Class of April 2013 Part 3
Member
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 141
Hey guys! Another pretty boring day here sober. Actually a lot of stuff has happened in the last 24 hours that any one of would have sent me into a tail spin a month ago, or at least into a bottle of vodka, but they don't seem to be bothering me. I just focused on scheduling solutions and now I'm just riding it out and trying to be optimistic about the outcomes. My back x-rays came back showing arthritis but no other cause for my pain. Nobody believes my pain is arthritis related, and the uninformed assistant was of no help with telling me about the arthritis other than saying "don't worry, everyone has it." Seriously? Every 35 year old who is in (putting your thumb over the alcohol use) good health has spinal arthritis? What a nut bag, but it's not her fault that she is the one who makes these phone calls, that's just her job. So I'm waiting to start physical therapy in addition to the chiropractor on Thursday, and in the meantime I'm getting a copy of those films and the report for the chiropractor (and to look over myself). I've also decided that the special needs camp the school had been planning on sending my son to is completely whackerdoodle and he's not going there. But rather than going crazy, I just contacted the school, explained my misgivings on the dis-organization, and proposed a solution (a different camp) and it looks like they're going to say yes. They just have to confirm. So that just was resolved. No drama needed. I don't know why that's so surprising, they're always pretty nice, but I can't tell you how much anxiety and panic that whole situation would have been a month ago. I struggle to remember why I thought everything was so hard before, and I am SO GRATEFUL to not be trapped in that mode right now. I just hope I can stay in this one. Life is good.
Goat - Have fun on your trip up this way! Hope you dazzle the clients!
Sobreia - Congrats on the week!
NotSo - Glad you let the hubby know how you were feeling. Even if nothing changes, you know you did what you could to let him know your side.
Scoutie - What's hiding in that blanket?
Goat - Have fun on your trip up this way! Hope you dazzle the clients!
Sobreia - Congrats on the week!
NotSo - Glad you let the hubby know how you were feeling. Even if nothing changes, you know you did what you could to let him know your side.
Scoutie - What's hiding in that blanket?
2 detoxes down, 0 to go
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 284
28 days sober. I'm finding myself very short-tempered about very minor things these past couple of days with some vague depression mixed in. No real reason for it other than the obvious PAWS. Overall, things are going pretty smoothly - I just want to get back to being on an even keel emotionally. Hopefully tonight's AA meeting will help a bit.
Hope everyone has a good weekend without temptation.
Hope everyone has a good weekend without temptation.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: California
Posts: 160
Originally Posted by Ladybug2 
Just remember that YOU are important and you are doing a really good thing for yourself by not drinking. Is your BD Sat or Sun?
Scout - That is just freakin' adorable.
Member
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 1,397
Originally Posted by AnotherPaul
Hope everyone has a good weekend without temptation.
Member
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 1,397
Originally Posted by MustLoveCoffee
Hey guys! Another pretty boring day here sober. Actually a lot of stuff has happened in the last 24 hours that any one of would have sent me into a tail spin a month ago, or at least into a bottle of vodka, but they don't seem to be bothering me. ... Life is good.
This says so much for the pros of being sober. I hope you're able to figure out what's going on with your back, MLC, and that the therapies help. And yay for discovering the other camp and advocating like that for your son. I can't tell you how many times I had to make sure my son's IEPs were being followed, and how I had to keep making sure my two with ADD didn't fall through the cracks.Hang in there and keep doing what you're doing, because it's working!!!
urban chicken
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Florida
Posts: 94
Evening friends! Hope Friday is/was treating you all well.
Checking in on day 5-nothing exciting to report. Still sober! :-)
Went looking for a project piece of furniture to fix up over the weekend. Found a really old oak chair that needs love. $20 later it was in my garage being sanded. Lo and behold, it's tiger oak! It had a really dark stain so you couldn't see the beautiful grain. She will be pretty again soon :-)
Have a safe and sober weekend everyone! I'm going to go catch up on this April group so I know some more people. :-) Take care!
roosta
Checking in on day 5-nothing exciting to report. Still sober! :-)
Went looking for a project piece of furniture to fix up over the weekend. Found a really old oak chair that needs love. $20 later it was in my garage being sanded. Lo and behold, it's tiger oak! It had a really dark stain so you couldn't see the beautiful grain. She will be pretty again soon :-)
Have a safe and sober weekend everyone! I'm going to go catch up on this April group so I know some more people. :-) Take care!
roosta
Member
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Olde England
Posts: 528
Hi All
Hope you're all doing well and congratulations to so many for staying the course and for the couple of people with slips, it's not the slip that counts its how fast you pick yourself back up and that you're facing forwards when you do.
