100% Positivity!!
 

Hello!

Today is Day 8 and I am absolutely thrilled about that!

I am trying very hard to stay positive. Had a rough day yesterday, and I'm still feeling a bit down... but I want to fight that feeling! And in the interest of keeping things positive, I thought I'd share a few good things that have happened since getting sober. Perhaps those with more long-term sobriety can share some positivity as well...

On Day 7, I cleaned the whole house and chopped a ton of veggies (for pickling); before that day I had very little energy and wouldn't have been able to manage all that. And before quitting, I would have just drank and smoked pot instead of cleaning/ prepping veggies/ eating etc.

Yesterday was my first day back at work after the holidays. My good friend literally GASPED when she saw me! She demanded to know what kind of diet I was on or if I'd gone to some kind of spa or something -- she said I look amazing! And you know what... I do! I am amazed at how quickly I started to look better, no more puffy face, and I've lost 7 or 8 pounds already (I have modified my diet for optimal detox as well).

And one more thing.... I just realized today is actually Day 9! LOL :blush:

What other wonderful things can I look forward to??

Thank you everyone for your kindness and support! :tyou

Isn't sobriety wonderful! Way to go Nina!

Remaining postive is a pain for me and i'd imagine people like us. I have over a year sober and after looking at how my paycheck is affected by added health care costs etc.. and be ing broke to begin with I hit a good negative low felt like a candy bar and a case of beer! and i have over a year sober and been on a good healthy diet for months!

I needed a thread like this Gonna try and get my chin back up and move forward. Its all I can do so i dont tumble back into the gutter!

There really is an aweful lot of positive things i should be dwelling on instead of this.

I've always found it useful not to look at all the great stuff I have, but to look at all the drunken trouble I no longer have.

No more blackouts, hangovers, car wrecks, lost friends, lost jobs, throwing up, dry heaves, wetting the bed, handcuffs, hurting my family, calling in sick every Monday. I'd stay sober forever just to avoid all the consequences of drinking.

Thats one way to look at it TSDD. One memory thats really vivid from my drinking days was each morning waking up alarm would go off and i'd go OMFG NOOO NOT ANOTHER DAY!! FML as i'd fall out of bed and be begging for mercy. I just wanted to sleep off the hangovers day in and day out. and i never could it was torturous!.

I dont miss that.

Thanks for the reminder zjw. Sometimes we forget to be happy about the positives. Thanks

Thank you, LittleNina, for starting this positive thread.

It helps me to realise (and remember each day) that I am happier now than i ever was . . . even before I took my first drink or smoked my first joint. Expressing gratitude for the way my life is today is most important.

Beyond my wildest dreams, indeed!

Life, I love you.

~dox

Yesss!
 

Thanks everyone for sharing more positivity!

TSDD, I consider all of those things very POSITIVE indeed!

dox, I agree with you about being happier than ever! I can relate when you say you love life now; I remember so many times when I was using and I thought, or even said out loud, 'god I cannot f*ing stand my life!'... what a difference!

And, zjw -- isn't the simple act of waking up in the morning just SOOO different now? A couple days recently I've lept outta bed with a smile on my face!

Today is day 10 for me; I will attend my first AA meeting today, and I hope to report back with more positivity!

congratulations on day 10 :)

D

What? …. your going without a bet? I offered big money that it would be hard to find many (or any) at the AA meeting who were miserable judgmental or hateful, remember? I’ll tell ya what. I’ll give ya 20 to 1 odds. Bet ya a nickel! If you win I’ll send you a full dollar! Hope you read this before you go. Looking forward to your report.

That's awesome, Nina. I find myself 100% more positive and much more productive than when I was drinking and using. Incredible, huh?

Incredible indeed, Fernaceman!! woohoo!! :)

And, awuh1... I am glad I didn't take that bet! In fact, I was just logging on to report back. I may make a new thread of it so it can get more visibility for others who may be in the same boat as I was.

