Long Days Long Nights We Can Stay Sober Weekender 16-18 June
saoutchik
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: London
Posts: 16,174
Long Days Long Nights We Can Stay Sober Weekender 16-18 June
My shaky mathmatics informs me that I have lived through about 2000 weekends since adulthood. 2000! That's a lot of weekends.
Folks with a healthy relationship with alcohol would not be able to recall much of the active and varied activities they did on their weekends but as an alcoholic I know exactly what I did with many of mine.
I finished work, I drank, I drank some more, I fell asleep (blacked out), I woke up, suffered, did little, started drinking again, rinse repeat until Monday morning.
On this site we have that thing - illness, disease , affliction, call it what you will - that means we crave drugs or alcohol. It is just a malfunction in a part of our brain, we WANT drugs or alcohol but we don't NEED it and once you can really get your head around the fact that cravings are just a bit of broken neurology it does make them easier to dismiss.
SR member and fellow Weekender Nonsensical has a much more succinct way of describing it "don't believe everything you think"
The weekend can be a very difficult time to stay drug and booze free but on this thread we help each other to get through it and just as importantly try to have a good time doing so.
It may be that you have not yet been able to stop alternatively you might have over a decade of sobriety, you might be young you might be old no matter. All are welcome, you only have to want to live sober.
In my hemisphere the daylight hours are at their longest, in the other hemisphere you have the longest nights, either way let's make the most of them!
Folks with a healthy relationship with alcohol would not be able to recall much of the active and varied activities they did on their weekends but as an alcoholic I know exactly what I did with many of mine.
I finished work, I drank, I drank some more, I fell asleep (blacked out), I woke up, suffered, did little, started drinking again, rinse repeat until Monday morning.
On this site we have that thing - illness, disease , affliction, call it what you will - that means we crave drugs or alcohol. It is just a malfunction in a part of our brain, we WANT drugs or alcohol but we don't NEED it and once you can really get your head around the fact that cravings are just a bit of broken neurology it does make them easier to dismiss.
SR member and fellow Weekender Nonsensical has a much more succinct way of describing it "don't believe everything you think"
The weekend can be a very difficult time to stay drug and booze free but on this thread we help each other to get through it and just as importantly try to have a good time doing so.
It may be that you have not yet been able to stop alternatively you might have over a decade of sobriety, you might be young you might be old no matter. All are welcome, you only have to want to live sober.
In my hemisphere the daylight hours are at their longest, in the other hemisphere you have the longest nights, either way let's make the most of them!
Sober since October
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: In the world in my eyes...Somewhere I've never been before...
Posts: 7,355
Thank you for the thread, Sao!
I am not sure which hemisphere I am living in right now because the days are the longest, but the weather is textbook fall - +11C and non-stop rain.
I am not sure which hemisphere I am living in right now because the days are the longest, but the weather is textbook fall - +11C and non-stop rain.
Sober-T- Dragon
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: Manitoba
Posts: 8,755
Thanks for the thread Sao. I use to use the word 'Survive' allot in my train of thinking. IE needing alcohol to 'survive' until the next day. One of my evening routines was count my cans of beer then in my head would be the thought 'Good, I have enough to survive thru tomorrow'. I think that was my biggest hurdle, to learn that I can survive without alcohol. I took me awhile but I've learned that thriving in sobriety is so much better than merely surviving in alcoholism.
Member
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 2,276
I'm on for the ride.. 2nd weekend sober! Exciting stuff, when I come out the other side of the weekend, it will be my 2nd longest stint going sober.. us here in New Zealand are dealing with long nights until winter solstice next week..
Member
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Mare Crisium
Posts: 1,930
Thanks Sao.
Hello all,
I'm in.
Tired of lurking/hiding.
Crashed after 253 days, a while ago.
Got up again and doing well.
____________________________________________
The latest addition to my menagerie.
A baby Sun Tiger tarantula; barely an inch long.
Should grow into a fierce one, as an adult.
Have a great weekend everyone!
Hello all,
I'm in.
Tired of lurking/hiding.
Crashed after 253 days, a while ago.
Got up again and doing well.
____________________________________________
The latest addition to my menagerie.
A baby Sun Tiger tarantula; barely an inch long.
Should grow into a fierce one, as an adult.
Have a great weekend everyone!
Giving up is NOT an option.
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Western Wisconsin
Posts: 7,806
I'm in!
Love what you said about broken neurology, Sao. That's what they taught us in treatment (not in those exact words) and it really helped me understand that I had something wrong in my brain that was going to take some sober time to heal. Over a long period of time using or drinking, we become neurologically wired to feel that alcohol or drugs are the only solution - the only way to feel any sort of pleasure. Our pleasure centers become damaged to the extent that that can literally be true - "normal" activities no longer bring pleasure. One lady at an AA meeting said it well - "my happy seems to be broken." It takes time to repair these broken pathways, but it does eventually happen. I can once again feel real feelings - good and bad. And I don't have to go running to the bottle to deal with them. My brain is healing.
Love what you said about broken neurology, Sao. That's what they taught us in treatment (not in those exact words) and it really helped me understand that I had something wrong in my brain that was going to take some sober time to heal. Over a long period of time using or drinking, we become neurologically wired to feel that alcohol or drugs are the only solution - the only way to feel any sort of pleasure. Our pleasure centers become damaged to the extent that that can literally be true - "normal" activities no longer bring pleasure. One lady at an AA meeting said it well - "my happy seems to be broken." It takes time to repair these broken pathways, but it does eventually happen. I can once again feel real feelings - good and bad. And I don't have to go running to the bottle to deal with them. My brain is healing.
Hears The Voice
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Unshackled
Posts: 7,901
Originally Posted by MLD51 
Our pleasure centers become damaged to the extent that that can literally be true - "normal" activities no longer bring pleasure. One lady at an AA meeting said it well - "my happy seems to be broken." It takes time to repair these broken pathways, but it does eventually happen. I can once again feel real feelings - good and bad. And I don't have to go running to the bottle to deal with them. My brain is healing.
Alcohol Induced Anhedonia is a real thing. I was loaded with it. I didn't know it for a long time, so I kept running back to the bottle thinking I don't like how sober feels.
Problem was - I didn't actually know how sober felt because I wasn't sober long enough to get past the alcohol induced anhedonia.
I'm not a 12-stepper, but the AA crowd advocates 90 meetings in 90 days, and I think that's a damn good rule of thumb. Give yourself a chance to actually feel what it's like to be sober.
If you haven't started yet, the best day to start your 90 days is today!
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