Julynine

Just got off the phone with my dad who calls once a week for a catch up. He was just 'blowing the froth off a couple' as he put it. It's 9:30 in the morning in the UK!!!!!! Is it really any wonder I have a drink problem???

For me, it's one of the hardest parts of sobriety. Alcohol is everywhere, family, friends, work, functions. It is so ingrained in our lives that becoming detached from it means changing many aspects of your life, not just giving up alcohol.

God knows where we would all be if we didn't have support like this. Thanks S.R!

Day 6 and counting!

Julynine

jstar

Someone said at a meeting "In recovery/getting sober, the only thing you have to change, is everything!"

So true & so hard when it's so commercialized & romanticized every place you go or even every time you turn on the tv!

Congrats on 6 days julynine

Dee74

Licorice is everywhere too...but I hate licorice...never touch the stuff

It takes time to learn to live sober, not be bothered by the way others live and to want to live in recovery...but you will Julynine

D

Julynine

Thanks Dee. I get your point. A little up and down at the moment!

Dee74

oh no worries at all julynine.
I remember that ride for sure

D

tomsteve

alcohol is everywhere. but when i stopped being around wet places and wet faces, put on a new pair of glasses, i saw there were also a lot of people that dont drink.
i went to a charity gig a few years ago. 1st time i was gonna be around alcohol. i knew it was gonna be there. a few things i did to get through it and do it any time i am gonna be somehwre there is alcohol:
be in fit spiritual condition
have the right motive for being there
have an escape route
put on them new glasses and saw that not everyone was drinkin.

there was a funny experience at that function though. there were 2 ladies at the table behind me. they had been packin away the drinks. we had a break in the event and i happened to turn sideways in my chair just to see iffen i knw anyone else there. welp, i got to listening to these 2 ladies who were a wee bit drunk. the conversation was funny. they were both talking, but about 2 completely different topics!! one would say this that and the other, then the other lady would shake her head like,"yupyupyup.", then start talkin about something totally different. boy, did i remember them times!! glad i havent done that in sobriety.

CraigA

Alcohol is every where and sometimes we can't avoid those situations or "phrases" we know about. Today is a new day for us, today is the beginning of the old life and the beginning of the new life just as with new stuff sometimes it is hard in the beginning but we push forward asking for help when we need it. Today be ggrateful for the gift of sobriety because without it we would have nothing meaningful!!!!

God Bless you!!!!

bumble

Julynine, I lived/worked in the UK (Edinburgh, Scotland - where the expected life-span is over 10 years shorter than that of the rest of the UK, on account of the epidemic levels of drinking/smoking, according to an article in the paper I read at the time) for a few months before travelling through Europe (good use of tuition money IMHO ), and, I recall a gent SEVERAL generations older grabbing my hand, around 9 a.m. one morning, to tell me he thought if he "were twenty...NAY...thirty! years younger, [i'd] do for him"....It was awkward, it was...foreign(!) to my young, naive self, but....it did demonstrate the drinking culture - drunk by 9 a.m.?! As did going to pubs that OPENED at 5 a.m., and only became more busy as the sun rose. I guess I shouldn't say "drinking culture," but rather, the ACCEPTIBILITY (is that a word?) of drinking and alcohol....

Alcohol was...in the grocery stores. Even the discount ones. It was at gas stations. ("Gas stations?! Really?! Aren't the people shopping here DRIVING?!" - was my reaction. Liquor is sold at liquor stores and liquor stores ONLY, in my country. That's it. The availability of alcohol in Europe was, to me, shocking. But also - once I had gotten over random elderly gents grabbing my hands on the street - reassuring. I didn't see a lot of "drunk" people. In fact, it was downright delightful. I would see an empty wine bottle beside a park entrance in the early morning and feel envious. In my country, one could easily be arrested, or at least heavily fined, for public consumption of alcohol (just CONSUMPTION - Even if one wasn't drunk).

Anyhow, I don't mean to ramble on. Run-on remininces aside, Julynine, I think I glimpsed the drinking culture you mentioned...And, IMHO, if people can be so casual about drinking, surely they can be casual about NOT drinking?

bumble

Not trying to minimize your problem! Good heavens, what do I know?

mecanix

My alcoholism is my problem . Other people, their choices and actions have no effect on my choice to remain sober . Acceptance , letting resentments go and building compassion is what i choose to focus on .

Wishing you good luck on every sober day, M

ru12

It was comforting to me when I realized that I don't HAVE to drink anymore. For a long time, I drank if I wanted to or not. I often feel a bit sad for the people that are still tied to the booze. Not it a superior way at all, just sad that some think they need it to have a good time. I've been sober a while and I am having so much more fun than when I was smashed!