Day 33 for me today, the last week has seen me deploy my increased energy in the shed working on my bikes, a seized bolt had "prevented" me from changing the oil in one of them for over 2 years, 10 minutes with a borrowed grinder and all done, serviced the Triumph and remapped the fuel injection, even got round to sorting out the home cinema speaker system "reprogrammed" by the kids over 4 years ago - unbelievable that I spent so long inventing reasons not to bother and getting drunk instead!
Moving house in under 3 weeks so loads more to do Day 50 is 3 days before the move so got that in my sights with 100 following on from that.
Have a great sober weekend all.
Hope you're all doing well and congratulations to so many for staying the course and for the couple of people with slips, it's not the slip that counts its how fast you pick yourself back up and that you're facing forwards when you do.
Day 33 for me today, the last week has seen me deploy my increased energy in the shed working on my bikes, a seized bolt had "prevented" me from changing the oil in one of them for over 2 years, 10 minutes with a borrowed grinder and all done, serviced the Triumph and remapped the fuel injection, even got round to sorting out the home cinema speaker system "reprogrammed" by the kids over 4 years ago - unbelievable that I spent so long inventing reasons not to bother and getting drunk instead!
Moving house in under 3 weeks so loads more to do Day 50 is 3 days before the move so got that in my sights with 100 following on from that.
Have a great sober weekend all.
Member
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Newcastle
Posts: 104
Originally Posted by AnotherPaul
28 days sober. I'm finding myself very short-tempered about very minor things these past couple of days with some vague depression mixed in. No real reason for it other than the obvious PAWS. Overall, things are going pretty smoothly - I just want to get back to being on an even keel emotionally. Hopefully tonight's AA meeting will help a bit.
Hope everyone has a good weekend without temptation.
Hope everyone has a good weekend without temptation.
Member
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 5,439
Day 26.
Yesterday the depression lifted. A few hours later, it was replaced by me being really angry over something that is really rather small.
The anger started to get the best of me. I slammed a few doors around my house and felt like I was going to really lose it. It was frustrating because I thought quitting drinking would help with that. But, I suppose it is just part of PAWS and it will go away eventually.
And I WAS able to calm down after a bit and actually come up with a SOLUTION to the problem that had made me so upset. Then I wrote down on a piece of paper:
PROBLEM: ------------------
SOLUTION: -----------------
And under that: FOCUS ON THE SOLUTION!!!
Every time I'd catch myself running the issue over in my head again and starting to get upset, I'd remind myself to focus on the solution instead, that I would take care of things so they weren't a problem. This really helped me to calm down and relax again.
I never would have sat down to come up with a real solution and plan to implement it before. I would have just been stuck drinking and thinking about how terrible the problem was.
And afterward once I calmed down, I thought, I don't want to slam the doors around my house. I just don't want to be like that anymore. I told myself next time I wouldn't let myself lash out like that. I don't want to damage my stuff. Hopefully it sticks with me when I get upset again... it's not like I ever mean to lose control of my temper. That never started happening until after the drinking had progressed a lot. I DO think just getting off the alcohol will help, but I guess I need to be aware and work on it too.
I am trying not to let myself play the victim to my problems. I am trying to learn to own up to my right and ability to fix things for myself when I need to. I don't have to stay stuck in a situation I don't like.
So, yesterday wasn't an easy one on me, but I'm still thankful for the little lessons I learned from it. I think I will apply the technique I used for more problems when I'm worried about stuff. I need to stop focusing on the problems and focus on the solutions.
Yesterday the depression lifted. A few hours later, it was replaced by me being really angry over something that is really rather small.
The anger started to get the best of me. I slammed a few doors around my house and felt like I was going to really lose it. It was frustrating because I thought quitting drinking would help with that. But, I suppose it is just part of PAWS and it will go away eventually.
And I WAS able to calm down after a bit and actually come up with a SOLUTION to the problem that had made me so upset. Then I wrote down on a piece of paper:
PROBLEM: ------------------
SOLUTION: -----------------
And under that: FOCUS ON THE SOLUTION!!!
Every time I'd catch myself running the issue over in my head again and starting to get upset, I'd remind myself to focus on the solution instead, that I would take care of things so they weren't a problem. This really helped me to calm down and relax again.
