A Handle of Hand Sanitizer
01-14-2019
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Midwest
Posts: 1,217
A Handle of Hand Sanitizer
I celebrated my 1.5 years sober 5 days ago! Hooray!
Now onto my title. Work asked me if I wanted some hand sanitizer about 3 weeks ago as they ordered a lot. Well I said sure, why not and they took me to a pallet of hand sanitizer in handles. I'm like - ok - I guess 1. Then they said, you should have two. Seriously - this is a lot of hand sanitizer. What I didn't expect, was it to be in typical vodka sized handle bottles that I used to buy all the time. I had them at home in the kitchen and I kept doing second takes and jumping out of my skin thinking I had vodka in the house. So I gave one to my husband to take to his work - a small business that can use it. It's not the gel kind so you can spray it on surfaces as well. I put the other bottle under the sink...but under the sink is sometimes where I'd hide those things. I'd go to grab paper towels and be like OMG a left over vodka bottle --- oh -it's just the hand sanitizer.
I had enough of this causing me some small mental flashbacks so today, I bought a spray bottle today and put most of it in there and dumped the rest down the drain. Just like old times - dumping booze only it's hand sanitizer.
Now I have a spray bottle for surfaces - the two handle bottles are out of my house/sight. Amazing that it ended up causing me some negative reactions to just seeing it like that in the house.
I just wanted to share this somewhere, seems to be the right place.
Now onto my title. Work asked me if I wanted some hand sanitizer about 3 weeks ago as they ordered a lot. Well I said sure, why not and they took me to a pallet of hand sanitizer in handles. I'm like - ok - I guess 1. Then they said, you should have two. Seriously - this is a lot of hand sanitizer. What I didn't expect, was it to be in typical vodka sized handle bottles that I used to buy all the time. I had them at home in the kitchen and I kept doing second takes and jumping out of my skin thinking I had vodka in the house. So I gave one to my husband to take to his work - a small business that can use it. It's not the gel kind so you can spray it on surfaces as well. I put the other bottle under the sink...but under the sink is sometimes where I'd hide those things. I'd go to grab paper towels and be like OMG a left over vodka bottle --- oh -it's just the hand sanitizer.
I had enough of this causing me some small mental flashbacks so today, I bought a spray bottle today and put most of it in there and dumped the rest down the drain. Just like old times - dumping booze only it's hand sanitizer.
Now I have a spray bottle for surfaces - the two handle bottles are out of my house/sight. Amazing that it ended up causing me some negative reactions to just seeing it like that in the house.
I just wanted to share this somewhere, seems to be the right place.
EndGame
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: New York, NY
Posts: 4,677
I thought I posted this, but it magically disappeared.
I can see how how the handle thing would be a distraction. These things come out of nowhere.
Congratulations on staying sober. I was a mess at one year and a half.
I remember a time when the best days of my life were when I would find a couple of sips or more in a discarded vodka bottle. And the time when I found a twenty-dollar bill on the floor of Penn Station while I was looking for more private accommodations.
For those who don't know me and for those who forgot, I got sober from 1983 - 2008, and then again from 2011 to present. I lost everyone and everything dear to me. Both times. Everything.
Sober Recovery has been a learning experience that's often helped me to make my way through life sober, an important part of my progress as a human being. I know a bunch of people here who've felt the same way.
Gotta mention the mods. I don't know how they do what they do, I don't want to know how they do what they do, but this may not feel as safe a place that it is for a lot of people if the mods were to stop doing what they do. Particularly since February/March.
It's very difficult for each of us to manage chronic and persistent trauma within the context of so much uncertainty. It can be a very destructive perfect storm for some of us.
It's important that we recognize when we need help and then find a way to ask for it. Don't deprive other people the opportunity to help another person.
Some of us need time and space to grieve and to mourn, to respond to multiple, unique daily stressors in the ways we need to do it, in ways that help us make our way through this.
I've been feeling more preachy the past few days than usual. I don't know why. Maybe I need to type out all these words for myself, to hear them in my own voice, to make it all more real for me. I do that a lot here.
