Mark75

Hey JJB... I switch over to Sprite Zero later in the day....

Welcome, the SR team is great! SR and AA has been the center of my recovery universe. The issues you have, obsession, confusion, wondering how you will keep doing this sobriety thing... forever. We all have them.

When it comes to sobriety, we all have today, just today, and tomorrow, well, then... we'll be back to having today.

Easy does it, none of it makes any sense... it's overwhelming. However,... Just for today don't drink, you can handle that, right? Someone told me early on when I was wrestling with all this... "More will be revealed..."

Oh, unless you have strong feelings about it... get to some AA meetings. Like Taz said, 3 or 4, find one you like... Not only will you find it way helpful,... a recovery program, any one really, doesn't have to be AA, will make your SR experience that much more meaningful...

Welcome!!

Mark

JJB

Thanks cubile75 I think the supermarket will be wondering why their sales of soft drinks has suddenly shot up in one day!! I reckon if i drank alcohol excesssively before i can see myself doing the same with any replacement!
Thanks for your support

least

Welcome! It is possible to get and stay sober, just stay sober one day at a time. Just don't drink for today. Best advice I've ever gotten on staying sober is that you have to want to be sober more than you want to drink.

Welcome to the family! I'm glad you found us!

Mary52

Glad you're here. Lots of support here. I joined less than a week ago and am so happy I found this site. I also go to LOTS of AA/NA meetings.....1, 2, sometimes 3 a day. I can do that since I'm jobless...but I love my meetings. Some are helpful, some are a pain, but I keep going because if I didn't, I might miss one that is helpful.
Don't drink today and tell yourself that every morning. The rest of your life comes one day at a time......

Hevyn

Pleased to meet you, JJB. You made a great choice to join up and tell us your story. SR helped get me sober and keep me that way. (For now, I don't attend AA meetings, but haven't ruled it out.)

The obsession with drinking will fade with time. It was constantly on my mind in the beginning, but when I convinced myself I could actually live (and be better off) without it, I was encouraged and excited by that concept. I only THOUGHT I needed it to live! As for drinks, I did alot of coffee at first, but the caffeine isn't good for our frazzled nerves. I finally switched to Crystal Light powdered mix - you can get many different flavors (found in the same section as Kool Aid.) You add it to a bottle of water - it has no sugar. I do have diet cola too sometimes.

It's great you found us, keep talking!

CarolD

Want to read excerpts from the book that convinced me to quit drinking?
It's full of interesting information....

Click on the link Dime provided please.
Read that .... then the post one underneath.

.....Welcome!

witt44

Hi and welcome JJB ,

Yes , you're right we are great team !!!
:ghug
You can find here every kind of story and probably your own either .
Just read like me .
warmly , witt

coffeenut

Welcome to SR! Keep hanging around and reading and posting! You CAN do this!

OceanBound

Welcome! I joined about a week ago and found a lot of good advice and support. And even though early sobriety hasn't been easy for me, I keep coming back here and get hope that I too can do it.

As for the drinks, I like sparking water and a little bit of fruit juice. Maybe because I can fool myself into thinking I'm having a "real" drink? lol

ZSOBER

One day at a time for sure... You are in the right place..

CrackQuack

Boy can I relate to that! I was in my 2 months of recovery, just craving my drug of choice and spent most of the night killing the keyboard instead. SR really is just an awesome place. I am in the NA, but they don't have meetings, most nights around here, past 9-10 PM, except Friday nights. So where is a "geeker for crack" to go when the feeling comes on? Why SR!!!! And I am happy to say SR has helped me so much I am going on month number 3!!!! YEAH!
And I am SOOOOOO happy SR is keeping you so busy too!
KEEP on congratulating yourself for every minute, hour, day! You can do it! And there will be bad moments to go with the good, but celebrate each good one, and come here for each bad, until you work up the courage to go to a meeting. Meetings are really awesome too! No one will judge you and you will meet all kinds of fellow addicts, with various lengths of clean time, who will be able to help you with your addiction. Just remember to look for the similarities and not the differences. It really helps! Honest!:ghug3