I never would have sat down to come up with a real solution and plan to implement it before. I would have just been stuck drinking and thinking about how terrible the problem was.
And afterward once I calmed down, I thought, I don't want to slam the doors around my house. I just don't want to be like that anymore. I told myself next time I wouldn't let myself lash out like that. I don't want to damage my stuff. Hopefully it sticks with me when I get upset again... it's not like I ever mean to lose control of my temper. That never started happening until after the drinking had progressed a lot. I DO think just getting off the alcohol will help, but I guess I need to be aware and work on it too.
I am trying not to let myself play the victim to my problems. I am trying to learn to own up to my right and ability to fix things for myself when I need to. I don't have to stay stuck in a situation I don't like.
So, yesterday wasn't an easy one on me, but I'm still thankful for the little lessons I learned from it. I think I will apply the technique I used for more problems when I'm worried about stuff. I need to stop focusing on the problems and focus on the solutions.
Member
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 3,313
Good morning all,
Starting another Day 9 - guess I will be saying "another" until I reach Day 19? That is the magic number right now since I have yet to make it that far. Determined to do it, though.
Thanks, MLC, for reminding me that I need to just focus on today. I get myself so worked up and anxious over upcoming events when I should just be worrying about this minute.
Conrats, Napster, on your 33 days! That is awesome and must feel great?!
AnotherPaul & Mallard, I have had a short fuse lately too. It comes and goes which is annoying. I hate having a temper around my husband and daughter. Was hoping it would go away by 28 days, though? Lol Great job to the both of you for being so close to 30 days!!
Beautiful day here in PA, taking it a minute at a time. AV is stirring a bit, but will do my best to knock it back down
Hope you all are having a nice and sober weekend.
Starting another Day 9 - guess I will be saying "another" until I reach Day 19? That is the magic number right now since I have yet to make it that far. Determined to do it, though.
Thanks, MLC, for reminding me that I need to just focus on today. I get myself so worked up and anxious over upcoming events when I should just be worrying about this minute.
Conrats, Napster, on your 33 days! That is awesome and must feel great?!
AnotherPaul & Mallard, I have had a short fuse lately too. It comes and goes which is annoying. I hate having a temper around my husband and daughter. Was hoping it would go away by 28 days, though? Lol
Great job to the both of you for being so close to 30 days!!Beautiful day here in PA, taking it a minute at a time. AV is stirring a bit, but will do my best to knock it back down
Hope you all are having a nice and sober weekend.
Member
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 141
roosta - Way to go on day 5, keep dancing! Tiger maple in a dark stain?!?! Glad you're refinding the beauty!
AnotherPaul - Closing in on a month!!!
Napster - You ride a motor bike? All this time I've thought you were a peddle biker! How did I miss that?!?! Even looking at your avatar now it seems obvious. Glad you were able to get the work done on the bike! Congrats on passing the 1 month mark.
DG0409 - That was great that you were able to calm yourself down. Another good thing that I actually read in a YA novel to do when you are in a situation is to write down just the facts. Then you can try to assess based on the facts whether a situation is good or bad. I don't physically write it down, but that's what I did with the camp for my son yesterday when I made the decision to change course. I dealt just with the facts and realized that it was a problem, and then the solution was finding a new camp. So simple, yet so stress relieving that I didn't have to be so angry and overwhelmed!
AnotherPaul & Mallard - I remember having a short fuse at Day 28 as well. I remember thinking that I should have been having my Sandra Bullock moment, and instead I was feeling overwhelmed. I think I posted about that here like a week ago. I have felt so much better this week (today is day 37?) Hang in there!
LadyBug - I'm glad I could help. I'm sure you've had a stint, maybe when you were 4 or 5 years old, that you went years without drinking. So even year marks are "another" in terms of sobriety. Don't worry about Day 19. Today is a good day to be sober!
Off to do some yard work. The sun is shining, I've already hit a meeting, swimming lessons, and the grocery store. Funny how much you can done when your morning starts at 5am sober! Trying to remember to keep it simple. Not overdo it.
AnotherPaul - Closing in on a month!!!
Napster - You ride a motor bike? All this time I've thought you were a peddle biker! How did I miss that?!?! Even looking at your avatar now it seems obvious. Glad you were able to get the work done on the bike! Congrats on passing the 1 month mark.
DG0409 - That was great that you were able to calm yourself down. Another good thing that I actually read in a YA novel to do when you are in a situation is to write down just the facts. Then you can try to assess based on the facts whether a situation is good or bad. I don't physically write it down, but that's what I did with the camp for my son yesterday when I made the decision to change course. I dealt just with the facts and realized that it was a problem, and then the solution was finding a new camp. So simple, yet so stress relieving that I didn't have to be so angry and overwhelmed!
