I am ready
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Join Date: Aug 2016
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I am ready
So after being here for the past two days and reading lots of your posts I have decided a bunch of things which I need to write down:
1) I am claiming back the 15 sober days I had before a tiny slip this Wednesday. I came from 3 very heavy months, had a hell of a first week (fever, insomnia, headaches, sweating like crazy and having nightmares every night) but have been feeling good since then. I did have three drinks on Wednesday, but I still have 5 cans in my fridge, and instead of thinking "I decided to drink the three" (which I don't remember why I did) I will go with "I decided not to drink the 5" (which I do remember why I didn't). So 17 days it is!
2) I am going to a music festival tomorrow because I love music and, even though I drank heavily every single time I've been to one, I am 100% sure I will not drink this time. And more, I'll have a hell of a good time sober, I ve been wanting to see some of this bands for 20 yrs, before I even knew what drinking was, so I am very sorry, but alcohol can f*** off as I m not giving in.
3) Wednesday's slip made me really upset to start with, but this is what brought me to SR. As I already said, the stuff you guys wrote here has really changed the way I think about my drinking and recovery. I don't care if it's early days, the last time I was this determined to do something was when I decided to quit coke, and I haven't touched that for almost 6 years. (at some point I will share this properly, I am remembering a lot about that period lately).
4) I can't stress this enough, you guys are awesome. SR is like a combination of people kicking your ass and patting you on the head, and personally I think everyone quitting alcohol needs both. I surely do.
Have a great weekend everyone, I definitely will.
P
1) I am claiming back the 15 sober days I had before a tiny slip this Wednesday. I came from 3 very heavy months, had a hell of a first week (fever, insomnia, headaches, sweating like crazy and having nightmares every night) but have been feeling good since then. I did have three drinks on Wednesday, but I still have 5 cans in my fridge, and instead of thinking "I decided to drink the three" (which I don't remember why I did) I will go with "I decided not to drink the 5" (which I do remember why I didn't). So 17 days it is!
2) I am going to a music festival tomorrow because I love music and, even though I drank heavily every single time I've been to one, I am 100% sure I will not drink this time. And more, I'll have a hell of a good time sober, I ve been wanting to see some of this bands for 20 yrs, before I even knew what drinking was, so I am very sorry, but alcohol can f*** off as I m not giving in.
3) Wednesday's slip made me really upset to start with, but this is what brought me to SR. As I already said, the stuff you guys wrote here has really changed the way I think about my drinking and recovery. I don't care if it's early days, the last time I was this determined to do something was when I decided to quit coke, and I haven't touched that for almost 6 years. (at some point I will share this properly, I am remembering a lot about that period lately).
4) I can't stress this enough, you guys are awesome. SR is like a combination of people kicking your ass and patting you on the head, and personally I think everyone quitting alcohol needs both. I surely do.
Have a great weekend everyone, I definitely will.
P
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Originally Posted by MrPL 
) I am going to a music festival tomorrow because I love music and, even though I drank heavily every single time I've been to one,
I drank heavily at every concert I went to. That's why I waited two years before attempting one sober.
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Originally Posted by doggonecarl
Good luck.
I drank heavily at every concert I went to. That's why I waited two years before attempting one sober.
I drank heavily at every concert I went to. That's why I waited two years before attempting one sober.
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I did it! I did it!
Feeling so good now, I can't think of another standard situation that will make drinks more inviting than they were today, my head was giving me all sorts of excuses: I am not driving home, don't have to go to work so could easily deal with a hangover tomorrow, not seeing wife or kids for another week, I was on my own so nobody to embarrass, everyone was drunk around me, every single time I did this before I was drunk too and on top of it all it was really sunny and a cold beer would have tasted amazing.
I know there'll be other tricky situations, especially as time goes by and I get more confident, but now I got another card up my sleeve, now I can say "if I handled the festival, I can handle this too!".
Sorry to keep going on about this, you are all probably tired of reading it, but it's a major step for me! Promise no more festival talk from now on!
P
Feeling so good now, I can't think of another standard situation that will make drinks more inviting than they were today, my head was giving me all sorts of excuses: I am not driving home, don't have to go to work so could easily deal with a hangover tomorrow, not seeing wife or kids for another week, I was on my own so nobody to embarrass, everyone was drunk around me, every single time I did this before I was drunk too and on top of it all it was really sunny and a cold beer would have tasted amazing.
I know there'll be other tricky situations, especially as time goes by and I get more confident, but now I got another card up my sleeve, now I can say "if I handled the festival, I can handle this too!".
