Dee74

Welcome to the thread JL

D

countrygirl2014

Welcome JL

Jennifer

Mark1014

Welcome JL2014,

First, it is so great that you managed to leave the liquor store! I had a similar event two weeks ago and it is TOUGH. I believe that the victory you had will make you stronger for the next temptation. I'm a dad of three also....my oldest two are teens. I want very much to talk to them about the dangers of drinking but I intend to get a year or so of sobriety to feel worthy of having the conversation with them. I'm glad you're joining us and think we can learn from you and hopefully encourage you as well.

Stevie1

ironwoman - nanowrimo.

Venus - me too! I like that I've been going to bed with face washed and moisturized and teeth brushed. Good on signing up with a counselor.

Arbor, pretty good so far! Although this is weird - I'm getting zits. I am 56 and haven't had this issue since going through the Menopause From Hell. Yuck.

Jennifer, Popeye, Fantail and everyone else - keep on keeping on and go to bed sober tonight.

JL - welcome!

On a side note, my "real job" is a painting contractor/decorative painter. Right now I'm painting a house for a lovely older Chaldean (Iraqi Catholic; I also painted their church) couple and they have been making me wonderful lunches PLUS sending me home at night with meals to reheat at home. Home-cooked Middle Eastern food, it's the best. I am eating well this week.

Speaking of work, I'd better get going. Have a great day Octsobers!

tiredofme

Welcome JL

Bought some smellys lunchtime to use on the weekend along with some lavender and rose oil hopefully the better I feel the weeker the av will be. I know I got through last weekend but that's just because I felt awful with a virus.

Findingtheway

Good Morning friends.

Day 35 for me. Woke up feeling like Hell this morning. Body is overall very sore and achey...What the hell?...

Think i have a cold coming on...

ChickChick

Welcome JL, I too have 3 boys ages 10 and under and a teenage girl (oh my!).
My morning started off really well and then I got a cal from the principal about my middle boy, sigh he sure knows how to push boundaries. I thought after I got off the phone that I was glad that I didn't have a hangover foe the call and I'm not a ball of anxiety after talking to her. Yay for sobriety!
Grocery day today so it's good that I'm feeling strong about being sober. It's been weird getting home and not cracking open a beer when I put the groceries away. So I'm shopping earlier today so getting home doesn't coincide with when I used to start drinking.

FTD I hope you feel better soon!
Popeye check in and let us know how you are doing today!
Tiredofme I love lavendar. I've been drinking my weight in traditional medicinals chamomile & lavendar tea the past few weeks.
Venus and stevie I also love my sober nighttime ritual of getting ready for bed. I'm enjoying not feeling stinky from smoking.
Fishcakes how are you doing?
Chiffon come back when you are ready. I love your posts!

Every one else I'm thinking about you, I hope we all habe a great day!

phoebe64

Stevie, how nice for the couple to share their food with you! Yum!! My brother in law is Lebanese and makes amazing food, and when his mother and family are around for a party, even more of it! I bet you can meet many nice people in your job.

I am a SAHM, still, but, I miss that about my career. I met so many people, from all walks of life and really enjoyed that. I worked as a provider of health care and got to know many clients quite well.

Day 5 here. I struggled last night and anticipate feeling the same tonight. But I am motivated to get more time, since it has been months since I had even 5 days. Since summer perhaps.

strongandsober

I love this Venus! I have a book at home (can't remember the name off the top of my head) but the gist is trying to add healthy habits into your life by trying something new every 3 to 5 days. That way it's nothing overwhelming, but over the course of several weeks you feel better and become healthier.

I started this week trying to remember to take my vitamins every day. I like the idea of the face cleanser too, that's another great habit. Just a little thing, but it makes you feel better, which I think makes it easier to forgo drinking. Every little thing I can do to feel better about myself means it's one less reason for me to drown my sorrow's in drinking.

phoebe64

Chick chick, I have a 10yo boy and a teenage girl. We have his conference today. he has ADHD, and I know can be chatty, fidgety, tapping pencils...you get the picture. But he is sweet. I love his teacher though and I think she is sensitive to how hard such children work to be "good." We shall see how it goes.

I was also thinking about Fishcakes.

