Originally Posted by bandicoot2

Good morning beautiful people, please count me ALL in for another 24 hours of freedom.
Congratulations to our fabulous Milestoners!!

Thank you all for sharing your stories! I don't even know where to begin commenting and I'm in awe of our Angels who do that every day.

Personally, I replaced my FB time with SR time and it's really one of the best decisions I made to support my sobriety.
Hugs, peace, strength and love to all....xxxx

Originally Posted by joandmelandhan

Awww Snufkin you are so cute!
Honestly you could actually be like my own daughter you look just like my Hannah and me at a young age. That's it! Consider yourself my official SR daughter from now on!

Originally Posted by kenton

There's something about being by the sea that really helps me get things into perspective. Last night I started thinking about the way I am and the types of people that drive me bonkers and suddenly it came to me........ I'm an empath!! It makes perfect sense. ... don't know why I haven't worked it out before. That's why I love trees, fossils, the sea, can always tell when a person or animal is suffering....and why I can't bear inauthenticity. It's why I can tell straight away when someone is saying something they don't mean, it's why I can't tolerate facebook or violence on tv..and why I feel drained after being in the company of certain people.

I spent some time googling empaths last night and guess what? Empaths are prone to alcohol and drug addiction. I think a lot of us on this thread may be empaths and whilst many of you are probably enlightened and know all about it, I'm playing catch up. The most important thing is to protect ourselves from energy vampires......narcissists, life's victims and drama kings/queen's. If we're not careful these people will sap our energy, make us feel bad about ourselves which can lead to anger and resentment which can lead to relapse.

I apologise to anyone reading this and thinking 'what a load of nonsense'. I'm married to an extremely grounded guy and when I started telling him last night that I think I'm an empath, he smiled, gave me a kiss and said, 'why don't you give being normal a go!!' I get it..... I wish I was as grounded as my hubby. He's met the same narcissists as me but whereas I'm left reeling for months, he thinks 'there's a narcissist. I'm going to avoid him/her from now on' and he moves on with his life..... no anger, no resentment, no issues.

I wish I could be more like him but this is who I am. And the world needs empaths just as much as it needs grounded people. The world needs everyone .... probably even narcissists. And if this post helps one person recognise they are maybe an empath, it will be worth posting. Because once you recognise you are an empath, you can start to learn how to keep yourself happy and safe.

Sorry if none of this makes sense. I've had a lot of sea air and I'm not used to it! Love to everyone and 24 more for me please xxxxx

Originally Posted by joandmelandhan

Ooh la la! 10 months hurrah! I don't think I'll ever stop getting a giddy thrill seeing my name on that list. Thank you Suze darling you're a peach!
Stubbs darling please take care and promise you'll post straight away if you're struggling. You know by now that effing addiction loved to isolate us. Lots of love ❤❤❤
Am I too late to the party to add my twit twoo to the cute new couple? Ooh Neoo you both look so cute and happy! Thrilled for you both ❤❤❤
Boiler day today. Hot water will at last return! Yippee! Must admit I'm slobbing in bed and really need to get up but ugh I'm a bit anxious. It does this sometimes but I will indeed get my bum out of bed and brew a coffee.
Lots of love to everyone and my thoughts to anyone struggling. We have to do this together guys go team 24! ❤❤❤

Originally Posted by SaturatedSeize

Good morning friends, Day Nine for me and haven't had any urges to drink yet.

Still very focused and determined.

Have a great day, congratulations to milestones, stay safe and hydrated (for the HOT areas).

Much love.

Originally Posted by venuscat

So very happy for you Sunflowerlife..... ♥♥♥

Originally Posted by Kit2017

8:37 am here...

Back to Day 1 as unfortunately I Relapsed

24 Hours for me please!!! I really must not drink!!!

Friday I had some real nasty messages from my ex, we had some things to swap back and without boring you with all the details my anxiety and nerves just went though the roof so I picked up and got really drunk Friday night, Saturday I got up late and felt all edgy and not myself and had the new man I'm seeing coming over to collect me and take me over to his for the weekend, sooooo I drank a few more to keep me calm or so I told myself... I drank quite a bit that night and then sneakily drank some G&T's Sunday morn when I woke there, calmed it down Sunday, I had the couple in the morning then one with Sunday dinner then no more after that, yesterday I caved again and drank a bottle of wine so today I'm back to Day 1...

I'm so upset with myself but I'm having to really try and disregard it and just keep moving forwards because I am under serious pressure with work and finances that if I let this knock me I'm going to sink and be in a real mess.

I'm still picking up the pieces from months of binging so just covering my rent and bills this month which are due Thurs are bordering impossible. The only chance I have now to have what I need all rides on today, me securing some meetings for Thursday which I will get paid on.

Not sure what else to say, completely messed up but I feel ok ISH today and just want to get my results today so I'm safe come Thursday...

