Berdant

Tigger, I'm here and doing good - Day 39 for me, wow right? Time sure does fly.

Good job, Stevie, you had us all very worried there. Sounds like your sure keeping the Mars candy company in business lol

Inparticular, sorry about your brother's troubles, but you stay strong ok? Take care of YOU.

Congrats, everyone on your progress. Sounds like everyone is doing so great!!

FML

Day 11

I had a bit of an epiphany. I am very shy (sober) and normally I feel like I NEED to drink in order to socialize without feeling nervous. However..whenever I have an opportunity to go do something or go somewhere to socialize, I automatically start thinking about transportation. There are many times I haven't gone out when invited because I didn't want to go unless I could get drunk, and I didn't have a way to get there and home. When I first decided to stop drinking, I worried that I would not be able to be as social. But now I will be able to go out way more because I can drive myself. I know it's going to be difficult to interact and have conversations without liquid encouragement, but I'm kind of excited to start being me...not the intoxicated social butterfly.
With that said, one of the things I'm going to miss most is drinking a glass (or more) of wine and listening to music while I get ready to go out. That's always a lot of fun. Oh well I'll still have the music..that's the best part.


I felt really good yesterday until the evening. I started getting bad anxiety because the wind was blowing pretty hard. I am afraid of bad weather, especially tornados. There was no watches or warnings but I was still nervous. So I wasn't able to follow through with my plan of not taking a sleep aid.

Quitting alcohol is one of the steps Im taking to help my mind calm down. I hope that with time it will make a difference. It sucks to panic just because the wind reaches 30mph, or if my child gets a fever, or when an identified number calls my phone etc. etc. etc.

Really4Real

Nice job everyone!!

Welcome back, Paddy

FML... I was just the opposite.. sort of.
I drank at home and then DIDN'T want to go anywhere, unless I ran out of beer or wine or ginger brandy or vanilla extract, mouthwash, etc... I'm not shy really, just anti-social... but I do like people as long as we're talking about them or I'm helping them in some way... crazy..

Voice.... glad you're sleeping and feeling better. It's a wonder what a couple weeks without alcohol can do... me, I'm just hoping my memory gets better

IP... I understand - two of my brothers (step and both younger) were on and off crack for a while... hoping their off right now, but I never really know. I was adopted and didn't even know they existed until about 15 years ago.... I'm 44 now. They're good guys, but grew up in a very rough neighborhood...

Jay1980

Hey my November peoples. Day 28 here for me. Busy day here. Got up at 6 to help a friend pick up 4 recliners, a new 46" TV, a TV stand and a dresser. Luckily I'm as strong as polar bear on steroids so it was a piece of cake After that I hit the gym and got my workout in. Taking tomorrow off from the gym and spending the day with an old friend I haven't seen in a while.

Tigger41

Hey Jay when is your month mark? Lookin good


Ive firmly identified a trigger. Me having to ask my twIns about 15 times to do their damn homework. Being that they're only in 5 th grade and I have 2 younger kids I better figure out a coping mechanism. Lol

I mean I actually looked over to where I used to keep my bottle of red and my chest is tight this su***

Tres

Everyone seems to be doing great. I wish I could eat like Stevie88!

Dinner out with some girlfriends tonight. They are some new girlfriends and don't know my past so it will be easy to not drink around them. I am really looking forward to eating and trying a new restaurant. In fact I am down right excited! Used to be I would just be looking forward to the wine and if they have happy hour specials. My bill should be a lot less this time. I will post later and tell you about it.

Worked out this am and I am so sore I can hardly walk. I go to a private studio to work out (trainer is my neighbor) and it keeps me more accountable than a regular gym. If I miss a week or so she is calling to check on me. She is a great motivator. I felt like an elephant today during the workout..just was an off day. I have not told her I stopped drinking. She will LOVE that! She knows how things are at our house..party all the time. I will tell her when I am ready. I guess I feel like I should be feeling better working out without a hangover..but I haven't felt much fitter yet. Must be all the food I am eating....humm...what to order tonight at dinner....lol.

Jay1980

I'll have a month on Saturday First time I've gone this long since '07.

despairingsair

Just checking in to say hi and best wishes to everyone who has joined since my last post! I'm now in the AA programme for the first time ever and feeling alot of support from around me which feels fantastic! The best thing I did was gather my closest pals around me and tell them my grand plan.. now when I socialise they understand my fragility and don't push it on me..
Hope everyone stays strong espec' if the weekends are a challenge and stick with it!
Each hour and day as it comes, try not to worry about tomorrow!
Sarah x

Tigger41

Sarah,

That was so brave and so smart. Good that you have your friends on your side.

