Introduction
 

Hi all. I just joined, and wanted to introduce myself.

I started down the sobriety road almost three months ago, and my trip so far has been a bit rocky. No problem giving up alcohol, my DOC. Big problems dealing with all the emotional crap that incited my problem drinking to start with.

I'm hoping to participate here and get some support and insight from those of you who have been through similar experiences, as I guess many of you have. One particular difficulty I am dealing with is that I have no emotional support team at all. I have a therapist who I talk with for an hour a week, and I read a lot of books, but most of the time I am on my own.

Hopefully some of you can provide the emotional support I am lacking so I can get through this in one piece. It doesn't help that I am stuck in the Northwest with no sunshine for the next few months!

SunSailor59

Welcome to Sober Recovery and great job on the 3 months!

:welcome to SR Sun

I get a lot of support here on SR and I am sure you will too.
I like the thread called Class of January 2012. It is for people that started the sober journey in or around January so we are all in the same boat.
There are around 100 members in the class so there are a lot of useful posts as we get to know each other.
Feel free to join us. The more the merrier.
Good luck on your quest.

Hi and Welcome,

I'm glad you posted, and it's good that you have a therapist to talk to.

You'll find lots of support here.

(((SunSailor59))) - Welcome to SR!! Though I did eventually get some friends and family who are supportive, when I first began "recovery road", I spent hours and hours here (okay, I still do). I read through a lot of posts, found out I really wasn't alone, and started responding or asking questions, a little at a time. Now, I'm all over the board, and have found tremendous experience, strength and hope everywhere I go.

I'm glad you have a therapist, and I think SR will help fill in the extra support thing:)

Hugs and prayers,

Amy

Thanks all for the encouraging words. I keep trying to remind myself that I really do have a lot to be thankful for. I have a good job, which allows me to be able to afford a therapist. I have a home, a cat for companionship. I have no bills to speak of. I have loads of time to spend on fixing me. I'm healthy, intelligent, loving ... Damn, I'm even starting to like myself now!

Sometimes it's hard to break away from the painful work that has to be done, and to just take a step back and focus on the positive aspects of life for a change. I have to remind myself to do that once in awhile.

Welcome to SR SunSailor :)

D

Hi SunSailor. Welcome :) Nice work on your sober time! I too am in WA & have horrible winter blues :( I have been forcing myself to walk my dogs at least an hour a day even though I have to do it in the dark sometimes. I have a good headlamp. The walking seems to help a lot.

I hope you like it here! It is really comforting & helpful to read here.

(((SunSailor))) - when I first began recovery, I had been told that gratitude lists were a really good thing. I was not feeling gratitude. My first list? I said "I'm grateful for a soft pillow and bed" because I'd been in jail, and trust me, pillows and "beds" there were anything but soft. I said it through gritted teeth.

Funny thing, it did work. Within a very short amount of time, my gratitude list was so long I finally said "and everything else":)

Today? I say "The good, the bad, and everything in between - I am grateful for my life and for each day I wake up". I didn't come UP with that until some time in recovery, but it really does help.

Hugs and prayers,

Amy

Welcome SunSailor! Congratulations on your three months - that is fantastic :)

We certainly will be happy to provide you with support and encouragement. When I came dragging in here over 4 yrs. ago, I felt completely alone and isolated from the rest of the world. No one in my life understood what I was going through. Once I was welcomed here, I felt a huge burden lifted from me. I hope you'll feel the same.

Thanks Impurrfect. I think you are absolutely right about gratitude lists.

Last Thanksgiving I was about a month into recovery, had lost my wife and destroyed my marriage. I had to eat Thanksgiving dinner at the local Grange because I didn't trust myself to be alone.

I walked around town after eating and started thinking about what I had to be thankful for. I surprised myself by coming up with a pretty good list. That exercise put me in a much better place mentally.

Recently I have been so focused on working on all of the emotional issues I have that I have forgotten how uplifting it is to just remember once in awhile that I don't really have it so bad - at least others have worse things they have to deal with in their lives, and they do ok.

By the way, my companion looks very much like your "Patches" and I am very thankful that I have him.

SunSailor59

Best of luck SunSailor. I've just found this website today, find it really supportive. I've been slipping and sliding for the last couple of years. Now that I've put the drink down, I need to get to know myself what truly makes me tick and why i sought to escape through alcohol in active addiction. I'm just starting the journey and with the help of people I can identify with in these forums and chatrooms, I know things can be better, one day at a time. I wish you luck.

Welcome dill! I know you'll enjoy being here, too. :)

Welcome to both of you! ;D

Welcome SunSailor and dill - glad to have you both with us!!

Congratulations on your sober time, Sun! I'm a cat lover too....:c014: