wooohoo, the "first 90 days" like serene likes to say are in the bag! also would like to take this second 90 to focus more on healthy life in addition to straight up abstinence. stopped eating sweets during the week. planning to eat whatevertheheck I want this weekend, but will also be paddling and hiking. planning to lose some weight.

have a good night!

Congrats wehav :)

D

Awesome wehav!!! Congratulations on 90 days!!! :nyu

I think you will enjoy the healthy lifestyle wehav. One of the benefits is that you feel so much better!!! More energy, better brain power... I really suffer now when I eat anything other than healthy food. I love it. :)

Hope you have a great weekend!!

Venus xx

Congrats WeHave!!!! Woot Woot.
"Second 90" is going to be amazing! Just in time for summer too!

Great idea on no sweets during the weekday. I think that structure will help me too!

thanks, venus and serene!

yeah venus, I've been there before, was a total gym rat for a while. that kind of got obsessive though. so now i'm just trying to eat better and move more. glad you are doing so well!

serene, the sweets regimen has only been two weeks, but it seems to be doing me some good. i'm craving them less, that's good.

going camping for the next 3 nights, going to eat whatever I like for the holiday. also paddling and maybe biking, so I should still be on track. take care, everyone!!!!!

Ok, I'm coming clean.

My 'no soda' thing is going well. Only it's not soda...it's cigarettes. I didn't want to post it on a public internet forum, until I realized that was pretty silly as I post about alcoholism! Oh, how my mind still warps my reality.

When I quit alcohol, I swapped my trigger routine to drink in the evening to cigarettes. This was an intentional plan. Now I'm ready to break the habit side.

Anyway, on day 2. No alcohol demons. Some cravings for cigarettes (not booze). Feels odd for my routine to be off. I'll keep posting.

Soda....watch out! you're on my list!

Venus -

Welcome back! Sounds like a terrible virus. Glad you're feeling better!

Tornadoes were awful too. Is everyone ok?

serene,i'm cornfused... :-) so is your soda addiction code for smoking, or did I miss it? i'm so dense...

we all have our vices. I smoked as a teen because all the people around me smoked. well all the teens, anyway. my mom was the only smoker in our family. I realized how dumb it was around 20 and quit. i'd get some robo-cravings every few months, but nothing for many years now. until I quit alcohol (for a while) last may. I got all kinds of cravings for about a month. I hear it's tougher than alcohol to quit, but very gratifying when you do. YOU CAN DO IT!!!

Serene, I'm still smoking cigarettes too... so silly. I have a hard quit date of mid-July, but would like to do it sooner.

Anyway, I'll be offline for a few days everyone, have a great weekend :)

Oh oops!! Forgot!

Congratulations, Wehav!!!!!!!!!!

:You_Rock_

I swapped smoking for e-cigarettes. I've decided it's stupid and I'm going to stop...but it's not that easy!

Yup, 'soda' was code for cigarettes...Sorry to confuse folks! Soda is on my list of things to eliminate/cut down - but it can wait.

At the time, I truly used the code word because I was concerned of public posting about it. After thinking about it tho, it doesn't make sense, so I believe that type of thinking is the 'AV of smoking' at work :)

Thanks for the support!

Congrats EZ on making the swap. It all helps!

Last night was the worst night so far in terms of cravings. I was happy this morning to wake up and have it be day light, knowing that I got through another day. One foot in front of the other.

Hey all -

This quitting smoking thing has me re-connected with initial stages of remembering my motivations for quitting alcohol too. It really helped me to re-connect with those stopping alcohol motivations & why I knew that I needed to quit.

SO, going into the holiday weekend, curious what motivated you to quit & what keeps you sober?

Mine is: I have wonderful career opportunity gifted to me that I was throwing away. I was also feeling physical affects (brain fog, pain in side) and I was scared that I was going to die if I continued to drink. Excited to be making progress in both areas!

Serene, good conversation! I had the same motivations as you. I have a job I love in a very competitive field. Somehow I hadn't been caught yet, but I felt like a fraud with all these people thinking I was doing so well. Yes I too was having some abdominal pain, and really didn't enjoy food anymore. I'm such a foodie but my appetite was unpredictable, and I was prone to canker sores. Don't miss the horrible anxiety every waking morning one bit either. Still have some but keep reminding myself that its nothing compared to before.

Hmm...no holiday weekend for me...or for us Aussies I should say.

I had no job, I couldn't cope with life at all, and I was suicidal. No family, no hope, no reason to keep going. My only motivation for quitting was Venus. Because I was at the point of (mentally) looking for a new home for her... when those thoughts became prevalent, I knew I was toast. I knew this disease had taken hold and I was almost done.

But I also know how strong I am, so I thought I would give it one last shot. Just in cast there was SOME chance I could find the light this time...

And as you all pretty much know, I have. There is a bright future ahead for all of us now. I don't want to go back Serene; that keeps me motivated to keep trudging forward, no matter what.

Love Venus xx

Like Venus I had nowhere left to run - it was either stop the self destruction or die.
I too gave it one last shot - and it paid off.

I got the real me back.
I'd truly forgotten how awesome I was :05: lol.

D

I totally agree Dee ~ you ARE awesome!

V xx

:lmao I wasn't fishing for compliments - but thanks :)

D

Hi guys, glad your well, im in my pit of despair after yet another ten day binge, so day one again, ive posted the whole sorry story on the class of may thread in the newcomer section, just really angry at myself, seem to press the self destruct button just when things seem to be getting better for me, i know im still relatively young to be wanting to stop and admitting im an alcoholic but its getting more and more desperate and degrading with every slip. Drinking tins of white strong cider on the bus was not something i wanted to be but that was me this week on way to a course id been booked on. Then did a no show for three days of it, Worried about the outcome of that now. WHY do i do it! Know its the comedown and paranoia making me worry more but its still unbearable.

Where will it all end? I don't know but i know my body and brain cant cope with much more self harm. So a beautiful day today on a bank holiday weekend when i should be out with my kids somewhere and im inside scared in case i have to speak to anyone, ive arranged to see kids this Monday so hopefully il feel better by then. The strange part about it for me is that i can last a week or two and win the battle but then it sneaks up on me.

Just wanted to post really to let you all know that youre doing great and definitely doing the right thing in staying sober, just hope and prey i can find it in me to do the same.

Sorry for being so downbeat but im really suffering today- most of you know how happy i can get when im off it just hope i find that peace again soon. Love to you all x

Hi 1step -

You're posts are always welcome, no matter how you're feeling! Sorry you're feeling so down tho.

I quit many many times but struggled to not pick up again I & I got really down on myself. Things shifted for me when I started to examine each slip as a learning experience and really try to figure out what I should do differently this time. Subtle reframe, but for me it caused a huge shift in attitude to one of 'I can do this'.

Going forward, what are you going to do different when HALT emotions & the AV gang up to keep you out of the pub? Similarly, what is it about the pub (besides alcohol) that is satiating as there may be other substitutes. (From your posts, it seems like most of the relapses start with walking into a pub)

Change is hard. You can do this!