steve-in-kville

Just about had a relapse this afternoon. The ol' AV was screaming pretty loud. Worked my way through things and found solid reasoning. I waited a few hours to leave the house to run some errands until I had it behind me.

Feeling blessed!

Dee74

Glad you got through Steve.
What had you so wound up?

D

steve-in-kville

I think I am still getting used to being sober over the weekends. Whereas before on a Saturday I was drinking by 8am and blacked out by mid-afternoon.

Upstairs

Good job on sticking it out. When a really strong craving hits, it's hard to ignore.

steve-in-kville

Almost every time it hits, I work my way through HALT and find at least one, if not two, things are missing!!

And prayer. I thank God for what I have in life. Thats a huge help for me when it comes to the ol' devil whispering in my ear!

Doug39

Good job staying the course.

Luckily I haven't really had any bad cravings for booze during these first 90 days of sobriety. I am really focused on getting and feeling better and I know that drinking will only end up making me feel awful again.

steve-in-kville

True that. And with me it never ended with just a drink or two. Always a minimum of 3 bottles of bourbon 'til all was said and done.

Hevyn

Proud of you for rising above the urges, Steve. It won't be this difficult forever.

steve-in-kville

I sure hope so!

RealSLC12

Weekends are hard for me too man, I've never really been a day drinker, but man, days when I don't have work to occupy me during the day, thats when I have the strongest cravings.

MariahGayle

Great going Steve!

FBL

Weekends were tough for me too, at first. Now, I can't imagine wasting them so.

ScottFromWI

Nice work Steve. To take it to the "next step", how about adding some proactive tools to your sobriety toolbox so that when these feeling pop up you are ready to go face them? For example, if you think these feelings are coming on weekends because you are used to drinking, make proactive plans ahead of time to do something else. Doesnt have to be anything in particular, but just write it all down or add it to your phone calendar. Sometime Idle time is the worst thing we can have to deal with.

shortstop81

Steve - HALT has also been awesomely useful for me. The past few weeks the cravings have been intense, and I usually identify one or more thing on that list and address it. Yesterday I was Angry and Lonely. So I went to my AA group's business meeting which is held before the regular meeting, just so I had a safe space to go and kill some time. Lo and behold I stayed sober, and I was no longer Angry or Lonely or wanting a drink.

Mountainmanbob

Way to go Steve. We don't want to let self deception take us out, yet again.
M-Bob

Berrybean

So, so glad you pushed through and stayed sober.

Weekends were incredibly difficult when I first stopped drinking. They suddenly seemed SO LONG!!!! How did they ever get to BE so long? GAH! !

The good news is that I now enjoy my weekends again. The bad news is that they now whizz past. Lol. I start my weekend on Friday night with my favourite AA meeting of the week. It's a room full of laughter and compassion, and I hate to miss it. When i get home i treat myself to a take-away or snuggle up for an early night with a good book if I need to be out and about early on Saturday. I also end the weekend on Sunday night with my home group AA meeting. There are a few Saturday meetings I can go to as well if I like (lunchtime and early evening) and I used to make good use of those as well, but nowadays I tend not to need it. I have some good AA friends though so will often go do something fun with one or two of them if my partner has been welded to a bar-stool someplace (as is usual at the weekends).

Volunteering and getting involved in community events can be a great way of passing the time productively and meeting new people who aren't drinking-buddies (ALL my old friends were drinking buddies, so weekends were really lonely at first). I've also done various other activities (learning to play trumpet, tap dancing, bell ringing, creative writing group, reading group, fitness classes, church activities). It just takes us a while to relearn how to relax and spend leisure time in sober ways. It will come if you keep putting some effort into retraining yourself.

Wishing you all the best for your recovery. BB

steve-in-kville

Thanks for the encouragement, folks! Yeah, weekends over the winter are tough, but thankfully I have a long list of stuff to do. Yesterday I spent a good portion of the afternoon listing stuff on ebay, so at least I'm making a few bucks.

Another thing that is helping is I've become somewhat of a health/fitness nut. I always was into running and cycling, but now I have some definite goals for 2017, like complete a marathon or even an ultra. Big ideas, but if they keep me sober, who cares?!

JeffreyAK

I found that every time I made it through a rough period or even a rough moment, and there were plenty early on, I got stronger, and the next period or moment was not as triggering. Hopefully you're finding it easier as well!

waynetheking

Sounds like you're doing well today Steve. Keep it up and never give in, never!

aasharon90

I enjoy shopping on Ebay, so if you let
me know where to find your store there
id be happy to browse. Who knows I may
find something I cant live without.

Stay connected and responsible for your
own recovery and sobriety with step you
take while building a strong, solid foundation
to live upon for many sober days ahead of
you.