Hello everyone else! I have trouble catching up here sometimes, but am so grateful for all of you and for welcoming me back into the fold after I bombed much of October. a busy, responsive group is a very good support for me.

Thank you!

tiredofme

Hope the conference goes well phoebe.

dontlookbacchus

Hi Octoberites.

Just checking in. Enjoying the hangover free mornings.
Things are still hard but well worth this journey back. Have a nice Thursday !

Briar

Oh man, you guys, I’ve got issues. I work in criminal justice, and I work on a lot of DUI cases (I know, ironic, good thing I never got one of my own). A file just came across my desk, and as I went through it, I came across a picture of the driver. He’s the nice guy who sits next to me in meetings. Now I feel really weird because he thinks he has anonymity, but tomorrow I’ll be sitting right next to him knowing exactly what happened plus a lot of other things about him I’m sure he’d rather keep to himself. I don’t judge him for it, he had a really horrible night, but feel like it’s unfair to him that I know all this. I also realize that this is going to happen a lot because of what I do, so changing groups probably won’t help, and it really isn’t feasible for me to go to meetings out of county. I feel like an imposter and a hypocrite. In some cases I actually end up working with the person directly, which will be horrible if it’s ever someone I’m in a group with. But I don’t think it’s in my best interest to give up going to groups. I’ll just have to figure out a way to deal with this, I guess. I’m feeling really conflicted and gross right now.

JL2014

Briar I grew up in AA meetings where my dad went ( you think I'd have learned).
I really think that if that guy is there to stop drinking then you are both there for like issues. I know it may feel awkward but go easy on yourself about the hypocrite thing. Those meetings are for

JL2014

Ppl like me. Drunks who want to stop. I know for a fact I'd not stand up in a courtroom and tell ppl I saw briar at a meeting. He's probably scared anyway being in court.
Hope this eases a little stress.

Briar

I know, it's just that I feel guilty knowing what I know when he thinks he's there anonymously. But I guess when you have a major DUI crash and go to court, most of that information is available to the public anyway. I'll just try to put it out of my mind. We are equals, after all. Thanks JL2014.

Fishcakes4

Had my interview today, the guy said only 10% of applicants even get an interview so that was awesome but I don't know if it went very well. I kind of froze and was nervous.

ChickChick

My husband got a cyst removed from his neck this morning. He said he just wanted to buy a 12 pack and come home from work. AV is working extra hard on me to go get him the beer and have some myself. I've been fighting it for the past couple of hours. I'm hoping posting will help silence the thoughts. Some days are just really hard. I know it's worth it to be sober.

Popeye2014

I hope you decide not to drink. Try to find something that will keep your mind busy. Post often. I'll be here if you want to talk

Try Yoga, it worked the other Day!

jack

fantail

Ugh, guys, back to day 1. I didn't go crazy but I did drink — a big glass of wine at a potluck.

The job stuff is just such a major stress right now. I used to be really career-oriented; it was a huge part of my identity. Then two years ago the company that I helped build changed management and the new people let go everyone who was part of the original team. They did it in a really intense way, too — several round of lay offs, so that everyone was just watching their back all the time. And once you were on the chopping block, they did everything they could to get you to quit so that you wouldn't get severance and unemployment. I held on until the actual layoff but it was about 6 months of serious mind-$#@*-ery until that happened... not getting CC'd on important emails, getting assigned really intense projects with short deadlines and then never hearing anything back once I turned them in, meetings with managers canceled at the last minute, that kind of stuff. I haven't really regained my confidence since then and while I've had a few short term jobs, haven't found anything steady since.

I did send a nice email to this most recent job interview asking for feedback, but haven't heard anything back.

Partly I'm worried that I'm in the wrong field... I took a very general skillset to a company I really loved and so I started doing this type of thing for them... but since then I've found that it's not really an area I'm passionate about when it's out of the context of that original company.

So yeah. I'm scared to take a non-related job because I worry about going back to entry level in my early thirties... but I also am having a very hard time finding a related job that I actually want. I was really excited about this one and really have never been so off in terms of reading how an interview went... usually I can tell if it's not going to work out.

Blah. Just disappointed in myself right now. Sober today though and back on that wagon, at least.