saoutchik

Welcome to Weekenders HunterXJ8, ChickChick and Wildchild69, great to see new faces.

There are still a couple of my daughters friends that I feel embarassed to see - was showing off when drunk and fell into a culvert twisting my knee. Pleased not to have to worry about that sort of thing anymore, I still have plenty of ways of showing myself up, I really don't any help from alcohol

BixBees505

FB has not been my "friend" lately. One night I sent out friend requests to everyone whose name sounded at all familiar. Didn't know I'd even done it until the acceptances started trickling in, over days and weeks, as people I don't really know figured "what the heck, I'll bite". Shudder.

petals

Evening all xx

Behappy1

Great topic! I am in also. Looking forward to a weekend of watching my sons basketball games and my daughters swim meets! Maybe try and catch a redbox in there somewhere.

Delilah1

I'm looking forward to a sober weekend as well!

DesertDawg

Thanks a lot, Sao, I'm in.

It is so nice to be at work and take a quick break to go online to see what's going on in the world, and that see the Weekender thread has been posted. It's a reminder that, among other things, we're on the downhill slope for the week and the weekend is almost here (at least for us M-F people...but we can't forget about those that work on the weekends!). It sort of makes Thursdays feel like "Friday lite."

Ruby2

I'm in and thank you Sao.

I somehow was spared the humiliation of drunken facebook posts or tweets or texts. There were some drunken phone calls. I shudder thinking about how I used to try to disguise that I'd been drinking. Speaking oh, so carefully and enunciating so that I wasn't slurring my words but ended repeating myself and getting excited over things that really weren't worth getting excited over.

Now I just have to watch what I say when I'm angry. Somehow, that seems worse now than when I was drinking.

CatfishKid

I'm in😀

Here's to a regret free weekend

LadyBlue0527

But Ruby, THAT is part of the true beauty of sobriety! For the most part we now have accountability. What we say warrants merit! I'll still never forget the first time I had an argument with my husband after being sober for a while. That's if you want to call it an argument, we never raise our voices so let's just call it a disagreement. He actually stayed quiet and listened to me. It was the first time I realized that sobriety had given me the gift of presence and the right to be heard. It was a defining moment.

Thanks for the starter post Sao and congrats on shotgun trees!

I lost the highest paying job that I've ever had due to an email sent while drunk. In fact, it wasn't a job, it was a career. I was Director of Client Services for a software company. One email, that's all it took. I never had an HR issue, never called out sick, they had to force me to take vacation time. So I guess you can see why I blew, I was burnt to a crisp, fried to the core. I can't accurately describe the thoughts in my head when I first woke up and opened my eyes the next morning.

When I think back to all the texts I tried to pass off as funny, when I'm sure whoever I texted knew I was under the influence....well....ugh

I am in for the weekend and thankful I never have to worry about that again!

Ruby2

LadyBlue, that's really rough. We never have to have regrets now. That's the beauty of being sober. Although, accountability. Sometimes I hate being an adult. But I learn as I go on.

StartingOverNW

Thank you saoutchik for the opening. I remember long ago once my drinking habit really got underway I would always make a complete ass of myself when I'd go out drinking, so I began isolating when I'd drink so as to avoid the embarassment (would've been much better to stop drinking to do that but...). I also stopped communicating with people I know when I'd drink, like via email, though in the early days there were a few drunken emails that I regretted.

The end result was very few people saw me when I was drinking, unless they happened to see a very disheveled me going into a liquor or convenience store late at night or early in the morning. In the end I stopped that aspect of experiencing shame around my using, but my world became very very tiny, lonely, isolating, and depressing...and still is to this day.

So here's to ending all of that negativity and to living life again! I'm looking forward to another sober weekend (will be 3 in a row if I make it).

Simplicity4114

I'm in. Happy Thursday Folks

BixBees505

I relate to every bit of this.

Tetra

Dealing with people on the phone is so hard. What happened to manners? My phone rings I pick it up and say "hello department of X". All I get is a bark and "do you want my hospital number or my chart number?" I am sorely tempted to say "well a hello would be nice". I grit my teeth and say "I'll take your hospital number please but just give me a second as I'm not logged on to the computer system". I'm not a human to some people. And I know they are probably not feeling well so I try to take it on board. But still when I was sick I never spoke to the secretaries like that.

Our oven in the house is broken. I arrived home to find my house mate bringing her frozen pizza to our next door neighbour as they told her she could cook it in their oven. Our replacement cooker is in the kitchen but it's not installed yet. My Grandmother was 90 years old when she passed and our "new" cooker looks to be about the same age.

I took myself off out for a chicken and chickpea curry followed by strawberry and white chocolate cheesecake. I have started going to restaurants by myself and to the cinema by myself - which would have been unthinkable for me in the past. I was sipping my tea and thinking back on times past. When I first got sober I went back to my parents. I was not allowed to do anything. And I mean anything. If I wanted to see my friend my dad would drop me off and collect me afterwards. Now look at me My life has changed a lot.

I am not keen on spending the weekend here without my friends or without cooking facilities. So I have decided to do the things I wanted to do on Saturday morning and then I will get the bus to my parents for Saturday night. My father seemed pleased with that and said 'we would be pleased to see you anytime'.
I'm embarassed to say that there was a time when I was so isolated that I just wasn't able to get the bus from their house into town either.

So things do get better with time

BixBees505

LadyBlue and StartingOver...really appreciate each of your posts. Speaking directly to me and many, I know.

BringingBackB

Im in for another sober weekend

It's looking like a busy one. Shopping, live sports events, family gathering, mountain biking and errand running. Might even get a couple of hours relaxation in there too!

BixBees505

Look at you, indeed, Tetra!

BixBees505

BringingBackB...sounds like a full wonderful weekend!

BixBees505

So, a friend has asked me out to do something, anything this evening. I just don't want to go. I don't trust myself. I need a small small world right now. The evening would be great...no booze...but I feel emotionally "delicate"-- Ha! Just going to lay low.

saoutchik

Hi Bees, if "doing something" involves alcohol then you are right to swerve it

I know you will make it three in a row StartingOver

It is frightening the amount of damage we can inflict, mostly to ourselves, at the mere touch of a keyboard or smartscreen. I do not think about this subject that often but when I do it is such a relief not to have to worry anymore