congrats on 5 months Jenny :)

D

Congrats Jennie!!:c011:

Hi guys, just letting you know I'm alive. I'm in another group and trying hard. Changing around what I've done wrong, and trying to learn from my mistakes. I'm ok though.

Jenny 5 months is amazing.

Biker Sorry about the loss of the puppy. :( I have seen several friends really torn up recently over the loss their animal buddies. The poor guy upstairs lost 2 pups this year. He found them both on a beach about 10 years ago. One was one of those super howling dogs. If you howled she would start to go crazy. Anyway, sorry man.

Onward and upward. Planning a trip to florida with sober friend, she's picking up the bill for Disney(all park passes, meal plan, air, nice hotel) and then I am trying to get us to a remote beach.

Thanks kids. Posting daily in a later quit date group :).

Biker, sorry for your loss. Hang in there.

And way to go on 5 months, Jennie! Awesome.

Well, I did it... I succumbed to temptation... I bought a baguette. I think I have mentioned they are my weakness and stress relief. Some eat chocolate I devour baguettes. Been a long hot week, the building elevator is causing trouble, I am nervous about going out of town for the long weekend because of it and I had a counselor session today that was quite illuminating and a bit emotional for me.

Thus I needed a baguette. And now I have munched on it so much, I do not want the dinner I bought. Sigh....

Going to go visit friends for the long weekend here as I mentioned. Will be good to get out for a bit.

Woo football season!

Just watched my team, Clemson, beat Georgia! I think we're in for a good season :)

I've been on a rocky road lately, class. If I were gonna drink, it would've been yesterday. I didn't though. I guess these struggles are just inevitable along the way. My coping mechanism is isolation, withdrawing, obsessing, anger, abandonment of my routine, and a messed up sleep cycle. It's not good at all. But it's not going to change for me overnight. At least, I finally feel like I am the "higher observer" and not the "lizard brain" anymore. I think that is the victory for me.

I'm glad to see you back Jennie. Coming back to a place like SR is a good move...it shines a light on those monsters under the bed, or in our head, as the case may be :)

D

Thanks Dee. So true.

First day of actual work at the women's shelter tomorrow. Will be volunteering for three days this week to do some admin work for them.

Husband and I looked at some houses for sale today. We are thinking of selling our house and moving to a different area. Will involve some cleaning up and repairing some things first. We are ready to leave this subdivision and get more privacy.

He got a raise recently. That's going to be nice to pay off some debt.

I'm feeling rotten lately. Wondering what the hell is wrong. Hasn't been this bad since very early sobriety. Got to get my head on straight again. I was feeling dizzy and lost my balance today. I think it's PAWS.

Sent from my iPhone using SoberRecovery

Well plodding along. Today is 7 weeks no weed for me and 149 days no alcohol. Also day 5 no caffeine.

So, I feel like I've got the addiction aspect of my life where I want it to be.

Some of the other aspects of my life that addiction took a huge toll on, I am still working on.

I guess I'm feeling a bit 'meh'. Don't know if it's a side effect of quitting the caffeine or what. It might be a combination of things. I was sick for a week a little bit ago, and lying around in bed all day was depressing and kept me from my recovery behaviors and I have mostly gotten back on it, but maybe not entirely. I feel like I have too much to do at work and that stresses me out and makes me not want to do anything, making a vicious cycle. While I have eliminated all of the drinkers and pot-smokers from my life except my bf, I haven't really added anybody so I really have no friends at this point. I really don't mind time alone, I am a huge introvert, but I suspect that too much of it just isn't good for me.

Bf still smokes weed and seems very focused on short-term things to feel good like getting high and hanging out with friends where as I am really focused on long-term things to benefit my life like quitting addictions and taking care of chores around the house. I am frustrated immensely by the dynamic between us and know I'll have to do something to change things, but dreading the whole thing.

On the positive side of things, my finances are starting to look better. It is such a good feeling to get a paycheck and put the whole thing in my bank account rather than getting hundreds of dollars cash back to go blow on weed. And then draining my account buying alcohol, cigarettes and coffee.

I've noticed my skin looks a lot better. The little wrinkles under my eyes that were getting worse have all but disappeared. I've practically forgotten what some of the miserable things of drinking were like- the hangovers, the withdrawal and that feeling of needing a drink that was coming earlier and earlier each day.

Even many of the effects of quitting have evened out and gotten better. No more brain fog, my emotions are much more stable, I can remember things much better now, etc.

So, I DO have much to be thankful for. As far as my feeling a bit blah for the day, I guess it's time to make my to-do list for the day and get on with getting back to my recovery behaviors. I always feel better when I've gotten things done.

Goat- This one is for you. http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...ml#post4160768

2nd day at the women's shelter. Really enjoying being there so far. I talked with the program director some after I finished up today. We chatted about her background in teaching before leaving academia and coming to the nonprofit agency. She really is happier at the nonprofit because she is leaving behind semester long sessions and seeing the same group of people over and over. She likes that she goes into a school, gives her presentation, and is then out of there... doesn't have to see the same people over and over, because when there's a situation where there are troublesome students, it can be a pain. And that's understandable.

I asked her a whole bunch of questions :) Picked her brain. I am still on the fence about grad school. Leaning towards it, but still not ready to go for it just yet.

She did mention that one of the reasons she left is because now, the culture is changing drastically because the classrooms are going towards online, distance learning. She taught some of those types of courses and didn't like it because she felt it was doing a disservice to students... to take them out of the physical classroom and that whole experience. I would have to agree there, that the quality is probably going to suffer, just by nature of it being online. But, I can't see that all universities and colleges will go that route. Personally, I wouldn't mind teaching online. At least, that's what I think now, having never taught... so I really can't say. I might feel very different about it once I'm actually having to do it.

Anyway... looking forward to interacting more with her and the others there. And getting more involved with different tasks. I am thinking of doing transportation and pick-ups, drop-offs of clients as well as training for crisis calls.

Third day at the women's shelter :) Loving it! I spent some time helping them with some technology today... twitter, facebook, linking the two, and then finding sources for some good articles for them to share on both. Met a few more ladies today.

Why is it that people serve horrible coffee?? Lol. Their coffee was like hot water with brown food coloring... seriously, was awful.

Getting ready for a 5K tomorrow in support of National Recovery Month... bright and early @ 7:30, lunch provided after at the fair, along with live music.

I'm planning to try out a new church Sunday, the Unitarian Universalist congregation. They have a newcomer program, so I'm trying to get in touch with someone there to find out when exactly I need to show up for that.

Hope everyone's doing ok.

5 months today! Could not have done it with out my classmates!

:ring

Drake, major congrats!!!! Great job :)

Ok, turns out the 5K is NEXT Saturday. My Saturday is now free to do whatever. Might visit my grandfather, it's his 81st birthday today!

congrats Drake :)

have a good weekend everyone - glad your volunteering is going well Jennie :)

D

5 months sober. Not a bad start. Hope all are well and at peace this weekend.

congrats to you too Paul :)

D