Really4Real

Tres... Sounds like you really are excited... nice

Tigger... hopefully by now, your kids have done their homework and not ing you crazy. Hope you're by now relaxing to a nice cup of TEA

Jay... sound like you worked out before you worked out!! I'm going to try getting up in the morning early and running... ain't working to well after work - at least this week. Last week was good... but busy this week. Betcha you feel pretty good with the one month mark coming up

Good night everyone...

Dee74

you're working those smileys R4R

sleep well

D

Bruman

:

Just cuz all the cool kids are doing it

CatFry

Hi guys!

Stevie: what is a satsuma?

Cravings are hard. I had a bad one the other night when I couldn't sleep. At 0530 I found myself thinking "No one will know if I have some vodka to help me sleep . . . "

I managed to fight it off.

Everyone sounds good! Keep at it!

polostick10

Hey everyone -- been 2 days or so since I've checked in. Been getting killed at work recently.... The only lingering physical side effect right now is lack of energy for me. Which is SO frustrating because I'm normally such an energetic and enthusiastic person. Not only am I drained, but the thought of being drained is constantly draining (if that makes any sense)... In other words, lately I've been stressed out about the fact that I have no energy, and it's frustrating as $&%*. But hey, I can't complain. I've gone 10 days without painkillers of any kind, and the hellish physical w/d's are over for the most part... So I guess life is good. It sounds so much easier when I type it out.

To be honest though, I love hearing your guys' updates. Whether struggling or feeling terrific, they all make me feel better. I think I've been struggling a lot mentally lately because I have no one in my life to actually share my frustrations with. Nobody in my life (aside from my dealers) knows about my addiction... I prefer to keep it that way, but doing so makes me feel pretty freaking lonely at times. The thought of letting it all out has crossed my mind more times than I can keep track of over the past week +.... I know there are people in my life that, although it would be a huge shock, would support me. But I'm convinced that at this juncture, it would cause more problems than anything else. Also, I walk a tight rope because the profession I'm in, I could potentially lose my license and ruin my entire career if word got out that I had a "problem." And some people aren't as understanding when it comes to these types of matters. Anyway, I'm rambling. But the point is, I can't underscore enough how helpful you all have been in getting through this. Thank you, to each and every one of my fellow Nov. '11 classmates. Every single one of you has made my recovery easier, and I can't tell you enough what that means right now.

All the best to everyone. We're doing amazing! Lets keep up charging through this and never turn back.

stevie88

Cat fry a satsuma is a small orange like a clemantine or a tangerine.....Day 20 for me today and fridays are always a trigger for me as its payday today....I managed to get through the last 2 weekends so hopefully this one will be a breeze too.....Will update later,its time to eat...lol....

Dee74

have a good weekend everyone

D

Tigger41

That's exactly how I feel!

Morning everyone - slept like the dead - 8.5 hours (fell asleep with my daughter at 9 pm). Hope everyone has a great Friday - me I have department luncheon - there will be wine and beer. My plan? I'll be coming late - leaving early and keeping a diet coke in my hands at all times. If I feel weak at all I just won't go.

Hi Polo - thanks for checking in

Bruman - u crack me up

R4R - we'll see how they do on their Latin test today. I stopped nagging and sent them in a room together to study and played with my 3 year old.

NESfan

I hope you stay one day ahead of me for good.

Day 15, Friday, glad I can sleep in tomorrow! Feeling wiped-out, because it's been a long week. Still, realized this morning how cool it is to open my eyes and not wonder how bad the hangover's going to be.

Bimm

3 weeks today....I'm just beginning to believe I can do this. Even scheduled a long overdue (like 10 years overdue) physical exam for after the first of the year.

Really4Real

Ok Polo... You almost made me - in a good way. I feel the same about this place... You can always 'vent' here. I here you on the energy thing also... I feel like I don't get any sleep at night whether I get 5 hours or 8! I really hope that changes soon! But stress definitely has a factor in it... I think maybe our bodies are feeling more of the effects of it since we're not drinking??? So maybe we need to find another way to deal with it... which leads me back to getting my butt up in the morning and exercising!

Nice job with those smileys, Bru

CF - It's a lie that no one would ever know... you would. I've done it - I know. Good job defeating it

Great Job on the 3 weeks, Bimm

You have a great weekend also, Dee!

Catch y'all later... got to get to work!