Welcome back to work SG!
Glad to see you pulled out of the funk so fast!

OMG... Had 3 long days in a row. Sat at water park with my boys. Got home at 11. Long day running in the sun. Future Mrs Incontrol wanted to play later. I never say no.

Sunday, I took future Mrs I and her 2 girls to a different water park. All day in the sun again. Running and playing. Ate dinner at 10pm after eating junk all day.

Woke up 6am for 7am shift. Was looking forward to getting out at 3. A nap was planned. Wasn't in the cards though. The closing Mgr skipped out on his job and left me with no options other than stay for a double. 16hr work day.

Was very nice to spend as much time as I did with people I love. Already feels like a distant memory though. Lol.

Isn't it crazy how memories of good times like that fade away so quickly after a long work day?

Thank goodness I took a lot of pictures so I can recapture my mental frame of mind while relaxing.

Hi guys,
Welcome back to work SG. Sounds like you had just the right amount of vacation :)

Glad you had a great time Inc, such a difference not drinking and smoking, right? I am looking forward to my second sober summer, and I am not romanticising a cold beer (I could, but then I add on the hangover, the ill-tempered days etc.).

Right, onwards and upwards.

Have a wonderful Monday everyone!

OMD

It really is a lot different heading into our second sober summer, isn't it gang?

I remember waking up each morning last summer, not fearing overpowering urges, but just with a tentative, cautious optimism that today would be better than yesterday.

Now I wake up each day knowing that no matter how good or bad it ends up, I will be sober at the end of it and hangover free the next morning. The daily obsession is gone, replaced with a calm normalcy.

It is a beautiful thing.

2nd summer. Haven't even thought of that.

Amp / Star -
I see you guys are active in our sister group Apr16. Now that they are further along, it's not a train wreck any more. Much easier to offer support. I remember going into it thinking how great it would be to support them, only to get burnt out relatively quick. A whole lot of drama going on there. I had to back off as it was negatively effecting my days.

Sure is nice to see a few solid quitters take form there. I'm so happy for those that crossed the battle field alive.

Over at my tobacco forum, somebody had beautifully shared a story about helping somebody he cared for like a brother who wanted to quit but hasn't been able to do it on their own. You can feel the emotions as you read his story about helping somebody.

Got me thinking. I know how it feels to help others. It's very rewarding. On my reply to his post, I mentioned that given how much he loved and cared for this person, that the experience must be that much more powerful. That it must of made him high.

Right then, a light went on. I've been spending most of my adult life chasing a high. Lately, I've been experiencing high's of different kinds. I get high from working out, from running, from altruism, and even from eating right.

When I do something right or good for me, I get high or a rush to various degrees. That's an awesome sign for me, because that means my reward system is functioning relatively normal now.

The second summer really is so different to the first. We were only a few months into our journey last year and the summer season was a real test of resolve. I think we're all a lot more comfortable with who we are and where we're at now. I don't miss drinking at all but I sometimes fleetingly miss having a drink. There is a big difference for me between drinking (getting wasted) and having a drink (the romanticised chilled beer/glass of wine). Shame the two are not seperable for people like us!

I'm going to look up April '16 again. I told myself I would when the dust settled. It will help keep me grounded too.

Nice to hear from you all! How's it going Cauli?

Sobriety has become our alternate reality.

Wow!

Wow is right. Especially when you consider how many day 1's were posted.

TBH, I want to get drunk once in a while. I don't care if I have a glass of wine or a beer. I just want to have a few and party like it's 1999.

Rare, but it happens.

That's great Inc. A very thoughtful thing to do. Guess what - I got a handwritten thank you card from a client yesterday - I was just doing my job. Anyway, showing appreciation and support for others is a sure way to live a better life.

Ok so today I am going to say thank you to someone and mean it. Join me!

Best wishes
OMD

Amp, forgot to mention Carlos was asking about you a while back. I told the folks that you had a ton going on and would probably check back when your life slowed down a little. Saskia and toots also asked me to say hi and good luck to ya.

Man, these long days are wearing on me. My diet has been junk. Made effort to eat healthy today. . Not expecting an immediate turn over. I want to stay on this path so I can handle the workload.

Haven't worked out in a couple days either. Going to do that in the morning.

I have a phone interview tomorrow. Wish me luck. Last job was declined on background check. I have law suits pending bankruptcy and driving with a suspended license last year. Oh well. Pushing on.

Good luck Inc! Charm them like ya charm us!

Good luck Inc! Would it make sense to say up front to the company that you have these law suits pending which will come up in a background check but that this is all in the past etc. and explain how long you have been in your current job, to give them comfort over your present stability, and why you're looking to move on etc.? Just an idea.

Best wishes
OMD

OMD, yes. Thank you. That is the direction I'm going. No surprises. I'm going to be a little softer on 1st interview in an attempt to gain interview with the hiring manager. There, I'll be sure to expose the issues they'll see, what I learned, and convey my strong desire to return to an industry I have been very successful with.

Got a feeling wasn't great. I learned a lot though. Got an app that recorded the call and had the chance to review my responses. Learned a lot from that. Like I have to say "um" a whole lot less. Lol. Sound more positive. Spend less on why I ended up losing my job and surround the explanation by positives.

The reason you'll bounce back, and higher, Inc, is because you're so self-aware. When you practice your responses try 20% on the past and 80% on the future. With practice you'll get it to 10/90 and be completely future focused but respectful of the past.

Good luck

OMD

Thank you for the compliment OMD. I am my biggest critic. Can be a blessing and a burden.

And the advise? WOW... I love it!

Thank you.

It is easy to be overly critical of yourself. I also love OMD's advice ;)

Well if I can help that's great!

Went to a sports thing today. Parents drinking. Interesting what booze does to people. Not pretty after a couple hours. I felt a bit left out for a while I'll admit (or rather that I just didn't want to join the crowd - there was a loudmouth talking crap) but that thought passed and was replaced by a feeling of being glad I was with my son and enjoying his company and not that of the drinkers. Funny how you can want something that is so wrong on so many levels, how there are different parts to the brain that think differently.

Anyway, I survived very comfortably and am already looking forward to a sober Sunday morning!

Best wishes
OMD

Funny when we find ourselves in those kind of trigger situations. Barbecue at my house last night. That would have been the perfect excuse for caning the beers and wine back in the day. It was fine yesterday though. I daringly smelt the wine. I was curious and wanted to remember what it was like. It wasn't that I wanted to drink it but I inhaled the bouquet deeply and was reminded of the hit and the high but also of those horrible wine hangovers. I'm not sure why I did it but I knew I wasn't going to drink it. Curiosity, but then I thought how curiosity killed the cat!! Maybe I shuldn't do that again!!

I bumped into a guitarist from my old band today. He was talking about maybe making a record with the material we never put down. I found myself justifying why I had given up booze and how that had led me to give up music too. We had that kind of conversation in which he was trying to convince me that I don't really have a problem and me insisting that it is a problem if it's a problem for me. I think most people don't know the extent of my drinking at its height. As you may recall I was very much one to drink alone although, of course, I'd happily drink along with everyone else in any social situation.

Anyway, later on I noticed AV starting up... Julio said you don't have a problem. Julio says it wasn't so bad. I reminded AV that Julio really doesn't know anything about it and we're back to business as usual!!!

Take care all! Any word from Cauliflower? Missing those dulced tones!!