Hello all, I am not new here. been here numerous times before and just seem to get lost......and not make goood choices. Well I am on day 7 sober. Yay! I am committing to staying sorber this holiday season. We leave our home city to got to Surprise 'AZ for 3 months the day after 'Christmas.

Welcome Travelbug. End of day 38 for me. Jogged 3 miles , had a filling dinner. About to have a glass of cold milk and off to a nice slumber.

Good night, folks!

Welcome back travelbug :)
congrats on the week!

Have you thought about how you’ll stay sober in AZ?

D

Morning everyone

MPR-the snow sounds wonderful. hope your kids had a great day ski-ing.

Scott-hope your day improved. Seems like a few of us had difficult thoughts yesterday.

Congrats on 28 days Scott :)

Welcome travelbug :)

Citrus-glad you got through the night.Totally agree about the obsession. Easier to just not drink at all :)

Erratic - how are you?

Thinking of all our other classmates too and hope everyone is ok.

Off to work soon. In a bit of a dark place but will be ok. Just focusing on not drinking today. Honestly the thoughts I'm having about the upcoming weekend are intense. really really crazy. think I'km going mad :( All this uncertainty in the UK about will they/won't they lockdown isn't good.

Hope everyone has a good day.x

Take it easy, RAL. You will be fine!

Fears one of the AVs most powerful weapons RAL.

I find I just have to let go - there are decisions in this world I'm not consulted on.
If you or I are faced with a lock down, we lock down - drinking won't change that and it won't make you feel any better

All we can do is be as prepared as we can be to get through it, sober.

D.

Thanks Dee and calmself. I know you're right. So glad I posted here. You always make me feel better :tyou

Im sry to say i drank yesterday so im sry to report this and i know i should of posted here for first. im sry i failed but im getting back on the wagon and i know i wont be drinking over xmas as we have the go ahead to be able to go to daughters still. so day 1 again i hate day 1 as i should of been 22 days!!!! i will get there x sry for not coming here and asking for help x

I also drank last night. Was too ashamed and embarrassed to post it earlier. But I need to. Cant pretend or lie. I'm sorry.

RAL, Erratic - when I was here before and I started drinking again, I just dropped off the site, failed. I regret that; it was a huge mistake not coming back to share it and carry on. I'm glad you didn't make my choice... New day today, I hope you feel better and don't be too hard on yourselves.

Day 5 here, Christmas grocery shopping in torrential rain, I have relaxed a little bit about the weekend, thinking that not drinking will be my gift to myself rather than something to struggle through.

I’m sorry you guys drank. I’m sure it didn’t help deal with whatever you hoped it might have.

I spent 20 years drowning out bad emotions - fear, anger, self hatred - it takes courage to deal with those things sober but I promise you guys the fear of doing it sober is way greater than the actual experience.

You can learn to sit with a little discomfort, even with a lot of discomfort. We’re all way more capable than we know, trust me :)

No one is going to tear you down in this thread if you ask for help before you drink - I promise :)

D

hugs dee xx and thanks raggged hugs to u too x and you also RAL xx another day to learn how to deal with our mistakes x
ragged and dee make total sense and your right i know we would not be teared down here x thats something i need to learn to do, wish i know im a broken record as i say it all the time that i will learn and post before i pick up this poison, RAL glad u came and posted as i dont like to pretend or lie either x so lets more forward and remeber we did do 21 days and we cant take that away xx

Hello All

Had a great day yesterday, some quality time with my wife, errands ran, presents wrapped. Kids had a great day of skiing and came home with huge grins (and yawns). I'm moving into day 18. I don't know about everyone else, but I have trouble sleeping in the morning. Was up at 4, forced myself to stay in bed then officially up at 5. Bedtime is usually between 10-11. What a difference, when I drank I would sleep until 10 am, kids would've already been up for 2 hours. Man I can't believe I "wasted" that much time before.

Erratic and RAL, glad you came back so fast. Willing to admit it and start again is great! You're both strong and courageous, this whole addiction thing is hard but you're able to admit and get right back up on your feet.

great job MPR on 18 days x

I am on day 18 after a foolish relapse. Blah. Just a lot of stress and depression which I know everyone has. Day 18 is not very much but I guess it is something. Happy day to everyone.

Thanks Dee and erratic x

I was worried about you yesterday dear Erratic & RAL....I should have reached out....this week is like a huge stress bomb waiting to explode.... being around others drinking over the weekend is upsetting to think about and then the spinning thoughts....fear of missing out....it can crash in on you.

Even though I do not celebrate Christmas, it is all around me and I needed a plan when I moved here.

If I had a family Christmas to navigate, the plan would include lots of nice drinks including cranberry juice and sparkling mineral water and maybe even creamy soda....I love that. And the makings for hot chocolate including marshmallows etc, and my favourite (shortbread) biscuits...this would not all be on the table of course, but I would have everything ready.

The plan goes on.....including times to leave if need be and ways to exit if I am uncomfortable. Even if it is my house....my wardrobe is walk-in....well it would be if I cleaned it out :)

So let's do this together.....and make the journey into 2022 a sober and bright one for all of us! :hug: s ❤️💚

Hi All,

Ive been keeping up on the class but have not posted in a while. This week is stressful especially with the covid cases rising. My sister in law tested positive for covid yesterday and luckily so far her symptoms are minimal. My Dad goes in for brain surgery on 1/4 so we’re all trying to take extra precautions, but with that being said I couldn’t remember the date of my Dads surgery I thought it was closer to the end of January and went to the Eagles game last night. Now I’m praying we didn’t get exposed. We’re supposed to have Christmas dinner with my parents so now I’m really kicking myself for accepting the last minute invite to the game. I guess I can take a test on Christmas Day or just let them know I won’t be attending out of fear of spreading something that maybe I don’t even have symptoms for. they’d understand and be happy I let them know verses putting them at risk.

On top of that I’m doing the hard work of processing abuse I suffered as a child that I repressed and numbed with alcohol for years. I’m thinking about filing a report with the police, but I’m scared of what the outcomes will be. I don’t know what would be worse the person is found guilty and goes to jail/probation or it’s decided to not press charges which would be another situation where my feelings weren’t validated. I’m going to talk with my therapist about it in our session today.

No thoughts about drinking, but I’m feeling really down and I know that alcohol cravings can creep in to “help ease the pain” which I know is actually the complete opposite of what alcohol will do.

Apologies for the heavy post. I’ll be practicing a lot of deep breathing exercises today. I hope everyone stays strong and doesn’t give in to the alcohol trap.

Great job on day 18. That is a huge accomplishment. I wish that I was there. I am on day 8......Stay strong!

Day 8
 

Day 8 for me. I would have had a few more than that but I got into a situation where all of the neighbors were celebrating and one lady continued to offer me the POISON. After about an hour or so I finally grew weak and caved. To me the worst part of starting over is day 1 over and over again. I am committing to staying sober today. I choose LIFE over the bottle.