Welcome Northof49.:grouphug:

Hi Kris and Kiya (and everyone else here) So cool that you share the same sobriety date! Congratulations on the 5 months of sobriety!

Welcome Neighbor!

Well kind of. And thanks!

Day 161. Today is my birthday. 30 years old now. Kept it pretty low key and enjoyed it very much. I'm lucky to have such a great father to celebrate both my bday and father's day with. I hope everyone had a great weekend and I wish everyone a great week! Thank you.

Many Happy Returns SCF - I hope you had a wonderful day and have a wonderful year ahead :a122:

D

Happy Birthday SCF! What a wonderful present in sobriety you give yourself this year.

Congrats on 5 months Kiya!

Congrats to all those sober today!

Happy Birthday SCF!

Happy 30th SCF! What a treat, celebrating 5+ months of sobriety, your 30th Bday and Father's Day all at once. Wishing you many more sober birthdays!

Happy Birthday SCF! What a wonderful milestone to pass sober!

Welcome Northof49!

Happy Sober Birthday SCF!!!

ok...seriously? Someone just posted a picture of their wine milkshake on my FB feed.

NOTHING about that sounds good to me. Nothing!

Except the ice cream now that I think about it..... darn it, now I need a root beer float. lol :)

I just had to share. Good grief I'm glad I got off that merry go round.

Root beer float?? Wow, brings back memories of my boyhood days, A&W dinner topped off with a root beer float!! Thanks adee, I now have a new "craving" for the day lol

It's been a while since I posted. I have been doing really well. Still occasionally crave a beer on a Friday when it has been a long week at work, but I have taken to drinking NA beer then. I know some people don't like to do that, but for me it seems to be a placebo effect. It is like the taste just makes me think, ah, I'm having a relaxing beer. Things are still weird with my husband though. I don't know if it is just too many changes or what. I have a new job, moving, I stopped drinking, trying to get our relationship back. I feel like when his love shut off the last time I drank in January, it has never really turned back on. He has always snapped at me when he was frustrated & now it seems like I'm just tired of it. So, when I try to talk to him about it, I'm just making him feel bad and he gets angrier saying "I guess I just can't say anything". He knows he gets it from his Dad & his upbringing & he hates it too, but I don't think he even realizes he is doing it to me. I guess he can't stop getting frustrated easily any more than I can stop being sensitive & crying easily. At these times is when I think, "this is one of the reasons I drank". But I know now it was not a good escape. He is just such a jerk sometimes when I forget something or make a mistake. Like he never makes mistakes or forgets anything. I'm going to a counselor occasionally & I guess I need to go back. It does help when I go. I'm glad I don't really want a drink anymore when this happens, but I wish we could just be happy. He always said my drinking was all we fought about, well obviously that wasn't true as I haven't had a drink since January 17th, 151 days or 5 Months, depending how you want to count it.

Startingnew2, Congratulations on 5 months. That is a huge!!!! Sorry to hear about the situation with your husband. As he seems to acknowledge that he "snaps" at you, is he willing to go to counseling to find better ways of communicating with you? It might also help him work through the feelings, frustration, etc. he had when you were still drinking. (JMHO)

(((Startingnew2)))

Life still happens when we give up the bottle. The only difference is we can no longer blame everything on it. I hope counseling helps you and that your husband will consider going with you. Just remember you're doing really good without alcohol and better days are ahead.

Congrats on 5 months!!!

Thanks Marymacsmith and Kris47. This is such an encouraging place. I need to make sure I get on here more regularly. Knowing everyone is going through a lot of the same things is so helpful and all of your encouraging words are amazing. Stay strong everyone.

Congrats New2 on 5 months, a great achievement!! Someday I'll learn how to post emoticons from my phone, not just my laptop or tablet lol but a big "high five" for you!!

Hi all, is everyone like me here, prefer not to talk and just listen? lol I have been posting a bit on the year and under thread and enjoy reading what everyone has to say over there, but this is "our month" and we are all around the same time in sobriety.

I was at my AA meeting last night and got some depressing news. Our group celebrates "birthdays" at the open meeting, second meeting of every month, and last Tuesday a member celebrated his one year!! But, found out last night that he relapsed over the weekend.... it made me sad to hear that.... after all the hard work of staying sober for a whole year, how can the addiction be so powerful to throw that sacrifice out the window? I woke up this morning with renewed determination not to drink.

I had my last drink the evening of Jan 6, 2014.....the morning of Jan 7th, I vowed to myself, and my wife, that I would never drink again.... Now even more, I am asking God to give me the strength to stay sober.....

So classmates, let's all have a great day keeping in mind it's one day at a time.....

Thanks North for your thoughtful and uplifting post.

It is one day at a time. Sometimes it takes a few attempts to get it right. If we are lucky, we get the chance to live the rest of our life in sobriety. It is so important to avail ourselves of the tools to continue each day sober. Right now, I am the longest sober again after several attempts and 12 years of staying sober before. We must always remember Do not pick up that first drink. We'll never know if we can get our life back if we do.

Congrats January on being sober today.

Just wanted to introduce myself here.

I'm just a couple of days past 5 months and struggling a lot at the moment - it is good to meet people with the same length of sobriety as myself and to share our advice and experiences.

And SCF, I'm so glad you had a nice birthday. This pleases me immensely, as I am a similar age to you, and turn 30 in October. I always had the plan to consume copious amounts of alcohol to celebrate (or commiserate saying goodbye to my twenties!), but now this isn't an option, it's reassuring to hear that people can and do have a good time without alcohol.

I do know that my close friends are planning something for me with this in mind, though my partner was winding me up saying they were planning to embarrass me by making me go out in a onesie :(. Let's hope he was only joking.

It's pretty rubbish that so much emphasis is put on going into town and 'having a few' on any celebratory night out amongst a lot of people our age. When you look at the bigger picture, there's so much to do that doesn't involve alcohol - an adventure day out/holiday, going to see a West End show, going bowling, going to the cinema, going paintballing or laser tag-ging, a spa day, a concert - the list is endless.