So here's what happened: I went to my first meeting this afternoon. Met a lovely woman there, who took me to my second meeting tonight!

I met the most incredibly, overwhelmingly, insanely nice people!! I now have about a dozen phone numbers, got lots of hugs.... YOU WERE SO RIGHT!!

I am still very new to all this, and I don't know if the 'program' is exactly right for me, but what I do know is that I need people. And holy moly these people are SO KIND & SUPPORTIVE. I was absolutely floored. And inspired. And humbled.

I really would like to go into more detail, and probably will in a new thread as I mentioned, but gee whiz I am pretty tired at the moment.... so maybe in the morning.

But listen, awuh1-- THANK YOU. And thanks to everyone here on SR. I honestly don't know how I'd do this without you.

Well your post made MY day! Doesn’t sound like you had a bad day yourself! Wow 2 meetings on the first day you went to AA. It typically warms my heart to hear of first meeting experiences.

With regard to the 'program' being exactly right for you, keep an open mind, a truly open mind. It seems to have worked for a few of us, even ones like me who said "no way".

I’m just sorry that I did not make that nickel.

Oh yeah, using makes you look messy. Once you QUIT, the physical appearance is amazing. It looks like you got the best night's sleep ever. :P

Congrats to you, and keep up the good work!! :)

Great to hear, LN...the support and understanding can almost be overwhelming, especially when we come from a place where we feel isolated and lonely. The leap from feeling no one drinks or thinks like me to seeing a room full of people who not only drank or thought like me, but also stopped and stayed stopped, can be quite a chasm. But you have seen firsthand the love alcoholics have for one another, and the hand of AA that goes out to those who are new.

As for those phone numbers you got - use them. Call these women when you are feeling off, or if you feel like picking up or when you have a question, or even to ask them how they are doing. No one will be inconvenienced, or upset or annoyed. Believe it or not, as much as they will be helping you, you are actually helping them in their recovery! That's the beauty of this simple program - one drunk helping another.

Great to hear and hope to hear more about your next meeting.

Thats a point that got me. Someone on this board said something along the lines of "oh yeah your situations different uh huh all sarcasitc like" I thought iw as special i had some diff story to tell that my line of thought was somehow different and no one would understand etc.. Till I went to AA like the people on this board had suggested and realized nope I' not special I'm just al alcoholic like a lotta others and a lot of others could help me etc..

I never got the phone list was never even offered nor a sponsor or nothing i dunno. I think the group i went too was just a tight nitched group i dunno. Why i have a hard time going back sometimes tho i did really enjoy speaking with some of them.

Thank you for this message. Waking up to face another day was/is nothing more than a chore anymore.

Well I think one key to staying sober is to accept the fact that you won't always feel good. Nobody alcoholic or not feels top of the world 24/7-365. We want to but negative feelings are part of life to. Every emotion we have we have for a reason.

I like to tell people I am a garden variety drunk...just a page out of the big book ;). But I had the same experience as you, in terms of people not approaching me at my first few meetings. I can't say why, nor do I venture as to why. But no doubt I put out "don't talk to me" vibes and darted straight out of the meeting once it was done. But I kept going back to the meetings to hear the message. It was later down the line that I started to get a few numbers.

We tend to think that we are different, and that keeps us apart from other fellow alcoholics. The term "terminally unique" is sometimes used for that. But for me, I needed to see past this and realize I am no different. Some good ego deflation there too ;)

I am sorry to hear of your experience, and in my experience doesn't reflect AA in general. All the meetings I have been to it's usually quite easy to pick out someone who is new. I have been known to run down people in parking lots to give them a number (newbies run quickly), and I have seen others literally swarm the newcomer. Depends on the group.

Hope you go back :)

Sobriety was the greatest gift I ever gave myself. I don't put it on a platform. I don't campaign about it. It's just something that works for me. It enabled me to really connect with another human being - my wife, Sheryl - which I was never able to do before.