Class Of November 2013 Part 3
Have a wonderful trip Rick ... you've earned it! I'm in BC too and it's supposed to hit -22c here tonight brrrrr. Wish I was off to Cuba! I'll settle for my toasty wood stove and cuddling up to my dogs and cats and waking up for the 13th morning in a row without a hangover! Ya know this cold weather used to be the perfect excuse for a hot rum LOL! I'm so glad I can find that funny (ludicrous actually) tonight.
3 weeks today. Think I'll be alright over Christmas tbh, I've fancied a beer once or twice since I quit and I get genuinely worried for my health/worried that I'll overdo it and end up like I was the night I signed up again to here (which was agony btw).
Going well anyway. Good luck everyone for today.
Going well anyway. Good luck everyone for today.
Member
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Kokstad KZN
Posts: 9
day 4 is very had its Friday and i don't know how to handle myself but what i have now learned about myself is that i don't really drink everyday the problem is if and when i drink i cannot stop i carry on through out the week then the month then i loose track of time until something happens so if i stay away from the 1st then i will go far hi everyone
Guest
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Ashburn, VA
Posts: 30,196
Rick, have fun savoring your Cuban cigar! I guess being Canadian you take such luxuries for granted, but we in the States are forbidden from trading with Cuba. Apparently JFK made sure he ordered a huge stash of cigars for himself before he signed the trade embargo!
Guest
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Ashburn, VA
Posts: 30,196
I went grocery shopping with my granddaughter yesterday. Her favorite aisle in the store is the beer and wine aisle, because it's cozily lit with dark wood paneling and plants. I told her, no--Grandma doesn't want to buy anything down there!
Yesterday morning I was at a meeting in the upstairs food court of another grocery store. I looked down over the meat aisle and saw one of their fifty strategically-placed wine displays. It has always ticked me off that they put wine in my face all over the store. This time I noticed that they even had it displayed over top of the frozen pizza!
Instead of being mad, though, i just rolled my eyes a little. I think that's a good sign--alcohol is beginning to exert less of an emotional grip on me. I hope I'm entering the phase where when I see it, I just say, "Whatever."
Yesterday morning I was at a meeting in the upstairs food court of another grocery store. I looked down over the meat aisle and saw one of their fifty strategically-placed wine displays. It has always ticked me off that they put wine in my face all over the store. This time I noticed that they even had it displayed over top of the frozen pizza!
Instead of being mad, though, i just rolled my eyes a little. I think that's a good sign--alcohol is beginning to exert less of an emotional grip on me. I hope I'm entering the phase where when I see it, I just say, "Whatever."
Hi everyone. I have been appreciating the many messages and finally came up with something to say. I want to share the stingy athlete mental technique I have been using.
(1) Stingy: drinking is expensive, especially when you have developed expensive tastes. I am too stingy to pay all that!
(2) Athlete: exercise regulates mood far better than alcohol, especially if you have tendencies to anxiety and depression. And at my age (mid-50s) it is goofy to try to progress as an athlete while drinking.
Note: However, I used to rationalize "I'm healthy from exercise so drinking is not a problem."
Anyway, I just wanted to share the "stingy athlete" technique which is working for me as a AV-stopper. Thanks again for the many messages.
(1) Stingy: drinking is expensive, especially when you have developed expensive tastes. I am too stingy to pay all that!
(2) Athlete: exercise regulates mood far better than alcohol, especially if you have tendencies to anxiety and depression. And at my age (mid-50s) it is goofy to try to progress as an athlete while drinking.
Note: However, I used to rationalize "I'm healthy from exercise so drinking is not a problem."
Anyway, I just wanted to share the "stingy athlete" technique which is working for me as a AV-stopper. Thanks again for the many messages.
9:am here in MA, USA. Thankful for just over a month (36 days) of sobriety and hoping for another 24 hours. I think I'm struggling with "recovery." Reading the BB but getting hung up by some of the concepts. AA meetings help but again, not getting the "bring a shovel to do all the work" talk. Missing my outpatient detox group (my insurance company "graduated" me) and generally feeling a little pissy. Normal feeling I guess from what I read in the threads. GL all.
I am awaiting my new copy of the BB and some other books on addiction to come in the mail.... Hopefully today! I am iced in from the big storm and while I do have work to do, I had to cancel a lot of my plans.
9:am here in MA, USA. Thankful for just over a month (36 days) of sobriety and hoping for another 24 hours. I think I'm struggling with "recovery." Reading the BB but getting hung up by some of the concepts. AA meetings help but again, not getting the "bring a shovel to do all the work" talk. Missing my outpatient detox group (my insurance company "graduated" me) and generally feeling a little pissy. Normal feeling I guess from what I read in the threads. GL all.
I understand exactly what you mean about getting hung about some of the concepts ... I struggle with a lot of them as well, and I tripped over some of those steps in the past. I'm only on day 14, so I haven't honestly given much thought to how I will deal with all that this time, but I know that my mentality is different this time around, and maybe when I get to working through the steps, that part of it may be different this time too. Not sure as I am not quite there yet. As an agnostic, I know I struggle with the higher power issue ... right now my higher power is SR . And the moral inventory scares me ... I'm not sure I'm ready to turn a microscope onto my life, especially this early in recovery. I guess I'll find out as I go along, but I know that THIS time, those things will NOT be my excuse to drink. I will take what I need, what I want ... and leave the rest.
I need all the help I can get:
WFS “New Life” Acceptance Program
1. I have a life-threatening problem that once had me.
2. I now take charge of my life and my disease. I accept the responsibility.
3. Negative thoughts destroy only myself.
4. My first conscious sober act must be to remove negativity from my life.
5. Happiness is a habit I will develop.
6. Happiness is created, not waited for.
7. Problems bother me only to the degree I permit them to.
8. I now better understand my problems and do not permit problems to overwhelm me.
9. I am what I think.
I am a capable, competent, caring, compassionate woman.
10. Life can be ordinary or it can be great.
11. Greatness is mine by a conscious effort.
12. Love can change the course of my world.
13. Caring becomes all important.
(From WFS
The fundamental object of life is emotional and spiritual growth.
Daily I put my life into a proper order, knowing which are the priorities.
The past is gone forever.
No longer will I be victimized by the past. I am a new person.
All love given returns.
I will learn to know that others love me.
Enthusiasm is my daily exercise.
I treasure all moments of my new life
I am a competent woman and have much to give life.
This is what I am and I shall know it always.
I am responsible for myself and for my actions.
I am in charge of my mind, my thoughts, and my life.
To make the Program effective for you, arise each morning fifteen minutes earlier than usual and go over the Thirteen Affirmations. Then begin to think about each one by itself. Take one Statement and use it consciously all day. At the end of the day review the use of it and what effects it had that day for you and your actions.
(c) 1976, 1987, 1993, 2011
The last time(s) I tried to quit, I thought it was AA or nothing. If I couldn't get sober using AA, then it was hopeless (sooooo I may as well drink LOL) I am honestly laughing out loud as I re-read that line ... that was definitely the AV roaring in my head! Discovering this forum has been the best thing that could have happened. I realize that there are other options, that people use a variety and a mix of methods to stay sober, that there is not a one-size-fits-all road to sobriety. It gives me strength and hope and knowledge that I CAN do this, that I CAN stay sober ... if I exercise all my options and look at every resource. I thank each and every member of SR for that.
I'm not in AA but perhaps the bring a shovel quote is related to one of my favourite maxims
God can move mountains, but sometimes He requires we bring a shovel....
have a good weekend everyone
D
God can move mountains, but sometimes He requires we bring a shovel....
have a good weekend everyone
D
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