Congrats on one week, LostLilly! So glad you're sticking with us. We need you, you need us, it's a perfect fit!

I've got some kind of shoulder/arm issue as well, clearlyheaded. I'm in the restaurant business and have spent years lifting heavy trays of food over my head with my right arm and shoulder. The pain flares up for a week or two and then usually goes away for a month or so, been doing so since the summer of 2014. Researching with Dr. Google, I've got my suspicions it's a rotator cuff issue as well. Though Dr. Google is of course a dangerous and unreliable beast and should not be trusted or really even consulted under any circumstances. I should suck it up and go get it looked at, but then it goes away for awhile and I fool myself into thinking it'll be OK. I think I'm just scared that it's going to keep me from working for a long while. Of course there are other jobs I could do in the restaurant while I was healing.

Maybe you can think of the surgery this way--your drinking arm will be out of commission for six weeks. That's kind of the bright side, right?

Wishing you the best with your appointment today...

Casey, just read your link. You've come a long way. Glad we've been lucky enough to reap the rewards of your recovery.

And I'm also pretty sure there are at least a couple of other members here who were in those classes, especially May 15. (FarToGo and nmd, for sure, though I haven't seen either one post in a little while. Hope they're OK.) No offense meant to anyone I missed. This class is just so big and active that it's easy to lose track of who's who sometimes. My apologies.

Thanks. I also took a huge step back 75 days after posting that. Like I said, it was tough for me to read just now, but I'm glad I did. Hope it helps someone else today.

Joining you cool kids for March! This is my 3rd day 1 for this March but 1st day actually posting here!

Tonight I'm looking forward to attending my son's school concert, going for ice cream after, NOT DRINKING, getting to bed early, and the great way I'm going to feel when I wake up tomorrow!

Read the entire thing. Copied it and pasted it to my desktop. That my friend is going into my weapons arsenal!!!

So glad you've joined us, DoNit4good. This is a great class. The support to be found here is amazing.

Remember this thread will be moving to a different forum here on SR at some point today when the April 16 class is started. Make sure and make the move with us, as I've heard those people in April 16 have cooties:

Newcomer's Daily Support Threads - SoberRecovery : Alcoholism Drug Addiction Help and Information

Enjoy your kid's concert and the ice cream. Ice cream is better than any drug in the world. Especially if chocolate is involved. Congrats on day 3 and always remember you don't have to take that first drink today no matter what!

You beat me DoNit4good. I've only had 2. Great group though.

:notworthy Casey, that post.... *RESPECT* :notworthy

Glad it helped. I think the best part for me re-reading it was seeing how Dee74 and soberwolf (another July 13er!) and Incontrol15 were my role models then and they're still here sober today actively helping others. That's a great example for me to follow in my own recovery. I stopped doing what they were doing and I got drunk. Period.

I was on the right track last year and am on the right track again today. I just need to remember to take my own advice and be honest and ask for help as soon as those first thoughts of drinking appear.

I drew away from this place somewhat in the last month before my big relapse in October. I stopped helping newcomers or even checking this forum for days at a time. I was mainly running up my post count in the Interactive Word Game forum. I let my daily commitment to the 24 hour group of recording and celebrating milestones become a chore/obligation instead of a joyful opportunity to help others. I became complacent. I can't and won't do that this time. I know I'm only a minute away from going right back into that pit of despair and pain of drinking if I don't stay active in my recovery.

On iPhone. I've worked myself into a frenzy. Not u guys. But an emergency doesn't constitute my changing plans. Just had words with hubs. I have used my tools & still wanted to drink. Paws. Thank u for being here. You've saved my rear end. Not going to drink. It's hard. You all have kept me sober for a little while longer. Have to run out the door. Behind even up early. Ok I'll make it. Thank you for being here & making me life.

Good on you for making the time to post, Renew. That is recovery in action!

Life isn't going to be perfect and people aren't going to act like we want them to act just because we're not drinking.

Hang in there. Check in when you can and if those thoughts stay strong then make yourself make the time to keep posting and ask for help. Once a minute if that's what it takes. Put your recovery first.

Also make sure you're not hungry or thirsty. Those are huge triggers for all of us and easy to miss when you're upset.

And, of course, remember you don't have to take that first drink today no matter what.

We have Ladybug and Lost Lilly. Still missing Chick Chick.

ChickChick, I want to show you my knitting! And I want to hear about those slippers!

Renew12 I know that you know that drinking is not going to make anything better. Glad you made it.

Send her a private message if you've got time, let her know you're thinking of her. I just did. Some people have their accounts here set up so they get a notification in their email outside of SR when they get a PM here. Hopefully she does. I hope she's OK and just not posting here for whatever reason.

