I'm on Day 5 today. I'm doing pretty well, mostly trying to keep busy. Oh, and I know its not really part of this board, but day 13 of not smoking and I'm very happy about that as well...

I start Taekwondo classes tomorrow which I am looking forward to. I want to say thank you to everyone on the board. I dont post much myself, but it is very interesting and encouraging to read your experiences. :tyou

Hey Shane! And congrats on both accomplishments. I quit smokin on the same day I quit drinking...today is 11 for me:-) the two were completely linked in my world...I smoked when I drank, and I drank when I smoked, I don't think I could have quit one and not the other!

Yes, but it takes time. I rarely think about it these days, and haven't since around the five or six month mark.

Murray, I love the way you describe your 'battle' with that 'reptilian part of your brain'! :lmao

Congrats to all on your progress and welcome to any new members of the "yes you can!" thread!

:grouphug:

That is my date too! I am feeling much, much better today! How are you doing?

I noticed that my eyes are much clearer, not bloodshot and yellow tingey. I bet that is how long it took my liver to clean out my system after that last binge.

I want to stay strong. I feel so much better when I am sober----I hate how I feel after a binge, the most godawful feeling ever.

Day 5 and doing well. Was just thinking, I would've been on day 13 and feeling all the benefits that that brings if I hadn't f***ed up on Saturday.

Hope everyone's well.

Yay! TuffNut gets an 'A'!

Just had a moment with my 8 year old daughter...

She was dipping grapes in chocolate one by one and then popping them into my mouth. When she took too long I started snarling and acting crazy, until she popped another one in my mouth and then I would get completely calm and make Mmmmmm nummmy sounds. Then she would take just a bit longer getting each one ready. The crazier I got the more she laughed.

With the last grape she really took her time, and I got snarlier and snappier than ever. Finally, she finished dipping it, then ever so slowly raised it to my lips, then ate it herself!!!!

We belly laughed so hard I squeaked tears out of the corners of my eyes.

Can't remember the last time I laughed so much.

Looking forward to many more sober moments just like that :)

Murray

Awesome Murray! What a great moment to share:-)

Today is Day 11 for me, and I am at my parents for my Dad's birthday. This will be a big test for me and so far I feel good. They were having evening cocktails when I got here after a 5 hour drive, and I felt no temptation to join them. Had one hmmmm moment when my Dad open a bottle of Red, until I remembered I never liked Red wine. Caught a whiff of my Mom's chardonnay and it almost made me gag.

When I get home on Tuesday I will have passed the two week mark:-)

Hi everyone!

Day 5 for me and I am soooooooo tired. It's the weekend but no drinking for me. I have had enough. I am starting to get annoyed by other people's drinking (namely my hub) but that isn't doing me any good. Looking forward to the next day when I feel great with alot of energy.

Hope everyone has a safe and sober weekend.

Hee Hee Heeeeeeeeeeeee :)

Sober mornings have got to be the best, especially when it's the first morning of a three week holiday and it's your wife's birthday. Not getting hosed on the first day of a holiday was a big hurdle to jump, and to make it even bigger I went to a beer and wine store that carries gift items to buy my wife's gift last night and didn't feel the urge to buy some booze!

When our daughter wakes up we're going to make chocolate chip pancakes (YUK! but they're my wife's favourite) and serve her breakfast in bed, then we're going to do "a whole bunch more fun stuff" that our eight year old has planned.

I shudder to think how many mornings and days like this I've squandered in the past. I don't ever want alcohol to steal this new appreciation for life from me ever again!

Murray

Yeah Murray! Have a great holiday!

glad to see everyone's doing well :)

Have a great holiday Murray :)
D

At the end of Day 13, my family seems to be a little confused as to why I am not drinking...in the past they have not been supportive so I am just ignoring their comments this time. Two days and I'm back home and I won't be surrounded 24 hours a day by booze:)

I made it through the weekend!! Last night was especially trying because some friends wanted to come over and drink. I told my husband I would have to take a rain check..........I got myself in bed and actually it was a very internally stressful situation. Part of me wanted to "prove" that I could be a "normal" person. But I knew I wanted to wake up early today feeling great more. The people pleasing side of me felt guilty but on the inside I knew I was making the right choice for me.
So. Here I am! Feeling great!
Hope everyone had a good weekend too.

