clearlyheaded

Where in Northern Illinois are you? I'm in the far SW suburbs of Chicago, near Joliet.

CaseyW

It's the start of day 23 for me. Rough night's sleep. Lots of anxious dreams. Not drinking dreams as far as I can remember but just lots of anxious moments. Got some coffee brewing now. Hopefully that'll clear these cobwebs away.

How are you doing today, Kayak63sc? Are you traveling again this week?

Love the pro vs. con list, rah555. Every one of those holds true for me as well. Only even most of those few pros were turning into cons by the end. Like I wasn't socializing anymore while drinking, I was just drinking alone. I'd tell myself, "Well, what if I go visit so and so in some town 200 miles away. I'm going to want to drink with them." That would give me an excuse to drink alone that same day when I was nowhere near that friend and had no plans to see them for months. Crazy logic. Stick close to here this weekend. Slip into the bathroom with your phone and post in here if that dinner gets rough. And always give yourself the option of leaving early if you have to. Your recovery should come first for right now. Your dad is a grown man. He doesn't have to have you there all night on his birthday.

Hope you get to feeling better, samantha14. Congrats on 11 days!

That's a great point about looking forward to the structure of the work week, ManInTheArena. Congrats on another successfully sober weekend.

You're probably long asleep by now, horsestaple, but glad you checked in. Yes, immri is in Australia, as is Mish. And of course Dee74, one of our honorary members. Hope you have a wonderful Tuesday when you do read this. So a dumb American question--what exactly does "pom" mean? Google just wants to tell me about pomegranates, and I don't think you mean you're a piece of fruit with a tough skin. I'm assuming from context that a pom is an immigrant to Australia of some kind, but what's the exact definition?

You and your husband will be in my thoughts and prayers today, KWhite. Let us know how the surgery goes. And taking those pills will only cause more stress than relief. Stay strong!

Vent as long as you need to, Keets. That's what we're here for. I think remembering all this pain when you think of drinking again is a good idea. I do hope you start healing and the pain lessening today. So glad you checked in!

Yay, immri! Congrats on another sober day. Please check in as often as possible. One day at a time, this will get easier and better.

Glad you're feeling better, Ladybug2. Have a nice day and remember to come ask for help if your addiction starts squawking at you.

Good morning to you too, Bobbieka! I don't think I said so yesterday, but that's awesome that your daughters threw you a surprise birthday party.

Hope you get to feeling better, clearlyheaded. And you never know--Fabela's kid might really enjoy that tattoo session. That made me laugh when I saw what you wrote and then laugh again when I saw your correction.

Have a safe trip, LillianGish. Good on you for staying out of that airport bar. That's recovery in action! We're here 24/7 if you need help on this trip. Love that story about the bird and the branch. Don't think I'd ever heard that one before. I'll be remembering that one. And my addiction also gives me plenty of notice before I actually take that first drink. It's important for me to recognize and admit to those thoughts to myself and others as soon as they happen. It takes much of their power away.

Have a great day, Renew12. Glad you made time to check in,

Surrender2win, I've remembered from the start that you're 5 days ahead of me, so I think you're actually on day 28 right now. Like you've finished 27 but are working on 28 right now. Either way, important thing is you're sober today, right?

Well, my coffee kicked in and I'm feeling ready to face this day. Writing and reading in here helped as well. I work tonight, going to spend the afternoon reading here at the house.

Would love to hear from anyone who hasn't checked in today. This class is so big that I don't want to offend anyone by leaving them out if I don't mention them particularly, but Applekat's name in particular popped in my head just now. I know you were feeling blah about sobriety a couple of days ago, would love to hear from you today. Also hope azure808 checks in as I know he was thinking of leaving SR but said he'd give it another day. We're stronger together!

Remember you don't have to take that first drink today no matter what stupid lies or begging or convoluted logic that addictive voice in your head throws at you!

Fabela

Good job on 23 days, Casey!

I'm kinda angry with myself; I wanted to drink and I allowed myself to relapse, and then I didn't do it. Can't even do that right.

ChichChick has been observed in the 24-hour thread, and I'm so happy to see her!!!

CaseyW

If you didn't drink, you did it perfectly right. Are you doing OK now, Fabela? Please don't take that first drink. It's a false solution to temporary thoughts and cravings.

Good to hear that ChickChick has checked in. I hope she knows she's still a member of this class and should come back to us. We're all still very new to this and need each other.

