Bobbieka

He's alright, I guess. We'll keep him.

Purplrks3647

I'm having dreams about ice cream too....only they're daydreams....and I'm being spoon-fed by Channing Tatum :P

Oh, sorry about that...off in la-la-land again....what was I saying???

Anyway, so glad to hear from everyone - Hugs all around!

Applekat

Speaking of all the alternative drinks....I've been drinking TONS of canned and bottled sparkling water. No calories or caffeine but a bit of sodium. Any thoughts on this from any nutrition gurus - is this overload, terrible for me...?

clearlyheaded

What about seltzer water? I found ones that don't have sodium. I also found a water enhancer that is sweetened with organic stevia.

ManInTheArena

I am just going to leave this here.

273393_1249801072568_346_300.jpg

KiKi0615

Hi guys, checking in for the evening. Still sober & feeling strong.

Casey, thank you for your post about being powerless AFTER you take the first drink. Honestly, I still struggle with that because even after I take a drink I am able to stop if I really want to. The problem is: most of the time I don't want to (at least for 4-5 hours). I binge drank 2-3 times per week in a bar for 4-5 hours at a time so it's hard for me to relate to not being able to stop once I start because I always stop within 4-5 hours. My goal is to never touch alcohol again because I KNOW I have a problem & alcohol is poison to me & my life.

For me...I truly have felt powerless over the cravings....like "auto pilot". Today...I took my power back!

Congrats to everyone on their milestones & getting through cravings! Amazing stuff!

Dee74

but isn't not wanting to stop a kind of powerlessness too?

Alcoholism is progressive Kiki, or at least it was in my case.
I started out being able to stop (although I got VERY cross) but 20 years later I couldn't stop even when I wanted to.

The sooner you can jump off the rollercoaster ride the better
D

Bobbieka

I know everyone doesn't have these, but I am hitting up Dairy Queen tonight. They sell soft serve ice cream and they're awesome.
MITA, you're picture pushed me over the edge.

Dee74

I don't mind a bit of sodium, but mineral waters usually are sodium free

D

CaseyW

Love the new avatar, MITA. That made me laugh out loud.

I like sparkling and mineral water too, Applekat. And the La Croix water that clearlyheaded mentioned. But what I mentioned today--plain ordinary soda water with a splash of fruit juice is my new favorite.

At my parents house doing laundry. Hard to type on my tablet. Hope everyone is doing well. Talk to you later.

ManInTheArena

I've been trying to keep up reading the posts on my phone today. This is the first chance I've had to check in. Now we've got a bread thing going, too?! Awesome.

I'm having a pretty good day today - no huge cravings, which is nice. I got a pretty good nights sleep last night, so maybe that is helping. I think I am going to start a diary where I track what I eat and drink, how well I sleep, exercise, what the weather is, etc. Pretty much anything I can think of to track and see if any of that syncs up with my cravings.

I got home tonight and my wife, who had the day off, was pretty buzzed. She did not drink at all once I got home. She actually headed up to bed at about 7:45pm. It's hard to communicate on nights like this - fortunately, it seems she's been trying to moderate her own drinking a bit lately so we get to converse like adults most of the time.

I've mostly figured out how to manage our different behaviors - sometimes its hard, but tonight its okay.

ManInTheArena

On a separate, and most positive note, I just got a text from my son. He has 2 excellent scholarship offers from a couple of very solid law schools. Both have offered him scholarships covering about 80% of the tuition. He's a bright kid and a hard worker. I will celebrate a little now. I am out of ice cream, but I do have some seltzer !!

KiKi0615

Dee,

For me starting is my most powerless part because I drink even when I don't want to when I get really strong cravings, No matter how many times I might promise myself that morning that I'm not gonna drink that evening...I will get a huge craving & drink. (But not anymore!!!)

I definitely see your point about not "wanting" to stop being a form of powerlessness though because I "know" drinking is bad for me & I don't want to be doing it but I do it anyway to numb my feelings and "check out of my life" for a while.

So I guess the fact that I drink despite HATING alcohol & the complete unmanageability of my life when I drink makes me powerless.

I'm not sure why I have always had issues with the powerless thing. It's probably all semantics. The bottom line is....I don't want to drink, I hate what it has done to my life and I want to be sober for the rest of my life.

Anyway, today is the end of a full 3 days sober again so I am going to keep going! I have the power to NEVER swallow another drop of alcohol!

Thx Dee!!!

:-)

immri

MITA - the pictures edit: congrats for your son!! how wonderful

KiKi - I think I had the powerless idea flipped too kiki. i was terrified I was powerless to start drinking, and because I've felt that autopilot thing I really blamed my drinking on that. I think I just misunderstood though, because its definitely after the first drink that we are powerless. even if you can physically stop (which i've experienced both being able to, and not) if you have more than you intended and/or it reignites that obsession that causes you to pick up again in a few days/weeks/whatever, to me thats a powerlessness that normal people don't have.
what i'm trying to say, if i wasn't actually powerless, wouldn't I just stop at one like I intended? and then not think about it again?

horsestaple

Sorry. See you on the overeaters board in a few months.

I guess now isn't the time to mention that I bought cacoa nibs and cacao butter to make chocolate with the ponystaples when they're off school next week .

ManInTheArena

KiKi - I think I was close to where you are/were at just before stopping this time. I wanted to quit so bad, for so long, but I COULD NOT STOP. I was drinking and literally making myself sick. I was not really enjoying the drinking at but I COULD NOT STOP. It was terrible. I would go one day and then, BOOM, back to making myself sick.

I watched a video of some guy who explained that they most important thing for his recovery was learning "self-love". I thought this was pretty weird at first, but the more I considered it the more I realized that if one of my kids was having the problem I was having I would pour all the love I had in my entire being into them to help them. I needed to somehow have that same kind of love for myself. This is my one life - I need to live it the best way I can and be the best MITA I can be.

I don't know if this helps - I have a hard translating some of these thoughts and feelings I have into coherent sentences.

Good luck!!

CaseyW

Awesome news re: your son, MITA. Glad your wife's drinking today wasn't a trigger.

I played that semantics game a lot with AA, KiKi. The Big Book is so antiquated and desperately in need of a total rewrite that will never happen. One of the reasons I haven't really made it a big part of any of my recovery plans since I discovered this place. But like I said before to you a week or two ago, I also learned so much in AA that I do use today. I wouldn't be sober today without that.

horsestaple

Christmas pud ice cream has gotta be better than actual Xmas pud on Xmas day.

The first year I arrived here I agreed to make Xmas dinner for everyone. After lunch everyone went to sleep and left me to it. I had ovens on and pots and pans doing the full English-style roast. It was a stinking hot day so I put the aircon on but still I was absolutely roasting.

After a couple of hours and many, many cold beers my MiL woke up, came through to the kitchen and said, "Why have you got the heating on?"

Well I didn't know how to operate an air conditioner. There isn't much call for them in England!

immri

horsestaple - gave me a good laugh!

Missy7

Hi all. Pump working in the terrible mood. I'm not quite sure why. I went to the grocery store and Had a hard time not buying something so I just bought what I had and left. I'm usually more solid at this stage of the game.

Iop wasn't good last night. Calling a friend