venuscat

I can onIy say that am not a fan of the near beers or non aIcohoIic wine etc dear BeeIs. s

samwitch

Hi everyone. Day 16 here. Feeling good!

silversky

Re: NA drinks ... I have one NA beer with a meal on rare occasion, never desire more than one. My vice/curse was wine. The NA wines I tried in past were hideous. I couldn't find Fresca the other day so bought Topo Chico for first time (fizzy grapefruit water). It's crisp and refreshing, lighter than Fresca.

Here on day 22. Yesterday I got to leave work 2 hours early thanks to the snow. My AV lit up on my drive home, "oooohhh 2 extra hours to kill." Yeah but no thanks. I was irritable in the evening but woke up rested and grateful.

Today my online fitness program begins. I'll get 3 workouts a week and also have daily written check-ins with a health coach for a year. I have made clear my goal to stay AF, another way to stay accountable. Check in here, check in there. My creaky bones are in for a treat today. I have not worked out in about 2 years and it shows.

Keep moving forward everyone and please keep checking in no matter what. It really helps.

Backtogood

Day 9 checking in. Things are going pretty well, yesterday i had a moment. It started snowing (which it rarely does here) and it's kinda a tradition that if we get snowed in we hit the liquor store and get our buzz on while playing in the snow. I settled for a snow walk with my son. We walked up to the neighbors house and everyone had cocktails, I had hot tea. It will definitely take some time to be comfortable in social situations. Especially with people who have known me for years. I get the "your not drinking? What's wrong? You broken?" Or something along those lines. Kinda frusterating. Hope everyone has a great sober Wednesday!

venuscat

I used to teII peopIe I was taking a break from aIcohoI in earIy days if they asked BTG...I found that stopped anyone pushing me. s

Backtogood

ya, I'll probably stick to that or limit some social situations, however, that is hard because my son has playdates with many of these parents, so avoidance is really not an option. It irritates me, I'm not asking them not to drink, so why does it matter? I'm still me, I'll just remember more in the morning haha.

phoebe64

I’ll possibly face similar questions if I’m not drinking in one particular group of friends, the ones we socialize with most often, and lifelong friends of my husband. Goes way back to college and fraternity days, then first job out of college. They all partied together and still do.

I’ve been trying to plan in my head some canned responses. The truth is that “I’m trying to get healthy.” But, others might take that as me judging their choices. Then, there’s the direct option, “Are you peer-pressuring me to drink?” And laughing them off. I mean, what adult would persist after that? Lol. Last sober stint, worth mentioning anyway, I lost 50ish pounds before my big reveal to the group. So, the focus was on how did you do it? I easily told them cutting alcohol was part of that eating plan.

All that said, at the end of the day, most normal, healthy drinkers won’t care at all if we drink alcohol. The ones who question us or pressure us, probably have some internal concerns about their own drinking habits, and want a drinking buddy.

The one thing I dislike about being the sober one at parties is being the designated driver. I don’t have the best night vision, so hate driving at night, and especially if it’s rainy.

Well, there are all my rambling thoughts about fitting into a drinking group of friends.

Day 26. Getting pretty close to a month!

phoebe64

I’m not a fan either. I simply don’t like them, and don’t waste calories on drinks that do nothing for me. I drank for the feeling it gave me. I do like the taste of wines, and certain beers, and Irish whiskey. But, even when drinking, In recent years, I wouldn’t drink mixed, sweet drinks, because of the sugar and calories. Of course, there were already enough in the wine I was drinking. But, that was my alcoholic thinking and justification for the choices of drink I made.

venuscat

I think it can be a bit threatening for some peopIe....hence they push and ask questions that are ridicuIousIy intrusive. Maybe?
But when you say you are having a break and if pushed, maybe you might say it's for heaIth issues. Or something Iike that. s

venuscat

Thinking you might not have to face the sociaI/party situation for a whiIe yet Phoebe Iove. s ❤️

phoebe64

Only Zoom happy hours, until warmer weather comes along. There’s already talk of all the parties well have once everyone gets vaccinated. 🙄. Zooms are easy though. The medium makes it difficult to have much one on one focused conversation.

venuscat

I must admit I couldn't cope with a zoom party s

phoebe64

Lol.

I wouldn’t call the happy hours parties. We chit chat with drinks in hand. I’ll enjoy a San Pellegrino next time. 😊

Caramel

Two responses I keep in mind to nosy questions of any kind are

"It doesn't matter"

or

"It's not important".

They can be said with a smile, or not, as you please.
And repeated as often as necessary to convey the point.

AL48

Hi everyone Day 58 sorry i haven't checked it for a while but ive been on a right downer over the past week or so. Don't even know why feeling really tired, headaches, irritated by everything. Probably the January blues with it still getting dark early (5pm) which i hate.

Then an announcement last night that we have to stay in lockdown and wait until March 5th to find out if it will continue. Only good thing is ive no urge to drink and i know how lucky i am. I have the best wife and kids, my own home and i can still work as my business is deemed essential.
Anyway well done everyone staying sober and hitting those target's. Have a great morning day and night.

venuscat

Yeah this covid situation is super hard....I am not surprised that anyone is feeIing down s
And I hate the earIy sunset as weII. xx

But....working is good....being essentiaI is good.....and sober is good.
And we have each other....so we are Iuckier than most, I think. s

AL48

Thankyou. Definitely a great move being here with all of you and the support you give. I still find it amazing how similar our stories are.

rosegoldrose

Hey everyone! Wow I haven't checked in for 3-4 days and we have a new page! Love that this is moving fast.
I'm sorry I haven't checked in, work has been really busy and long hours (still wfh which makes it more busier ironically since there are now virtual mtgs for every conversation). We also have had lots of rain, high gusty winds and power outages! Since I'm in CA, we usually have mild weather...but I'm super thankful for the rain.
Hope everyone is well, I need to go back and read all the pages. I lost count but I know I'm in 4th week.

venuscat

I can imagine it is weird for Californians to be deaIing with this weather RosegoId!
Great to see you Iove. s

AlbaSober

Well done pal. You'll have done the drinking coz its snowing, drinking because its sunny, drinking coz there's a storm on the way!

Looking forward to a day ten log in tomorrow. !