Needing to experience life without alcohol
 

Hi folks,

Registered here today, posting my first message now.

Seems like a great place and I'll start by thanking all of you for the much needed support you continue to give to people trying to free themselves from alcohol's grasp.

I know I need to quit. There are so many more reasons for quitting than for continuing to drink. Like many others before me, I'll just claim I don't have a drinking problem but deep down I know quitting is the right thing to do.

I don't want to look back on my life and wish I had not drank as much as I did.

I accomplish so much more when I do not drink and I am much better to be around when I am not drinking. I am less likely to go "off the handle" and snap at my wife and teenage children. I read more. I get more chores done around the house. I'm able to intelligently link complex sentences together while speaking. The list goes on and on.

The problem is alcohol is so pervasive in my life: all my friends drink, my family drinks a lot (German & Irish blood).

When I go "on the wagon", I'm constantly thinking about drinking and the number of days I've gone without a drink. At 1 pm today, it will be a complete 7 days without an alcoholic drink.

I'll keep you all posted since I haven't told anyone I'm attempting to stop. People know I've gone days, weeks, and months before without drinking so they know it's not unusual for me to deny a drink. However, they all believe it's temporary and eventually I'll have a drink. But I truly do not want one.

I need to experience what life is like without alcohol in it.

Thanks for reading.

Hi AON!!!! Congrats on 7 days! That's awesome. And welcome to HR, there are so many great people here and so much support.

Today is day 14 for me, unlike you this is the longest I have ever been without alcohol. All my family drinks heavily though most of my friends are not big drinkers. I have also not talked to my family about it. For me it's because the times I have tried to talk to them in the past they have been the opposite of supportive, probably because if I'm sober it holds a mirror up to their problems.

I am finding that the best way for me to stay sober is to remind myself that alcohol has nothing to offer me or anyone else...the anyone else part keeps me from envying "normal drinkers". A lot of people say you have to mourn your drinking life, that doesn't work for me, I would rather celebrate my sober life.

I think everyone needs to do whatever works for them:-)

71910 - Yeah you! Remember the only person you need to please is yourself!!!! You are not supposed to entertain people drinking in your house!

Geez, every month has been my "quit" month, it seems, for the entire year of 2010! I am on another day 3. There have been several of those in July alone!

I will not beat myself up about going back to the bottle. I don't even enjoy it when I do. I have learned a lot in my times of abstinence, whether or not I am attending AA meetings.

I want to stay sober because I have so much to lose: I have been mostly unemployed for the last 8-9 months and just accepted a job that I am really really excited about and that will provide a decent enough salary to pay my bills on which I am really behind. I will be moving to an area where the cost of living is much lower. I just celebrated 3 years of marriage. I love to hike, run, do yoga and lift weights. I can't do these things if I've been drinking or am hungover.

So congrats to all the July folks and people from June and prior months starting over. Change is not easy! Make one day at a time your motto (I have been trying this and then after several days forget...)

:c011:

WOW. How many days have you been there now? You're showing some serious conviction and backbone!!!! You're going to have a huge quiver of urge coping strategies to choose from after you get home ;)

Murray

Hi AON :)

Sounds like you have a really good shot at making it. I live in a really small town where there's limited resources of all kinds, and have found this site to be incredibly important to my staying sober for as long as I have. (Only 21.25 days so far, but that's never been done by me before).

Being able to read of the experiences and share with people who are going through exactly what I'm going through, or have successfully beat booze and/or other drugs for decades, is a lifeline!

There's also tons of information and links to different methods, 12 step and otherwise, to reach life long sobriety.

Take care, and lean on us if you need to...there are many willing shoulders here.

Murray

Hi Murray! I got here Thursday at cocktail hour...it's now Sunday (14th day sober:-) I haven't had any real cravings for a drink, more the occasional knee jerk habitual thought pattern...when those happen, I just recall in vivid detail the dry heaves I had after my last day drinking and I'm pretty good!

One thing I am wondering is that are they drinking more than usual or am I just noticing it more because I am sober...or maybe they are drinking more because it is a special weekend.

Anyway, not only am I not drinking but the things that used to upset me about my family dynamics seem to be easier to deal with, I am not letting them get to me this time.

Yeah!