I can see how how the handle thing would be a distraction. These things come out of nowhere.
Congratulations on staying sober. I was a mess at one year and a half.
I remember a time when the best days of my life were when I would find a couple of sips or more in a discarded vodka bottle. And the time when I found a twenty-dollar bill on the floor of Penn Station while I was looking for more private accommodations.
For those who don't know me and for those who forgot, I got sober from 1983 - 2008, and then again from 2011 to present. I lost everyone and everything dear to me. Both times. Everything.
Sober Recovery has been a learning experience that's often helped me to make my way through life sober, an important part of my progress as a human being. I know a bunch of people here who've felt the same way.
Gotta mention the mods. I don't know how they do what they do, I don't want to know how they do what they do, but this may not feel as safe a place that it is for a lot of people if the mods were to stop doing what they do. Particularly since February/March.
It's very difficult for each of us to manage chronic and persistent trauma within the context of so much uncertainty. It can be a very destructive perfect storm for some of us.
It's important that we recognize when we need help and then find a way to ask for it. Don't deprive other people the opportunity to help another person.
Some of us need time and space to grieve and to mourn, to respond to multiple, unique daily stressors in the ways we need to do it, in ways that help us make our way through this.
I've been feeling more preachy the past few days than usual. I don't know why. Maybe I need to type out all these words for myself, to hear them in my own voice, to make it all more real for me. I do that a lot here.
01-14-2019
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Midwest
Posts: 1,217
Originally Posted by EndGameNYC 
I thought I posted this, but it magically disappeared.
I can see how how the handle thing would be a distraction. These things come out of nowhere.
Congratulations on staying sober. I was a mess at one year and a half.
I remember a time when the best days of my life were when I would find a couple of sips or more in a discarded vodka bottle. And the time when I found a twenty-dollar bill on the floor of Penn Station while I was looking for more private accommodations.
I can see how how the handle thing would be a distraction. These things come out of nowhere.
Congratulations on staying sober. I was a mess at one year and a half.
I remember a time when the best days of my life were when I would find a couple of sips or more in a discarded vodka bottle. And the time when I found a twenty-dollar bill on the floor of Penn Station while I was looking for more private accommodations.
01-14-2019
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Midwest
Posts: 1,217
Originally Posted by Steely
I thought twice about posting my feeble pun.
Hope everyone else uses "handle on it" to mean a "grip", on the problem?
Meant innocently. Quick wit that I am.
Hope everyone else uses "handle on it" to mean a "grip", on the problem?
Meant innocently. Quick wit that I am.
Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 10,912
I work in a medical environment and just cannot afford avoiding alcohol-based sanitizers, or otherwise using alcohol for many different procedures. I totally get it because I very much dislike the smell and prefer to step away when there are fumes around.
As for hand sanitizer, I bought a scented product that smells very good to me, and recently also made my own. You have to be careful though because essential oils and other scent sources can sometimes cause skin irritation and even eczema to people who are sensitive. You can definitely put scents on surface cleaners though if you are not going to get in too much contact with it, are not afraid of kids or pets doing that either. That's another thing I do and I vary the scents between small bottles of the 70% alcohol I make for cleaning surfaces at home, it kinda makes cleaning fun.
As for hand sanitizer, I bought a scented product that smells very good to me, and recently also made my own. You have to be careful though because essential oils and other scent sources can sometimes cause skin irritation and even eczema to people who are sensitive. You can definitely put scents on surface cleaners though if you are not going to get in too much contact with it, are not afraid of kids or pets doing that either. That's another thing I do and I vary the scents between small bottles of the 70% alcohol I make for cleaning surfaces at home, it kinda makes cleaning fun.
Member
Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 568
I know this is a serious subject but this made me giggle a little bit. LOL I sooooo understand! The smell of hand sanitizer makes me think of vodka! I'm better about it now but at first when we started using it like crazy I kept thinking about taking a sip! LOL Great Job on 1 1/2 years!!!!!
Currently Active Users Viewing this Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
