how when you're sober,
you notice things like this. If I were drinking, I wouldn't have
noticed and have him lead me to the wine.

So I found water and got a glass of it. I ended up in the kitchen,
in the corner where all the booze was. I found some ice, then
the club soda. I sipped that all night. The only time I felt the
urge was when I saw someone with a glass of red wine. Since
the booze was plentiful and free, most people went for the hard
stuff.

I made it through and felt proud of myself. And it wasn't even
all the hard.

I was chatting with people, which I thought I wouldn't be. Being
sober and doing some of the the things I used to do only
while drinking, is a constant surprise. I can do it and it is not
as bad as I thought it would be.

Rimmy

Nice to hear that. I know the feeling... I used to get uptight and think I couldn't do stuff without the drink on... It's good to feel good about yourself when you do stuff without and feel ok about it.

Like I said, nice to hear that

CarolD

Hmm...
Acording to the CDC and USDA

all of these have the same ammount of alcohol
and are processed the same by your brain and body.

12 os. beer...5 oz. wine...1 1/2 oz of liquor.

Soooo...pick your poisin by flavor
it's all the same toxin to an alcoholic.


Good to know you came home sober!
Well done!