Class of December 2015 Pt 2
Member
Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 91
Welcome MyShadow!
Someone told me once if you want to find out who your real friends are then quit drinking. So true in my short time sober. Looking forward to a cold day fishing and maybe a late season deer hunt this evening.
Someone told me once if you want to find out who your real friends are then quit drinking. So true in my short time sober. Looking forward to a cold day fishing and maybe a late season deer hunt this evening.
Until It Sleeps
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: AL
Posts: 215
Working weekend for me. That's good. I never drank while being on call 24/7 for a week. It was always the first day off call, usually Friday night, that I would knock a few back. After being sober most of the past winter and spring I am looking forward to doing all the things I should have gotten to this past summer.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 636
Originally Posted by uniqueusername 
Welcome MyShadow!
Someone told me once if you want to find out who your real friends are then quit drinking. So true in my short time sober. Looking forward to a cold day fishing and maybe a late season deer hunt this evening.
Someone told me once if you want to find out who your real friends are then quit drinking. So true in my short time sober. Looking forward to a cold day fishing and maybe a late season deer hunt this evening.
I was always blinded by who i thought were my friends since alcohol was always involved. I settled to associate myself with people that have low standards and drifters.
Birds of a feather flock together.
Member
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: maine
Posts: 1
First timer here
I found this place today and thought maybe it'd help me out a bit. 2nd day of sobriety after a tough week of tapering down. Backstory, I'm 31 found the booze around age 20 and really have been at it everyday. Typical, in denial or I've always said I'll clean myself up next weekend instead when Friday rolled around. I've been drinking 6 to 8 beers after work daily, and usually a cumulative 40 or so drinks every weekend usually getting drunk twice a day. I have a young family and finally decided enough was enough, I may be high functioning but I'm not really there for my family most of the time even if I'm "there." Sunday mornings have been dreadful and nearly every week I have the realization that if I don't stop I could die, I feel that horrible usually. Anyways big steps in the last week in both my attitude and taking the initial commitment to put the bottle down. Feeling the naggy withdrawals, boredom, and slightly depressed about giving up something that I almost felt was part of my identity. So just looking for some supportive people and hoping I can add to the community as well 
Member
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Western NY
Posts: 125
You've come to the right place brw
Welcome! Make this your go-to place in the days and weeks and months ahead. The best advice, the most vigilant listeners, and the most heartfelt cheerleading is available here 24/7.
Everyone here wants to see you succeed and be there wholeheartedly for your family!
Read and post, and read some more! Good luck.
Earlyriser
Everyone here wants to see you succeed and be there wholeheartedly for your family!
Read and post, and read some more! Good luck.
Earlyriser
Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 74
Sober Sunday - Day 9! woke up with heaps of energy, cleaned out the kitchen cupboards and still have lots left on my to-do-list. Little things I always want to do, but never had the energy due to the vodka!! It was a challenge for me to make it through a weekend without wiping myself out, but it feels good to have a clear focus!
Member
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 168
Welcome, brw3210!
Wrapping up Day 5 here, it was a cold rainy day and I felt a little irritable toward my husband so my AV promptly woke up and gave me a few nudges, but it was pretty easy to ignore. Now I'm going to read for a bit and head to bed early.
Wrapping up Day 5 here, it was a cold rainy day and I felt a little irritable toward my husband so my AV promptly woke up and gave me a few nudges, but it was pretty easy to ignore. Now I'm going to read for a bit and head to bed early.
Member
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 1,222
I have to say, I do enjoy editing my signature each day adding on another day over breakfast, it has become a nice personal encouraging ritual.
So my sleep finally caught up. 12 hours Friday night and 12 hours last night. Awesome. Was at a super posh kids birthday party yesterday for four hours with waiters bringing around trays of champagne and wines. I don't need to tell you that would been a license to get hammered in my old life. I would have drank heavily until it ended at 6pm then called out drinking buddies and kept going, then finished with a bottle at home. Actually, as it was, I didn't give it a second thought. Orange juice and San Pel. Hung out with the kids and met a couple of interesting people. Something feels different about quitting this time, my body is not trying to chase it and grab it like last time. Reading through the site its amazing how many people relapse because they think they have recovered or can drink just once every few months....obviously it always ends in disaster. I need to remind myself of that daily.
