They glamorize McDonalds too, but I know it's gross and not good for me. I have no problem saying no to that. :)

Hi everyone. I'm back atter, after... well, you know what after. Back to day 1! Glad to see so many of you are still here!

Wow! I'm on day 2!!! I can't beleive that it took me sooo long to just get 1 day under my belt. I was afraid of the unknown. I couldn't imagine going even 1 night without a few drinks. (more like a wheelbarrow ful of rum)

Honestly, it wan't that bad. Around 7:30 pm I got very quiet and had to try very hard to get my mind in the right place. Alcohol and good-judgement were having it out in my mind, and alcohol was winning. But in the end, I didn't drink.

Today I feel good emotionally. I'm pretty tired eventhough I slept well. I don't have the energy I expected, but then again, my bod is so used to being sluggish in the morning.

Tonight's going to be an even bigger challenge. I'm ready to face it though.

Hello everyone! Made it to day 3 so far, feeling much better about everything. Also the sun came out so that helps a ton too.

I'm generally feeling anxious about the future but I'm doing my best thinking about today only.

:23:..just takin' it easy...

..into my 3rd week,so will start to live my life alcohol free and actually
treasure every minute of the day,instead of getting things done early
so that I can get into an afternoon "booze" session..

..ya know what I mean???LOL..Ozy..:c031:

I'm back! June 24th.

Hi everyone! Welcome back Sleepie and Shalisan and good to have you on board Irisheyes and way to go LittleChicklet and OzBoy! Hope I did not forget anyone!

I was at work around 4:30 pm and went to get a drink/snack in the kitchen. Inside the refrigerator was an open bottle of wine and BAM! I got a craving out of the blue! Rather than dwell on it, I went online and found out where and when I could go to a meeting. I'm not an AAer (SMART recovery is my preferred face to face group) but AA has more meetings and will do in a pinch. So I popped on over to a meeting. I did not feel like talking, just wanted to listen and absorb. It wasn't my first AA meeting, so I kind of knew the drill but every meeting is a little different. There were parts of the meeting that I did not get much out of, but I always come away with a little tidbit of something that helps me. One guy there said, "It's not for those you want it, it's not for those who need it, it's for those that do it." That kind of hit a chord with me.

Also, I always get something out of the old elevator analogy, "The elevator goes all the way down. You decide when you want to get off." That really hits home for me. I do not want to go down to the next level.

While I was there I took the opportunity to read some of the Blue Book (or sorry, is it the Big Book? See, I told you I'm not an AAer!) during the parts of the meeting that I was not getting anything out of. I read about Bill's Story and the hiding the gin bottles around the house and how he was 40 pounds underweight when he was drinking at his worst point. It occurred to me that I lose weight when I drink and used to think that I was so healthy. Now I'm back to normal weight, exercising a whole lot, building muscle and so much healthier! Our bodies need food and nutrients in order to function and when I drank a lot I was skipping meals. And I would go most of the next day without eating either because I was hungover. Ughhh.

So I hope everyone else is doing well!

Good for you TJ - I'm glad you reacted that way :)
Welcome back to you Sleepie! :wave:

D

TJ- thanks for the smile. I am so proud of you for making a positive choice to the craving! We both know what could have happened had you gone the other way. Whether you agree with all of the things in the meetings or not, even getting ONE thing out of the meeting is what it is all about. When I first started AA, I was told "look for the similarities, not the differences". Not everything is going to relate to us, but some things will. Thanks for making me grin ear to ear. One positive choice at a time. My sponsor told me "just keep doing the next right thing".

I am going to get all the help and support i can so here i am june 20th 2010 was my first day.. On day 5 now.. holding on tight!

alex

hiya Alex - they're a good group here :)

D

Welcome to the group, Alex!

Hello all. Sober date 6/1/10. I've been lurking around SR for a while now and although I haven't posted anything, I have to say that this site has been my lifeline, and everything shared here has given me the strength to make it through this past 24 days. Because of my job, it is hard for me to get to AA meetings where I won't be recognized. Thank you so much.

:You_Rock_...'one step forward' and one day at a time..

..she'll be fine...lol..Ozy..n' welcome..:grouphug:

Hi Everybody,

I'm happy to see we've added a few more to our group!

I am finishing up day 10 here. The past ten days have been up and down, but mostly up.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about myself, my life, the past four years of nightly overconsumption, and where to go from here. It's much easier to do with a clear head.

Through all my thinking, the baseline doesn't change: drinking was not working for me and has no place in my life. It promotes failure, not success. I can not drink if I want to accomplish what I want to accomplish, feel how I want to feel, be comfortable in my own skin, and live honestly.

That said, I am trying to sort of my feelings, habits, and thoughts now that I am not drinking every night. That brings up the where do I go from here?

Well, that said, I can do pretty much whatever I want at night. Just not drink. Is checking email sober terrible? No. Is chatting on the phone sober unpleasant? No. Is anything really that bad? No.

I'm really trying to sort of what I need to give my stress and energy to and what I don't. Also to focus on the positive and don't give negative feelings where they aren't needed.

Alcohol wasn't running my life but it certainly was making it progressively worse. My life is very much the same from 8 am to 5 pm. Actually exactly the same but I'm not hung over. What a new and amazing feeling. So, if I find myself stressing during the day, when I didn't drink anyway, about alcohol I use of my three affirmations: shut up, snap out of it, and wow, I'm not hung over and I like it.

