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Originally Posted by Kris47
(Post 4758994)
Today as I celebrate Independence day it reminds me to be Humble and Grateful. We here, can also celebrate our sobriety! We all have much to be thankful for. Each day is a blessing. Have a wonderful weekend! |
Well everyone, I have done it. I have gone a whole 6 months completely sober! I'm so proud of myself I never thought it would last or be fun to abstain from alcohol for such a long period of time but I managed it fairly well without much suffering. A few moody bumps along the road mostly from stress of co-workers but since I've been on vacation I've felt so much more relaxed and focused on myself. I've been studying inexorably the last few weeks for the GRE I'm taking in the fall so I can go to Graduate school. There's a lot that I need to think about moving forward now that I've reached this important milestone. I would like to thank everyone on here that posted every week and shared their personal struggles with all of us. I think all of us moving forward helped a lot of us stay sober for such a long period of time. Some others have unfortunately relapsed but I don't think that's a sign of failure, it's a sign that we are all human beings and we are complicated. Things won't always go A to B, sometimes we go A little b, big E, little f, big D, little c, and finally big B to get to our final goal. Where ever I go from here I take all these learning experiences and shared feelings from you all and try to be the best person I can be. I hope everyone has a great weekend, please be safe and don't forget to have fun! |
:You_Rock_ Congratulations SCF!!:a122: |
Relish the rest of your vacation Adee and just think you're doing it sober. Sweet! |
Congrats adee and SCF and anyone else celebrating a milestone today - and happy 4th to all my American friends :) Arctic - most of my returns to drinking were fantastic too - but it never stays that way. I really hope you can work out what you need to do to be both sober, and happy about it. we've all got your back :) D |
Poetry In Motion Roses are red And, Life sure ain't stinkin' Cuz my Brain is doin' The Thinkin', not Drinkin' Burma Shave 5 months - 3 weeks today. No problems. |
Oh guys. Oh my, oh my, oh my. Did I ever end up PAYING for that wine last night. When I posted earlier I had a "slight headache" HA! That escalated. It got so bad. 1. At my kids' naptime instead of going out and working with my horse like I planned, I was in bed with an icepack. 2. At the parade I was dehydrated and crabby. 3. At the picnic, I was in so much pain, I was unsocial and the grill smoke was making me so sick, I had no fun, and it could've been a GREAT time. 4. I made it into work for what I thought would be an easy 4 hour shift, but couldn't function because my headache was making me hot and nauseous. I had to go home sick after 45 minutes/ 6. Had to take RX pain meds on top of Ibuprofen and caffeine and proceeded to have a low level panic attack, had to take a bath and talk myself down. 7. Was half out of it at the fireworks and had anxiety. And didn't even like the way the big booms made my chest feel, much less my head. My wine last night essentially ruined my 4th and I am so pissed at myself. MOVING ON now. -_- |
Good Going! SCF, You're doing yourself Proud. Congratulations! 6 months is awesome. Keep it up! |
SCF, 6 months, fantastic! Arctic, just think next year the 4th of July you'll be celebrating a one year birthday, but you got to stick with the plan of staying sober to be able to celebrate it! We're all here to help and support any way we can... Reading Arctic's post gave me a bit of a chuckle, not that slipping is in any way humorous, but that, why is it we can never remember how terrible we feel the morning after lol That AV is pretty cunning, convinces us it's okay to have one, and makes sure we don't remember what we'll feel like the next day! That's how it worked for me on my many slips..... but sooner or later the sober voice gets stronger, and the AV fades into the back recesses of our minds.... My friends, let's gather round our classmates who are struggling and help them to overcome..... :grouphug: |
Congratulations on 6 months SCF!!! Thank you for sharing your journey with us, the combined efforts to beat this demon strengthens us all. Enjoy your long weekend! |
AV - the wild beast! We’ve all seen the signs at nature reserves, don’t feed the bears. The signs are posted not to discourage people from showing compassion to wildlife; it’s to prevent wildlife from becoming dependent on humans for survival. Think of your AV as a wild bear, hungry, ferocious and hard to ignore if it’s in the same room as you. Unknowingly, we’ve fed the bear for a long time and now we’ve cut it off. Yes, we’ve gotten through the worst of physical dependence, but the bear will never go away; it’s just hibernating. Throw one scrap its way and the beast comes out of its cave looking for more. That is when it poses the greatest threat to our existence; it’s HUNGRY and will do anything for its survival. We will have to live the remainder of our days with this bear (AV); how we deal with it determines the serenity of our lives. Would you purposely toss a sandwich at the entrance of a hibernating bear’s cave? Don’t feed the AV; one drink is all it takes to awaken the beast! |