The couple of post by Ghost got me thinking as it is an issue for all of us. Like most of us I have three types of friend: real friends, loose acquaintances and drinking buddies. I know who my real friends are (they are the people I can see and do things with without drink, the people I talk deeply with and would be happy to help). Acquaintances I say polite hellos with and talk superficially and drinking buddies...they are people that I pretend are real friends but I only see them when we are drinking. No drink, no meet.
Getting sober will be a transition period because I need to cut and shrink the network before I rebuild it. My drinking buddies are gone....here is what I think.....anyone who I have only seen when drinking in the past year or so, is a drinking buddy. Gone. See ya later. Sorry about that but it something I need to do to get healthy. That will free up a lot of time obviously. My family and the gym are getting most of that.
The other thing is the boredom. Well, not so much the boredom, but the lack of alcoholic highs and lows. When drinking to end of days they were outrageous stories, anything could and did happen, always stories the next day, many laughs. Of course many disasters, nightmares and anxieties also. Life was chaotic....you could say unmanageable......but it was interesting, OR so I thought. There is not question that this was killing me and slowing chipping away at the foundations of my life, so no questions that it had to stop.
Its not that I don't have things to do, I do. I can fill a day no problem. But I miss those highs and lows. Those extremes. The excitement. And I need to find a way to allow that to work itself out of my system. I know it was not healthy. I could go to a casino right now and put $5,000 on black and it would give me a rush. Is that exciting? No, its stupid.
I think there are a few things I can do. Firstly, I can relook at my network, my acquaintances, the people that I never bothered to get to know before. I think I can make some friends here if I can reach out a little, so I will,when I am ready. Secondly, and there is no easy way to get away from this. I need to put i the hours and nights at home. Play with my son and put him to bed each night, for as many nights as I can when I am not travelling. Time with my wife, allow to feel some attention again. It is going to sound terrible when I say that I feel restless, wandering, when I do that but I also enjoy it and I need to work at it. When I am at home with my family, the AV can go to h£ll. In addition to gym, family etc...I also need something else, an interest or a project to keep me mentally stimulated. I don't know what that is yet but will start to look.
Anyway, a wandering out this morning, sorry for that just trying to get my thoughts straight, thanks for listening.....
So my sleep finally caught up. 12 hours Friday night and 12 hours last night. Awesome. Was at a super posh kids birthday party yesterday for four hours with waiters bringing around trays of champagne and wines. I don't need to tell you that would been a license to get hammered in my old life. I would have drank heavily until it ended at 6pm then called out drinking buddies and kept going, then finished with a bottle at home. Actually, as it was, I didn't give it a second thought. Orange juice and San Pel. Hung out with the kids and met a couple of interesting people. Something feels different about quitting this time, my body is not trying to chase it and grab it like last time. Reading through the site its amazing how many people relapse because they think they have recovered or can drink just once every few months....obviously it always ends in disaster. I need to remind myself of that daily.
The couple of post by Ghost got me thinking as it is an issue for all of us. Like most of us I have three types of friend: real friends, loose acquaintances and drinking buddies. I know who my real friends are (they are the people I can see and do things with without drink, the people I talk deeply with and would be happy to help). Acquaintances I say polite hellos with and talk superficially and drinking buddies...they are people that I pretend are real friends but I only see them when we are drinking. No drink, no meet.
Getting sober will be a transition period because I need to cut and shrink the network before I rebuild it. My drinking buddies are gone....here is what I think.....anyone who I have only seen when drinking in the past year or so, is a drinking buddy. Gone. See ya later. Sorry about that but it something I need to do to get healthy. That will free up a lot of time obviously. My family and the gym are getting most of that.
The other thing is the boredom. Well, not so much the boredom, but the lack of alcoholic highs and lows. When drinking to end of days they were outrageous stories, anything could and did happen, always stories the next day, many laughs. Of course many disasters, nightmares and anxieties also. Life was chaotic....you could say unmanageable......but it was interesting, OR so I thought. There is not question that this was killing me and slowing chipping away at the foundations of my life, so no questions that it had to stop.
Its not that I don't have things to do, I do. I can fill a day no problem. But I miss those highs and lows. Those extremes. The excitement. And I need to find a way to allow that to work itself out of my system. I know it was not healthy. I could go to a casino right now and put $5,000 on black and it would give me a rush. Is that exciting? No, its stupid.