JJB

Thanks for that Hevyn. Thanks to all the great messages of support. I'm starting at last to understand the notion of taking things one step at a time. I just couldn't get my head round it for ages -on the one hand the books said you have to be realistic that you can't ever drink again yet at the same time it said I must only think of one day at a time. i found that confusing but i think i'm getting it now. I didn't have a drink last night which means i've now been sober for 36 hours and thanks to you i actually feel this is an achievement rather than feeling I must be really pathetic to be proud of what would be meaningless to many people. The sun is shining this morning and i don't have a headache (no hangover) so this would normally be the time when that little voice would say "you see it's ok have a drink this evening" but thanks to this forum i won't!!!
Thanks everyone.
hey who can tell me how to put on an avatar. Yours are great and trying to do it will give me something else to concentrate on this evening instead of having a drink.
:ghug

JJB

I did read the section about"giving up and what to expect" is that what you mean?
i've read a lot of(in fact tons!!) books on this subject (thanks to Amazon) and the last one recommended this site which is why i'm here -one of the best bits of advice i've ever had. Having read so many books I now find it refreshing to be in direct contact with others who have gone through or are going through the same.Reading the books convinced me i had to give up but actually doing it was more difficult.

OZboy

want an Avatar,cick on User CP,follow your instincs,you'll be fine! Oz.

Richard54

Hi there JJB!

You can add your avatar by clicking the "User CP" button (top of the page on the left).
Then under 'settings and options', you can choose your avatar.

Glad you are here and now enjoying the sober life.

I drink a lot of juices now in a big beer mug.

Cranberry, orange, pineapple whatever, I just mix a splash of this and that, poured over ice.

When I first found SR and was withdrawing/quitting, I was pretty well glued to this site for the first few days.

I was overwhelmed at all these people who had been sober for so long To me, even a week seemed an eternity at the time.
I couldn't understand how they could possibly do it.

The one day at a time really works. Sometimes it is one minute at a time.....

Hang in there.
You are in for a treat as time goes by.
Sober life is amazing.

JJB

That's exactly how i feel-"overwhelmed". Your message is very encouraging because it gives me something to look forward to rather than just pining over what i've had to give up. Thanks
I'm being treated for depression at the moment and i'm hoping that if i can get the sobriety sorted it will help tremendously.

Tazman53

You may be really shocked after you have been sober a while just how greatly alcohol contributed to your depression.

My depression really got bad in early sobriety, but staying sober and taking the steps have really removed my depression. There are a lot of folks that the steps help out with there depression, but they still need to see a therapist and be put on AD meds due to chemical imbalances in them.

Alcohol is a depressant, I have to say I am amazed that after all of the alcohol I run thru me it did not mess up my chemical balance in my brain bad enough to make me permanently depressed!!

Charmie

hello jjb.im Charmian and im an alcoholic.lots of good suggestions here! one day at a time is a life saver.part of the illness is a mental obsession.i put down the drink at the begining of the year and threw myself into AA and spend a lot of time on here.my obsession has gone.AA gives you a programme for living life,something in the begining i was frightened to death of the thought of how to live life without drink as it was ALWAYS there,physically and mentally.i have a new found freedom away from this.just one day at a time though! i wish you well and keep us posted.AA may not be for you but if you go with an open mind and are willing to try anything to get and stay sober then you have nothing to loose and maybe for you everything to gain.nobody told me it was going to be easy but anything is better than the h*ll of active alcoholism.

JJB

Thanks Tazman and Charmian.I certainly haven't ruled out AA i just don't think i'm ready for it yet. This forum i.e. you are helping me enormously and when i'm confident enough i will go to an AA meeting. i've always read that AA is for people who have already given up and just want to stay like that. I understand from this forum that it's about helping people while they're trying to give up and that's what i appreciate. Tonight will be my second evening without a drink and you're teaching me to pat myself on the back for that.I'm looking forward to waking up without a hangover again tomorrow morning.(instead of looking forward to my next drink)

Charmie

what makes you think your not ready to try AA? if you had an illness that the doctor could fix would you not go and see him immediatly???? stay safe.