Fabela

Yeah, Casey, I'm OK. Have to take it easy, with this new tattoo on my wrist. Can't drink and mess it up.

JustQuit2016

Just reading about where some people are from, can I be nosy and ask where you're all from?

Me, I'm from Ireland. Had last drink on 16.03.16 so I was sober for St. Patrick's Day, how ironic

Day 19 (I think) tomorrow.

CaseyW

You may have mentioned this before but if so I missed it--what is the tattoo picturing or saying? I have no tattoos. I'm a chicken when it comes to needles.

JustQuit2016, I'm from good old Texas in the U.S. of A. In West Texas to be more exact since Texas is bigger than most countries. Born and raised here. Never lived anywhere else though I have lived all over Texas.

Fabela

JustQuit, I'm from Norway. 20 days sober.

Casey, I have five tattoos. One heart (on the wrist that I cut), three lilies of various sizes and a really cool sugar scull. I'm a badass middle aged mother of three.

samantha14

Hi everyone,

Just doing a mid-day check in. I am on my way home from work. My boss took one look at me when I arrived and told me to go home and rest for the afternoon....she also recommended a shot or two of whisky to help my sore throat...so of course my mind is whirling right now. I know I can't and I shouldn't but the thought is there and driving me crazy!

I am committing here to going straight home....no stops...just straight home....

CaseyW

Very cool. A sugar skull, huh? Tough but sweet. I like it.

Speaking of lilies, I hope LostLillly checks in soon. Been a few days.

CaseyW

You know what helps sore throats more than whiskey? Hot water. Honey. Lemon. Cough drops. Orange juice. Ibuprofen.

Good on you for checking in. Please let us know when you get home and post once a minute if those thoughts try to stick around. Drinking will only make things worse, don't listen to those lies from your addiction.

clearlyheaded

Yes, feeling much better, thanks! It only took about an hour for my headache to dissipate. Much quicker than an actual hangover headache. Glad you got a chuckle out of my typo. I laughed too at the thought of a kid with a tattoo. I have a couple of friends who are tattoo artists, and I’m pretty sure even their kids had to be at least 16 before they were allowed.

You have to be careful with those new tattoos. Don’t want to smudge 'em.

So glad to hear that ChickChick has checked into the 24 hour thread. I really hope she checks in here too. She’s a definite part of this class.

I will echo JustQuit. I’d love to hear where everyone is from.

I just got an e-mail for my former employer about possible contract work for a couple of projects. HR is going to write up a contract for me to review. Not sure of the scope of the work yet, but it’ll be nice to have it come my way. Maybe they will even let me have a desk in the office on a temporary basis. That would be nice. I miss my old lunch crew. We’ll see how it unfolds.

Applekat

I'm good! Day 36! Waves of blah, but happy to get back to Monday and spring break is over for the kids.

Happy Chick checked in there! Hi Chick!

We have officially had all 4 seasons here in NY within a week. From tank tops to sledding gear. Crazy.

clearlyheaded

There must be something to this. AV has been pretty quiet since I posted that I was feeling tempted and thinking it would be okay to drink tonight. Shows how powerful group support can be. If I had kept those thoughts to myself, I would be a mess today. Instead, I'm enjoying my day.

Applekat

I'm from Upstate New York (not NYC). Edited to add - no tattoos here haha!

My AV plans ahead as well. My mild OCD gets in the way too. For example, AV may whisper that I hit a nice even milestone date on a Thursday, so having a drink on Friday, an odd day, would work out well.

CaseyW

Hooray! Thanks for checking in, Applekat, and congrats on day 36. You're starting week 6. That's awesome!

CaseyW

I've already told you that I'm jealous of your February 29 sobriety date. I made SO MANY plans in February to stop on that date because I thought it'd be such a perfect date to say in the future. Of course all I was really doing was giving myself an excuse to continue drinking throughout February. And since my sobriety date is now March 13, you can tell the rest of my plan didn't work out so well either.

Bobbieka

I'm from St. Louis, MO. Day 34, 1 tattoo.

CaseyW

Upstate New York is so beautiful. I spent a wonderful summer week in Cooperstown a few years ago. So relaxing. And the total opposite scenery-wise from where I live. So many trees! So much water!

EDIT: I don't know how I managed to cut my one response to Applekat into two separate posts. Oh well, moves me one post closer to overtaking Dee!

Bobbieka

That's a good trick, Casey. You could post all of your replies separately. That would really boost your numbers.