CeeFarro

So I'm on day 3 with no alcohol and feeling good. I have gone 2 weeks before
so this hasn't been too hard for me but I'm still proud of myself and know it is
a great start.

It's not the time as much as my frame of mind and thinking that I am grateful
for..if that makes sense.

I have read several posts from people who are really newly sober who talk
about going to parties and being around drinking their first week..I am not
judging, it is just tripping me up a little.

There is no way in hell that I want to be anywhere around alcohol right now.
I'm not saying that I would be tempted..but I just don't know and won't take
the chance.

I have been left feeling very humbled by the whole thing..Am I a weakling?

Anna

No, you are a very smart person!

I knew instinctively that I could not be around alcohol or people who were drinking for a long time. I honestly believe that knowledge gave me the edge to get through the early months of recovery. I think it was close to a year before I went to a cocktail-type party and it was wonderful. I was so ready for it, calm, in the moment, and I had a great time.

Bikeguy

There is no reason to put yourself in those situations unless they are totally unavoidable, always better safe than sorry! Great job on the 3 days!

CeeFarro

I just cancelled an annual vacation that my sisters and I have gone on together every July for the past ten years. They are pretty pissed at me and think I'm being a selfish drama queen. I feel like this is a life and death situation. Just because I appear healthy on the outside doesn't mean much. I"ve been running 5 times a week at 6 in the morning hungover as hell for years and am very picky about what I eat..but.. I also drink like a hobo..lol(not kidding)

Elphaba

Your last line cracked me up, I too drink like a hobo, appear healthy, exercise, and eat well, however, I also held the beliefs that vodka-soda was a health drink and wine didn't count.

Dee74

I took time out from all those kind of things - I didn't go back until I was sure of myself and my recovery.

Different strokes I guess, but I consider those few months were a great investment for me and my sober future

D

Missy7

I have just begun refusing to go to events involving alcohol, after about five brief failed attempts to stop drinking. So you are definitely making the best decision. But if you could run hang over...man. Good for you.

CeeFarro

I think that the running hungover was a strange way of punishing myself..And for some
reason, unless I drank until passing/blacking out, I would wake up super early and not be
able to go back to sleep..my head racing. Running has been away for me to escape my
thoughts and manage my drinking..

1undone

I really can't do anything that I feel uncomfortable with even if it involves family. I have to put this sober thang first otherwise I'll be at day one again. I'm WEAK! I'm too unpredictable right now. I understand how you'd think it odd that newly sober people could attend parties, etc. I don't need that kind of test.

ETA

Of course you're not weak. Standing up to sisters shows that.

I am only on day 3 - mostly I know from years of quitting smoking how hard it is to be around the thing you are trying to quit. Right now I feel like I could handle a social gathering but there is no way I would go on a vacation with the girls.

Squishyboots

Wow!~ I can totally relate to your comment on health. I have been running the last couple of years after my son was born and was a stickler about the food we brought in our house. I would get up every morning before work at 430 am and somehow manage to workout. Yet every night I would come home and drink until 8 then put the kids to bed and pass out myself around 10. I'm a freak about health after many years of addiction to drugs, except for alcohol? How does that make sense?!!!

CeeFarro

Last year when we went, it was pretty bad in my opinion..My fiance is an athlete and was competing at an event which is a main attraction at the place that we visit..He was badly injured with a concussion, and couldn't even remember his own name with a torn open chin.

I was buzzed and only cared about getting drunker..I didn't care that he was hurt or
that he didn't even know who he was..I only cared about partying.

Later in the evening at a huge gathering I bumped into a woman and proceeded to
tell her to f&*k off..And I was the one who stumbled into her...The next day, I blamed
it on the fact that I hadn't eaten carbs for a week..

This is the norm for the "family" vacation that I'm avoiding...

CeeFarro

I think with the exercise/health thing, I've been trying to control at least one thing with
my body because my drinking is sooooo out of control..

Squishyboots

Wow - well you are being honest and clear now and that's what counts. Please keep in touch and let's plan on running without the hangovers this week! What a change that will be for me....We can do it!

Wolfy87

I think I am very weak right now. I cannot be around alcohol at all. I feel that until I become a stronger person, I need to not put myself in situations where people drink. I shouldn't go to parties where there will be alcohol and I think people that care about me should understand if I don't want to be around alcohol. I don't want to be around alcohol because I just can't control myself and it's too easy to slip.

I relate to you because I too am in the early stages of recovery. I just know for health reasons that I can't drink. Enjoy living a sober life.

Fenris

Like a few others have said here, there's no way I can be around alcohol, and other people just have to understand that (or not). The way I see it, my sobriety is more important than what other people think about me. There'll probably come a time where it won't bother me (as much) to be around alcohol, but that time's not now. I was selfish in my active addiction, and in a way, I have to be selfish in my recovery (I like to think of it as "acting in my best self-interest"), by not putting myself in situations that might tempt me, by putting my recovery first, even if that means there are times that I have to avoid family and friends. I hope that makes sense.

--Fenris.