K x

Originally Posted by julietUK

Hi everyone. Haven't posted in a while (apart from check in) but always read them all. Well done snufkin, so glad you and bf sorted Jo. Neo, you and your girl are a treat for the eyes. What a lovely pic, I wish you all the happiness.

Glad you are still with us Gabe, I know what you mean about impossible targets and the devil word 'should'. Looking back I think that has caused me to relapse on many occasion. I used to think 'if I didn't drink I would do blah blah blah, then I stopped drinking and didn't do half of it, so may as well drink ......

This time I tried to set myself realistic targets, small daily jobs, which most of the time I do. But I still suffer from the self loathing and self criticising. I know romance is in the air on this thread today but sadly I left my husband at Christmas. I had to for my sobriety and my sanity. But the relationship has left me in a bad way self esteem wise. I can't believe what I tolerated from him. I am trying to move on but it is hard. So many regrets. And sitting here beating myself up for just about everything does not help. I too need to lose weight, have gained a lot since I stopped drinking, and left the marriage, lots of comfort eating going on.

Sorry for the moan, just having a bad day. I am so glad to be sober and clean but I do have trouble forgetting the past. I think I will be single for the rest of my days, can't trust anyone, least of all myself.
Thanks for listening.
Kenton, so happy to finally see your dog, I feel I know him, bless. I left mine with my husband and I miss her terribly.

Originally Posted by Snufkin

Greetings from Snufkin and Snufkat! Umm I'm pretty sure he still thinks he's a tiny cat... boi, I like snuggles, but I still need to breathe!


I've got three days for the final hand in at Uni, but for some reason my brain doesn't register it as an 'emergency' and I can't focus on anything. La la la let's watch some Netflix... Maybe it's better that I'm not stressing over it? AV has been really quiet lately, which makes me very happy.

Uh I'm still not fully awake... gonna grab some coffee now...

Congrats milestoners!!

24 more, pretty please.

Originally Posted by Sunflowerlife

6:40 am
It's a beautiful day to be sober and awake!

This is the first time I've gotten online since Friday- it felt so good to be disconnected and emmersed in nature and in God. My retreat was absolutely mind blowing. I can't even put it into words. We moved, we danced, we shook and screamed, we cried, we hugged, we meditated and lay down on the grass, we sat in silence, walked in silence, did yoga, took deep breaths together, sang together and were reborn in more than one way. I also fasted for the entire retreat (ended up being 51 hours) which made it and even deeper, vibrant experience for me.

I am a new person in so many ways. We have been encouraged to "keep building" on our spiritual practice and that's what I've been doing. My morning routine is now forever changed- instead of going on the computer first thing, I go outside to the patio, do a meditation with my husband, some yoga (sun salutations for now), warm up my spine with some kundalini yoga moves and then when it feels right I get online.

I went through so much healing at the retreat but the last exercise was probably the most profound. We did integrative breathing for 20 minutes (deep breaths without a pause at the end) and focused our attention on contacting God, Source, The Divine etc. The message I got was that to truly become LOVE, I need to forgive my husband for the ways he hurt me in the past, LET GO and begin to love him again. I haven't been allowing myself to connect with him emotionally for years now, even though his completely redeemed himself and changed his actions over a year ago. But when I got home I gave him the biggest hug ever, told him I was sorry and that I loved him. I haven't been saying "I Love You" much either but now I say it daily. Each morning when I see him I hug him (before I would barely look at him.) It feels good to know that I am capable of loving him again because honestly I wasn't sure that I could do that until now.

Both boys were home from school yesterday and where I would normally panic and just let them watch tv half of the day so I could "check out", I actually engaged with them for most of the day. We did art, took a walk, rode our bikes, danced and for the most part had a great time. I still needed a break from them 5.5 hours in, but it worked out just fine. I only yelled once out of frustration which is a huge accomplishment for me. I felt connection, love and trust from both of them. I am not the same mother I was before this retreat. I have so much more love, gratitude, kindness and compassion in my heart and sometimes I get so overwhelmed that I begin to tear up about it.

I hope you are all doing well- I'll try to catch up as much as possible but in all honesty I think it's probably best if I just do my quick check ins to commit to my sobriety and then get off the computer. I just want to live more- feel more, do more and for me the computer can really rob me of my time- I get so sucked in not just here but on FB and other places.

I am sending my love to each and every one of you- I truly, deeply LOVE YOU from the depths of my heart...

Here for 24 more hours of freedom from the chains of alcohol and the hells of binge eating.

8 days binge free
391 days sober

Originally Posted by SaturatedSeize

Good morning friends, Day Nine for me and haven't had any urges to drink yet.

Still very focused and determined.

Have a great day, congratulations to milestones, stay safe and hydrated (for the HOT areas).

Much love.