Minion09

ProfD... you can’t, God can, so you won’t!! Don’t know where you sit on the God thing and wherever is cool, but I’m finding that when I get stuck trying to run things it ends up a mess. I’m seeing daily lately that if I truly surrender it to a higher power than myself that, that higher power takes the wheel and I’m way better off for leaving it right there and relinquishing the control of people, places and things!! Our sick minds can’t be trusted to make the best decisions ever. So maybe give it a try... hand it over to something far greater than yourself! Set a plan in motion and ride it through. Keep checking in... call a friend, read a book, listen to someone who’s been there, done that, distract anyway possible!! One leads to 2,3 square one! You’ve encouraged me! You’ve got the tools... don’t let yourself be alone cause you’re not alone! We are here listening, reading and soaking in others experiences- helping one another for 24 and the next 24. Got ya back!💕

Dee74

Welcome back Purps

Prof - drinking because you can is one of the lamest excuses our AV has.

Think of what else you can do with that alone time - how much fun you can have, how productive you could be.

Use that time - don't waste it

The AV needs you to get its fix. If you refuse to cooperate, it's screwed

D

calmself

Ran 5 miles at the gym. Tired and sleepy. Mild AV chatter mainly after the gym - "Hey you, get coors light for me". Said no way , had dinner and now sleepy. End of day 3. Have a good sober day all.

Bumblebee2

Morning everyone. I’m waking up on day 16 here...

Prof- that AV has been chattering in my ear too for the same reason... I’ll be home alone. So, why not!? I like what Dee said about drinking cause you can is a lame excuse. There has been a lot of good suggestions.

For me- it is also helpful to think about waking up in the morning. I just love waking up sober, rested (sometimes), drinking coffee and thinking I have gained another day. I unfortunately know the feeling of waking up hungover, thinking ‘why me!?!’ and being on day 1. Which one do ya want?

Calmself- your running is so inspiring. I really would like to get my mileage up past 2. Gonna try to push myself a little harder.

Hubby is taking the girls this morning to swim lessons. Im looking forward to some ‘me time’ (AV has been whispering) but feeling strong. I was going to maybe get a pedi, but a quiet house sounds relaxing- and I won’t be tempted to stop at any stores that selll wine.

Have a good day everyone. And add 1 to whatever day your on 😊💪

ProfessorD

Thanks, Bumble! Hope you have a good day and silence your AV.

And I agree, Dee's point that "drinking because you can is one of the lamest excuses our AV has" is so, so helpful. Dee how are you always so helpful and say just the right thing?

redcardid

day 14 completed

built up the guts to check my finances - I have lost 86.8% of my investment in crypto currencies (buying and selling while drunk on etoro, coinbase and another)

I cleaned out my bank accounts, used the £5,000 emergency cash I had at home, sold my silver stash for peanuts, sold some prized possessions (at knock-down prices) and took cash from credit cards (at round about 20% interest) to invest

I have a tough few or four years ahead to clean up the self-inflicted financial disaster

It is so horrible being broke - but no matter how bad things are , they will only get worse if I drink

anyway - enough fun from me - welldone if you lasted another day :-)

ProfessorD

That sounds hard, redcardid. But you're doing the right thing.

I'm struggling, even though I really don't want to be. I keep oscillating between deciding to drink and deciding not to. I'm really on a minute by minute basis, here. I don't know why I can't just decide "I'm not drinking today," and be done with it? Every time I think I have, the AV sneaks back in. I'm going to keep fighting, but it's very frustrating.

calmself

I lost huge money in crypto. Currently have few coins which are bound to depreciate. Money gone down the drain. Anyways, at least we tried.

calmself

That's because you are alone ProfD. Better sit at a nice movie in the evenings. Since it will take up like 3 to 4 hours end to end, you can escape the AV torture.

calmself

Thanks! I started like 1 mile beginning of year and slowly pushing myself. One tip is , the moment you feel you want to stop, just take a 2 to 3 minute break (very slow 1.6 mph) and drink few sips of water. You can then do a mile easily.

redcardid

hi ProfessorD

you are here, so you want to quit (because drinking is causing problems)

the 'real' you wants to quit

the neurons in you brain that crave alcohol can hijack your thought processes (but only for a short time) - just wait a while until it passes

I do quick crosswords at:

https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords

in the three to five minutes it takes to do them (I/you can cheat on hard clues) the cravings go

I've never had AV - just will not allow it (or I have no imagination) but the cravings are bad enough

calmself

Hello folks, Day 4 here. No AV chatter so far possibly because the day is very busy with back to back meetings. Evening plan is to start packing slowly for my India trip on July 2. Will be there in the hot, humid , South Indian city of Chennai for like a month. Have a great day/night ahead!

Willow00

Well done calmself! Both on the running and on ignoring the AV. And a trip to India! That’s awesome, I’ve always wanted to visit India, it would be so interesting 😊

Willow00

Hi everyone! Day 38 for me. The AV was chattering the last couple of days but is asleep at the moment (hopefully stays that way for ages).

Redcardid now that you’re committed to being sober you can get yourself back on track again. Things will get better.

ProfD hang in there, distract yourself somehow. Have you looked at the thread about surfing the urges? If you ride them out they do subside.

Hi Bumblebee, glad you have some me time, it’s really important to have down time for ourselves 😊

Hope you all have a great day/night. Stay strong guys, together we can do this!
Willow

calmself

Thank you! You should definitely plan a trip. Please do so in the cooler season like Nov-Feb . Now it will be a sauna!!!

Willow00

Thanks for the tip! I’ve been thinking about it for a few years now, ever since I started getting into yoga. I’ll look into it and see what options there are to combine a bit of yoga and some travel in India, now that I’m saving money by not drinking, I can save for a holiday 😊

Sober81

Hi guys I'm back..
I've actually been going really well but started drinking just on weekends. Just makes Mondays more of an effort than it should be & isn't helping my health..
I'm on day 4, feeling positive & i'vebeen performing really well at work. But I want to nip these two weekend days off not drinking in the bud..
So i'm looking for support going into the weekend please.
Hope everyones doing well.

Willow00

Welcome back Sober81 😊 I tried that but it didn’t work for me, my drinking just kept creeping into the week days too, I just couldn’t limit it to weekends, although I tried to many times... Have you seen the Weekender thread for people who struggle on weekends? I just discovered it. And the 24 hour one too. Amazing support there! The people are so awesome and so supportive ❤️

calmself

Welcome back! Willow gave an awesome idea. Please join the weekenders thread. I am on Day 4 myself after i drank like an idiot last Friday.

calmself

Folks, Swarms of AV bees hitting in the last half an hour. Yearning for a cold beer. Gosh, where did it come from. I know it will pass...it will pass... Stupid AV, trying to spoil my Tuesday evening.