WELL SAID, Odelle! Mesa Man, Congrats to you on seeing no problems and continuing on! You're making milestones. |
What a great analogy, Odelle. Thank you. Arctic, Hugs, we are here for you. |
Great post Odelle! We all need to remind ourselves that our beast is not gone, just in hibernation, ready to awaken at a moment's notice! The start of a busy week for me, a couple of jobs to finish up and then ready to get started on a couple of new ones. I think right now being busy is the best thing for me, it was when I had nothing to do that I drank the most! |
Thank you for that post, Odelle - great analogy. Good morning, class. Back to reality and work today. I'm happy to be home - that was a lot of traveling. And my dogs are reallllly happy I'm home. I'm not sure they are going to allow me to leave the house to go to work. :) Have a great day everyone. |
Today’s the last day of my vacation and I’m already in need of a vacation! Instead of going to San Diego last Sunday as planned, I bought a puppy! She’s a cute German Shepherd, 9 weeks, but what a handful. I think I’m too old for the all-night puppy potty runs. My son is assisting me in assembling a dog run and we will finish today, that should bring back some sanity, at least she can spend some time outdoors unattended and maybe the cats can come out of hiding. I know it will take several months before a routine is in place, but it seems like an eternity right now. So, needless to say, I found a way to fill my dead time. Stay safe and sober everyone and have a great week. |
It sounds as if we all have things keeping us busy these days. A puppy, have lots of fun. lol. Distraction is a best friend. |
Odelle, a puppy! So much fun, and so many "what was I thinking" moments all rolled into one fuzzball! I hope the settling in period goes well - I'm a little jealous and a little glad it's not me, having been through puppy training a few times. :) Well, today I turned 43. It was kind of an odd day. Last night I was up a lot of the night with the 7 year old with growing pains in her legs and today was day two of the return to work which is usually worse than day one (and was). So I was tired and a little down. I missed my mom a lot today and thought a lot about the last time I saw her which is not at all a good memory. I wasn't throwing a pity party or even feeling particularly sorry for myself. I woke up feeling grateful for this life and this sobriety, but just felt down. I finally just gave myself permission to feel sad on my birthday because sad days happen, even on birthdays. I feel like I'm starting to trust my feelings a bit more - not look at everything as suspicious AV ********. I was just sad, and I let myself be sad and I didn't consider drinking, I just lived my life one more day and tomorrow will be different and maybe even better. So it was kind of a good, sad day. After dinner I got to choose the movie to watch with the kids (birthday girl and all) and so I chose The Natural which is still one of my favorite movies. The 13 year old thought it was boring because everyone was "so old" but the younger girls really enjoyed it. This line struck me - Glenn Close says it to Robert Redford as he's layed up in the hospital: I believe we have two lives; the life we learn with and the life we live with after that. I'm not sure if that's true, but I really do like it. I like the idea that I have this second life now - the life I create out of the ruins of the life I learned with. I think this can be a really good life, is already a really good life. I'm grateful for both. |
I can really identify with your post this morning Adee. I really like the quote and I really relate with learning to accept feelings. I've ignored my feelings most of my life. I really kind of suppressed them through school. Then as soon as I turned 21 I began drinking and suppressed them with alcohol. It's a tough process for me not just learning to tolerate them but to actually embrace it and live with how I feel and what my body is telling me. |
Morning classmates! Odelle - I remember the days and nights spent with our dog when we got him as a puppy! Taking him outside at all hours so he could learn to do his "business" outside, the whining because he was lonely and scared, but also the curling up beside me, his head in my lap, sleeping peacefully....I wouldn't change a single thing about it!! adee - Belated Happy Birthday!! Nice to hear you shared a sober one with your kids! I have lost both my parents and also have my sad days when thinking/remembering about them. My thoughts now go to wishing they could have seen the sober man they raised but lost his way for a while. That quote from the movie reminded me of a similar one "We all get two lives, the second one begins when we realize we only get one" Kiya - Good to see you back! Sometimes it hard to accept us for who we are with all our shortcomings, but once we can make peace with ourselves, we can finally move forward without a "crutch" Hoping all my classmates are having a good week! :You_Rock_ CONGRATS ON 6 MONTHS MARY!! :You_Rock_ |
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