DG0409

Be willing to try new things for your sobriety and continue to think of ways to improve your sober life. Feeling bored? Find a new hobby. Feeling lonely? Find new social things to do. Look for real solutions for any problems that you encounter.

ksass

I'm only on day three...but just went to yoga, and it does wonders. I did some Zumba after that. The natural endorphins of exercising has been helpful the last few days.

Hope4Life

Address your AV with DETERMINATION. You have to want it to succeed, so be prepared for a fight... the most IMPORTANT fight of your life!

SnoozyQ

It's a fight worth winning , in every way xx

EternalQ

Bump

yeahgr8

Go to AA, why do it alone we did that when drinking?!

Croissant

If your danger time is on the way home from work/when you get home....always have a plan each and every day for what your night time holds. In early sobriety, I planned ahead what I was having for dinner each night, so there was no question, get home, start dinner...eat. I found once I'd eaten, and had a full tummy, a large desire to drink had gone.

Marcher13

Don't just take things away, build new things in.

Not drinking your preferred tipple? Choose a NA drink that you like, get out a nice tumbler, some ice, pour and enjoy.

Not having Friday night drinks? What would you like to do? Go to a movie? Eat pizza? Eat a lovely meal at a restaurant? Go home and read? Go for a walk in the evening if you live in a safe area? Perhaps pick up an old interest -- music, painting, whatever it happens to be. Maybe ask a friend to come over for Saturday brunch.

Don't just take away, build up.

Aellyce

I really enjoy trying new things. New ways of thinking, approaching problems, new experiences, basically very drawn to the unknown in general.

Drinking seriously limited this as I degraded myself to a bunch of repetitive habits.

So recovery is exciting to me in that it does not only provide opportunities to explore, but requires this to be successful. I always get inspired by the stories of people with longer term sobriety saying how it's opened up lots of new avenues and a life never imagined before. I do believe this because I turned my life around a few times before in other contexts. When I was drinking, I became very jaded and cynical, and did not believe those statements.

Now I feel I am able to think like my "old self" and know it's an open ended journey, I do believe we are free to make of it almost anything if we do work on it. I'm kind of slow with the implementation of some of the new approaches I get interested in, but usually they happen if I really put my mind into them. While drinking, these ideas and desires were mostly drawn by alcohol.

What better world than recovery to be in for someone who loves to explore?

Croissant

Marcher, so true. Saturday night movies was something I'd rarely ever done in my drinking years. In the beginning of sobriety, going to the movies was just to get myself out of the house on Saturday night to remove the temptation/boredom to drink. Then I became to enjoy driving at night and driving home, sober. Tummy full of popcorn, not booze - happy with the knowledge I still had a whole sober Sunday ahead of me, hangover free.

jkirk

I would remind myself that I can't drink in moderation and go for a long walk or run. I'm still using this at day 60.

Mountainmanbob

seems kind of silly

what should one hang out in bars

surprising how many new ones wish not to stop that ??

I need not test the waters today

MM

BuddinK

I printed out my first post here and put copies of it in my office, on my dashboard of my car, on my front door, in my wallet and around my credit cards. Everywhere I went gave me a reminder of where I didn't want to go again.

Kaneda8888

Make sobriety your number one priority.

Everything else and I mean everything tralls behind

This includes:

+your job
+your family
+your weight
+ your "looks"
+ your social events
+ your professional after hour events
+your ego
+your pride
+your friends
+your boss
+your colleagues
+your pets
+your wife/husband/partner/bf/gf/bff
+your house
+your stereo
+your car
+ your boat
+ your summer house
+ your winter chalet
+your jewellery
+your clothes
+your mother/father/MIL/FIL
+ your rubber ducky
+ your anger
+ your resentments
+ your bitterness
+ your self-loathing
+ your facebook/tumblr/pinterest/wechat/scribd/twitter pages
+ your movies/music/TV shows/games
+ your gadgets
+ everything else

If any of the above threatens your sobriety, then dump it.

SouthernBe11e

I have found that rationalizing aloud helps me tremendously! Talking sense to myself out loud, hearing my own words, my bruised mind is comforted and can reason with that. It works for me.

If that sounds crazy, think of all the words we are bombarded with all day long ~ on the radio, on television, on the internet, at work, in our homes, in newspapers, in magazines, books, etc., etc. You can go crazy trying to sort through all the jargon being dumped into you brain.

What could be more reasonable than talking to your self aloud and establishing sanity in your mind?

Karma2014

I have had periods of time, some for a day, some for a couple of weeks, where I've been consumed by the urge to drink. It's not hard to figure out what occurrences or emotions gave me these thoughts, typically.

What works for me is thinking through the process. Looking ahead to what I know just one drink will do to me. It's basically fear that keeps me from picking up. The fear that one drink and I'll proceed to round the clock drinking for a week or more, until I'm too physically ill to continue. The fear of what trouble I might get into during that binge period. The fear of undergoing yet another detox situation and starting out all over again in sobriety.

Scott

Coffeecake

I noticed I had more money now that I'm not buying cases of beer. I try to buy myself a book or something I've wanted but delayed getting for fear if not having money for beer. I also started giving more money to my church. I feel great about actually making the choices I want to make with my money instead of being consumed with worry about having enough money for my alcohol.

EternalQ

Tell yourself you know where the drinking road takes you,
and that now you are going to find out where not drinking can take you.

Soberpotamus

Be willing to let go of old ideas and ways of thinking.

LBrain

Never, ever, forget the reason or event that made you want to stop. Down the road when everything seems to be going okay and you think you can drink again, go back to that day. The way you felt and the consequences of your drinking. Never forget it. Keep it fresh and you will always want to quit - each and every day. Don't let it drag you down, just use it as a healthy reminder.