AnotherPaul & Mallard - I remember having a short fuse at Day 28 as well. I remember thinking that I should have been having my Sandra Bullock moment, and instead I was feeling overwhelmed. I think I posted about that here like a week ago. I have felt so much better this week (today is day 37?) Hang in there!
LadyBug - I'm glad I could help. I'm sure you've had a stint, maybe when you were 4 or 5 years old, that you went years without drinking. So even year marks are "another" in terms of sobriety. Don't worry about Day 19. Today is a good day to be sober!
Off to do some yard work. The sun is shining, I've already hit a meeting, swimming lessons, and the grocery store. Funny how much you can done when your morning starts at 5am sober! Trying to remember to keep it simple. Not overdo it.
capra laeviculus
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: German Village, OH
Posts: 3,427
Greetings to everyone from Canandaigua, NY, at the top of one of the finger lakes! It's beautiful here
Went to a great meeting last night and another great one this morning. Tomorrow we'll hit the road again to complete our trip to Boston.
It's good to get away from my usual responsibilities for a bit. For the next week I only have two things on my plate: sobriety and work... and the work part is just presentations and meetings, so it's low stress
Went to a great meeting last night and another great one this morning. Tomorrow we'll hit the road again to complete our trip to Boston.
It's good to get away from my usual responsibilities for a bit. For the next week I only have two things on my plate: sobriety and work... and the work part is just presentations and meetings, so it's low stress
Member
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Olde England
Posts: 528
Originally Posted by MustLoveCoffee
Napster - You ride a motor bike? All this time I've thought you were a peddle biker! How did I miss that?!?! Even looking at your avatar now it seems obvious. Glad you were able to get the work done on the bike! Congrats on passing the 1 month mark.
not bad for a 15 year old bike even if I do say so myself
Member
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: The South Pacific
Posts: 306
Head pounding fantastically.
It would stand to my luck (don't believe that luck of the Irish crap, I'm convinced we have the WORST luck)...that it would happen on wife's weekend.
Tried to sit at my desk and draw...not happening. Blue Dog is zany because wife is home, and thinks he needs to be at the beach, running, or doing anything but being rational and calm.
Headache is quite impressive really. Not had one like this since the days of drinking.
Damned if I couldn't go for one about now...but...will not. Turning phone/tablet off for a bit. Too much news, reaction from the family for me to take at the moment. Need quiet. Want to spend time with my pencils today, and won't be when I can't even seem to see straight...
It would stand to my luck (don't believe that luck of the Irish crap, I'm convinced we have the WORST luck)...that it would happen on wife's weekend.
Tried to sit at my desk and draw...not happening. Blue Dog is zany because wife is home, and thinks he needs to be at the beach, running, or doing anything but being rational and calm.
Headache is quite impressive really. Not had one like this since the days of drinking.
Damned if I couldn't go for one about now...but...will not. Turning phone/tablet off for a bit. Too much news, reaction from the family for me to take at the moment. Need quiet. Want to spend time with my pencils today, and won't be when I can't even seem to see straight...
Member
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Northeast, US
Posts: 2,073
Napster I want a GS650 and to ride it straight to Costa Rica, and live out of a tent. Just so you know. A nice used one might only cost $5000. But I have no bike experience(yet). I was fine with a 250cc Kawasaki dirt bike when I was a kid.
Goat, you can drive 5 hours east if you want to have root beer with me.
I had a rough day. If I was going to drink, it would have been easy to do it today. I wrote a novel sized post about my life today. I don't know if anyone would be interested in reading it. I want to get this out. I need people who won't judge. I'm not throwing a pity party for myself, I want to get out of this life that I have lived and it is important to know how I got here. I never had a chance to work really, and I have relied on an abusive father, and am ashamed to admit I am on Public Assistance.
Goat, you can drive 5 hours east if you want to have root beer with me
. I had a rough day. If I was going to drink, it would have been easy to do it today. I wrote a novel sized post about my life today. I don't know if anyone would be interested in reading it. I want to get this out. I need people who won't judge. I'm not throwing a pity party for myself, I want to get out of this life that I have lived and it is important to know how I got here. I never had a chance to work really, and I have relied on an abusive father, and am ashamed to admit I am on Public Assistance.
Currently Active Users Viewing this Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