(Do remember though that anything said in a private message is just that--private. I got my wrist slapped by one of my fellow class members and Dee last year when I told the rest of my May 15 class that one of our members was drinking again, something she'd told me in a private message. Turns out she didn't mind me telling, wanted me to let others know actually as she couldn't face up to posting in the class as a whole, but it was still wrong of me to reveal something she said privately without her permission.)

Still catching up on the thread, nice to meet everyone. I am on day 5 but I do 6 days sober every week I just imbide too much Fireball whiskey on the 7th day. :(
I have tried to quit several times , this time I have to make it work. Everyone is giving up on me including myself, I'm not trying to be self-deprecating but that's how it is. My health is failing and my life is falling apart because of alcohol.
C'est la vie

It's a lot to catch up with Kayak. We're a chatty bunch. Good luck getting over that hump this week. I think you can do it if you stay close. This is a very supportive group.

Whew! Made it to my AA meeting and back SOBER and it was actually NOT scary at all! I saw a lot of people I knew & they seemed happy to see me. :-)

@immri-how are you today?

@Thirteenth, good to hear from you!

@Mish- congrats on day 6! (Maybe 7 by now) :-)

@casey-Enjoy your day off! I don't think there's anything wrong with staying up late watching TV & sleeping until 11:00 on your day off! Ha! Sounds fun! You're probably right...the meeting probably never really had anything to do with me drinking after. It was just my AV chirping! I'm fine now though. Thank you for your amazing post!!! :-) You're amazing! I used to stay for "one more" at the bar too. But one more was never ever enough. I'm looking forward to reading your post about all you "day ones".

@clearlyheaded-it's so good to hear from you. The first few months of sobriety are definitely an emotional roller coaster but from previous experience I know it DOES get much better the longer we are sober. I'm sorry you couldn't sleep last night. I hope tonite is better. And I'm sorry about your father. It sounds like you really miss him. I am sure he is so proud of you! I'm sure your shoulder surgery in April will go great!

@Renew-yeah, your probably right...I haven't progressed to reverse tolerance YET but if I drink again my disease will progress and my future will be dark. I'm not going to drink today. How are you? P.S. Thank you so much for your support! I ate, went to my meeting, came home & ate again! I'm still sober. No craving at the moment, praise God! Love you too!! Just saw you had a rough moment this afternoon. Way to fight through it!!!

@Keets- you poor thing! I pray your pain subsides. Hang in there!

@Dee-thanks for checking in on us! I'm sorry I posted that Amazon link to that book yesterday. I didn't even think about the "advertising thing".

@azure-you can do it! You can stay sober through the weekend!

@Joe- Hang in there! The fear anxiety is so much better for me at day 8. It gets better each day we are sober.

@Kwhite- hang in there! You can do this!!!

@forabetterlife- just check in when you can. We're just happy to see you! :-)

@Fabela-Day 16! Woo hoo!!! Are you feeling better? My day isn't filled with rainbow sprinkles but my worst day sober is still better than my best day drunk for sure! I'm learning how to just "feel" my anxiety too. It's hard but we can do it! Yay! I just saw your updated post that your anxiety is gone! Woo hoo! You hypnotized me!!! Haha

@Samantha-I KNEW you could do it! I knew you could get through your crazy work day yesterday without drinking! You're amazing! Are you still going to AA?

@Kayak-Welcome! :-)

@Palagic-Congrats on 16 days! You're doing great! I used to do the same thing and say "oh well I will drink today & start over tomorrow!" NO MORE! Tomorrow is TODAY! :)

@Apple- Hi!

@Bobbie- that's amazing that you can say that you didn't have a single drop of alcohol the entire month of March 2016! I hope to say that about April 2016! Your hypnotizing worked! Lol

@beerbgone-hang in there! You don't ever have to feel this bad again! I look forward to you checking in more often. :-) You're gonna make sobriety stick this time...I know it!

@Ella-welcome! We have the BEST class!!!

@Rah- congrats on day 6! You WILL make it through the weekend one minute at a time and on Monday you will have 10 days! I believe in you! It sounds like you had a nice lunch & your weekend sounds amazing! I love basketball! What team are you gonna see?

@Ladybug-Hey!!! I'm so glad that you didn't wait to come back! We missed you! I'm praying all your blood tests come back fine. :-)

@LostLilly-Way to fight back!!! I'm so glad our class is staying together!

@DoNit-welcome!!! :-)

@ChickChick-come back to us! We miss you!!!

@Welcome Kayak!!! So glad you joined us. We have a great class!

Hi everyone.

Tomorrow, it'll be 21 days since I quit, but I'm struggling hard. It feels very bleak. But I won't cave in, so I'm planning on tagging along for the ride.