Sorry to keep going on about this, you are all probably tired of reading it, but it's a major step for me! Promise no more festival talk from now on!
P
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Location: Kansas
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Nice job MrPL. One of my attempts at quitting ended 2 weeks in when I went to a concert by myself.
I'm glad you made it. I would recommend thinking in advance about escape plans for situations like that, just to have a plan B.
I'm glad you made it. I would recommend thinking in advance about escape plans for situations like that, just to have a plan B.
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Glad you're here.
FWIW, using is using. I chose to count clean and sober days, not mostly clean and sober. Honesty is vital in recovery.
I'd think twice before being so cavalier attending an event where (by your own admission) you got loaded every time you went.
If it seems like I'm being hard on you, I'm not. It's just not my first rodeo. I've seen these stories before. I know the endings.
FWIW, using is using. I chose to count clean and sober days, not mostly clean and sober. Honesty is vital in recovery.
I'd think twice before being so cavalier attending an event where (by your own admission) you got loaded every time you went.
If it seems like I'm being hard on you, I'm not. It's just not my first rodeo. I've seen these stories before. I know the endings.
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Thanks guys.
IvanMike, no offence taken and I get your point.
I guess a lot of that was me trying to set the scene up for yesterday. Needed to try something different this time as like you I ve been around a few times, lost count how many, and the way my head works I need to know when to be humble and when to be confident (this had to be a confident one).
Best wishes
P
IvanMike, no offence taken and I get your point.
I guess a lot of that was me trying to set the scene up for yesterday. Needed to try something different this time as like you I ve been around a few times, lost count how many, and the way my head works I need to know when to be humble and when to be confident (this had to be a confident one).
Best wishes
P
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Thanks teatreeoil007, this was the first of many to come!
Thanks sunshine72, checking in here really helped, I used my phone to keep an eye on the weekender thread, detinitely recommend you do the same around the GnR gig if you can.
P
Thanks sunshine72, checking in here really helped, I used my phone to keep an eye on the weekender thread, detinitely recommend you do the same around the GnR gig if you can.
P
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Festival talk and all that is just not for me. But great job staying sober during something that was a test. HOWEVER.....
You don't mention a plan- will and the "desire to stop drinking" (as we say is the only requirement to be in AA) is NOT a plan. What are you going to do in your every day life? There won't always be festivals and, as you describe them, events that you can plan special sobriety for and around (how I read your motivation and self-talk). How about today? Normal work days and normal ups and downs of life?
Now would be a PERFECT time to come up with a program of action to get and stay sober. Whether it's AA or not, recovery is about changing your entire life.
Good luck.
You don't mention a plan- will and the "desire to stop drinking" (as we say is the only requirement to be in AA) is NOT a plan. What are you going to do in your every day life? There won't always be festivals and, as you describe them, events that you can plan special sobriety for and around (how I read your motivation and self-talk). How about today? Normal work days and normal ups and downs of life?
Now would be a PERFECT time to come up with a program of action to get and stay sober. Whether it's AA or not, recovery is about changing your entire life.
Good luck.
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Originally Posted by August252015
Festival talk and all that is just not for me. But great job staying sober during something that was a test. HOWEVER.....
You don't mention a plan- will and the "desire to stop drinking" (as we say is the only requirement to be in AA) is NOT a plan. What are you going to do in your every day life? There won't always be festivals and, as you describe them, events that you can plan special sobriety for and around (how I read your motivation and self-talk). How about today? Normal work days and normal ups and downs of life?
Now would be a PERFECT time to come up with a program of action to get and stay sober. Whether it's AA or not, recovery is about changing your entire life.
Good luck.
You don't mention a plan- will and the "desire to stop drinking" (as we say is the only requirement to be in AA) is NOT a plan. What are you going to do in your every day life? There won't always be festivals and, as you describe them, events that you can plan special sobriety for and around (how I read your motivation and self-talk). How about today? Normal work days and normal ups and downs of life?
Now would be a PERFECT time to come up with a program of action to get and stay sober. Whether it's AA or not, recovery is about changing your entire life.
Good luck.
This is a very good point. I definitely want to stop drinking, I do need a plan and I agree with you that now is the perfect time to do it.
I don't want to change my entire life though as I really like it the way it is, it's more a case of adding to it and learning to appreciate and enjoy what I already got (which luckily and miraculously hasn't been too affected by my history of substance abuse).
I will think carefully about this one and start a new thread so I can keep track of it, this is definitely not another month off.
Thanks for reminding me!
P
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