At night is a slightly different story. My entire being is different but I'm doing the same things as I was before, just sober and it feels good.

Anyways, that was a bit of a long blabber but it's where I'm at tonight. It is such a change, it takes some time to get used to it.

I guess what I am trying to say was that I spent the last 10 days in a funk, putting my life on hold. Well now I am ready to regain a sense of normalcy without drinking. The not drinking part is still difficult at times but 90% of my day is not only fine, but much better than before. I am keeping my focus on the 90%.

I am so glad you're back Sleepy!

Day 10 check in. Still sober! Hope you all are well.

I am happy to found this websites , I am stop heroin age 18 , sober 10 years , relapsed 28 with ecstacy stopped 2 years ago.

I lost most of my friends, families , my job , i drop out college 5 times ( the last one i finally done 72 credits) , i lost my first marriages.

Drugs cost more than life , brothers , sisters.

My mom died when i was born , my dad died because stress to take care me when i was 18 stopping heroin.

I become a loner ,envy to people ,very emotional , angry and regretful person and loser but i know.....

i stop for good ... i stop for my own good. i am 33 and i know there more life need to catch , there will someone i can love....

I m very lonely but i really did it friends,.... i stopped .... i still stress and felt anxiety with alot of things with my life but ...i know i can do this life without substances...and if someone other struggling... i know u can too .....

Love , love your self , ... change your spirits and souls , it will renew your mind and hearts....

Morning all, day 13 today, which means 2 weeks tomorrow! Whoo hoo! Was a bit miffed yesterday. Had a really, really busy day, planned it all out and did really well. H came home from work and as I hadn't parked the car straight (it wasn't too bad, just out of line a bit at the front), the first thing he asked was if I had been drinking as I had parked really badly like I was p*ssed. Then he said my eyes were glassy! He asked three times during the evening if I was sure that I was o.k. Then to cap it all I went into the kitchen to wash the dishes and blo*dy dropped a plate. It smashed all over the floor. He came running in and stood in the doorway watching me. I felt so paranoid I actually felt guilty! I hadn't had a drink, there is no alcohol in the house and I DONT want one!

i do realise that I have hurt him badly and it will take time to build up the trust again, but aghhhhhhh!!!

Other than that, I'm feeling good and keeping busy, busy, busy!

Love to you all, stay strong and be kind to yourselves!

G.xxx

Build up trust with the ones we love
 

Hi Grace,

I have been married 14 years now, I think I have told my wife 30 times that I am not going to drink anymore. Many times I have stopped for 2 months, 5 months etc. I am on day 5 now & I am not going to mention a thing, actions SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS,

I want to share a little story, most mornings after drinking I don't feel so great, now I wasn't a drink 30 beers kind of drinker, I would drink 6 or seven beers on a week night which made me drunk but not really noticeably drunk.

Anyhow today I had a breakfast meeting, on my way home a car with three teenage guys in it pulled up behind me and they where doing the hoola dance
With there hands and there car was shaking back and forth. Because I feel good now in the morning & my head is clear I laughed my #%^ off and started doing it too!!!

Now that's progress

Have a great day all

Hugs

:ghug3

Rob

Ha ha! Thanks Rob, you have a great day too! Gxx

Morning all! I love the progress, Rob. Mornings are so much more welcome now that I'm not drinking. Just took my dog for a walk and remembered all those days I took him outside while hungover and just felt like crap.

My hangovers were becoming increasingly bad, or I was not able to tolerate them as well, whichever the case may be. Whenever I drank lately I was unable to function the next day, unable to rally myself to do anything until after noon at least. I realized I was wasting my time and my days. And like you Melinda, "drinking was not working for me and has no place in my life." That is just so true in my case. I was getting by doing the minimum amount I had to, but I was truly disfunctional when I drank and much into the next day.

On a brighter note, it's Day 5 for me and I'm feeling awesome. Going to brew a pot of coffee and work from home today. My parents arrive tomorrow and it's my son's 7th birthday party tomorrow, too.

Have a wonderful Friday!!!

Good morning everyone. Today is day 8. Happy to see so many on here doing so well. Keep it up! :)

Welcome to OneStepForward and LoveMeNotHate!!!

It's very quiet!!!
 

What's everyone doing tonight?

I worked from home today, which was kind of relaxing. Hanging out on the couch with my dog now, and I'm going to the dog park with my dog and kids next. After that, will go for an evening run, have some dinner and watch a movie. Doesn't that sound a lot better than getting wasted on a bottle of wine, going on Facebook and getting into arguments with people I don't agree with, or sending embarrassing love emails to old boyfriends? Yep, it does to me, too :)

Hope to hear from everyone later!

Hey TJ,

During all my drinking years I became really, really lazy about keeping my house organized and having pride in it.. tonight I am organizing my kitchen as the beginning of my summer makeover on the place. Not real exciting, but hopefully will give me a sense of accomplishment. :) Have fun tonight NOT emailing old boyfriends.. been there. :)

Super --- I LOVE to organize. Just can't seem to find the time lately. But I think if I continue to stay sober (which I will) I will be finding more time to do stuff like that. Imagine how many days I wasted with hangovers over the last couple of years! It's amazing my house is even in as good of shape as it is! Have fun with the kitchen stuff!!!

Hey everyone,

New here and new to sobriety in June. I hope I can join the group. This thread looks very supportive and like the right place for me

:c031: refcat

Welcome refcat :)

Glad to have you Refcat!

Alex