I think there are a few things I can do. Firstly, I can relook at my network, my acquaintances, the people that I never bothered to get to know before. I think I can make some friends here if I can reach out a little, so I will,when I am ready. Secondly, and there is no easy way to get away from this. I need to put i the hours and nights at home. Play with my son and put him to bed each night, for as many nights as I can when I am not travelling. Time with my wife, allow to feel some attention again. It is going to sound terrible when I say that I feel restless, wandering, when I do that but I also enjoy it and I need to work at it. When I am at home with my family, the AV can go to h£ll. In addition to gym, family etc...I also need something else, an interest or a project to keep me mentally stimulated. I don't know what that is yet but will start to look.
Anyway, a wandering out this morning, sorry for that just trying to get my thoughts straight, thanks for listening.....
Member
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: England
Posts: 146
Day 14 - hope you all enjoyed a sober Saturday and wake up hangover free this Sunday.
Thoughts of having a drink over the Christmas holidays keep creeping into my head - have to keep blocking them out at the moment. Will carry on taking each day by day, hopefully I will be feeling just as strong then as I do now, it's still a while off and will have quite a few more days under my belt by then.
Thoughts of having a drink over the Christmas holidays keep creeping into my head - have to keep blocking them out at the moment. Will carry on taking each day by day, hopefully I will be feeling just as strong then as I do now, it's still a while off and will have quite a few more days under my belt by then.
Administrator
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,443
Congrats on day 14 Ali
there are some good tips and ideas here about Christmas:
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...l-guide-5.html
I've had 8 sober Christmasses so far - coming up for #9...not only do I enjoy Xmas a lot more, I don;t miss the drinking at all.
Any ideas that drinking could be in any way a viable option, or a good thing, is your AV.
The AV lies.
there are some good tips and ideas here about Christmas:
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...l-guide-5.html
I've had 8 sober Christmasses so far - coming up for #9...not only do I enjoy Xmas a lot more, I don;t miss the drinking at all.
Any ideas that drinking could be in any way a viable option, or a good thing, is your AV.
The AV lies.
Member
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: England
Posts: 146
Thanks for that Dee, will save that link.
I honestly believe you're right that Christmas will be better sober. If I drink I know I'll be tired by the afternoon and that's no good with hyper children around!
I honestly believe you're right that Christmas will be better sober. If I drink I know I'll be tired by the afternoon and that's no good with hyper children around!
Member
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 1,222
A leg of lamb roasting in the oven....been a while. Cold outside, Xmas tree etc. A friend came over for dinner with two bottles of red. Red wine and lamb, aaaaargh. Had to come clean and tell my friend that not only am I not drinking but that I can't allow him to open the bottles, the temptation would be too great. He just smiled and said, cool. And that was that. A wee bit embarrassing but it wasn't really an issue. Really, I should have thought ahead and asked him not to bring wine in the first place. Ah well...
Member
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 1,518
Day 30 .
Tree lights stopped working yesterday ,ahhh my little pet hate of an item to fix for the last 3 years . Decided nope ! getting a new set .
Went to a car boot sale this morning and the first thing I saw was a brand new set of 30 fairy lights for £2 . Got them on the tree and working perfect, feeling smug that the universe sent me exactly what I wanted at lightening speed ( pun intended) .
Talking of car boot sales : there is always someone with a Tupperware box of those little miniature bottles of spirits . One of my old and hopefully never to return habits was to buy 3 or 4 of those and sneak off to a toilet and toss one or two back .
Im sober today and feeling positive following my dip in mood a few days back .
Tree lights stopped working yesterday ,ahhh my little pet hate of an item to fix for the last 3 years . Decided nope ! getting a new set .
Went to a car boot sale this morning and the first thing I saw was a brand new set of 30 fairy lights for £2 . Got them on the tree and working perfect, feeling smug that the universe sent me exactly what I wanted at lightening speed ( pun intended) .
Talking of car boot sales : there is always someone with a Tupperware box of those little miniature bottles of spirits . One of my old and hopefully never to return habits was to buy 3 or 4 of those and sneak off to a toilet and toss one or two back .
Im sober today and feeling positive following my dip in mood a few days back .
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