Class of July 2018 Part 1
Member
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Western New York
Posts: 2,444
Forme247, been there a few times unfortunately. The only thing left to do is dust off and try again
The first few months sober are tough. Take care of yourself and double down on whatever you think it will take to stay sober. Avoid situations where you will be tempted to drink when possible. Time is your friend when it comes to making lasting change. Give yourself the gift of time. it gets easier
The first few months sober are tough. Take care of yourself and double down on whatever you think it will take to stay sober. Avoid situations where you will be tempted to drink when possible. Time is your friend when it comes to making lasting change. Give yourself the gift of time. it gets easier
Member
Join Date: May 2014
Location: northeast US
Posts: 715
Forme... good morning! Glad you’re back at it and not still nursing that one glass of wine that could easily have been a whole bottle. Thing is, our brains want that one and more... it’s like a light switch!! Think of it as looking for an item in the dark...we search for it and then the light comes on and it was there all along. Similar to how our body and mind reacts to alcohol. Being sober is like the darkness, our brain is missing/searching for the alcohol and employing every tactic to find it. When we turn on the light “I can have just one” switch, boom the bad feelings, cravings etc begin and the brain looks for all the lost time. Just my analogy, but it helps me not to entertain the thought of flipping the switch.
Hope today is better for you! Keep the switch off! 💕One more day, just today.
Hope today is better for you! Keep the switch off! 💕One more day, just today.
Member
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Western New York
Posts: 2,444
Started writting a long post yesterday but erased most of it. To make a long story short, I'm struggling with my wifes drinking. Its not triggering for me, but shes beyomd the point of caring about her health, at least not enough to change. not a lot i can do unfortunately
Member
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: California
Posts: 80
Originally Posted by nmd 
Forme247, been there a few times unfortunately. The only thing left to do is dust off and try again
The first few months sober are tough. Take care of yourself and double down on whatever you think it will take to stay sober. Avoid situations where you will be tempted to drink when possible. Time is your friend when it comes to making lasting change. Give yourself the gift of time. it gets easier
The first few months sober are tough. Take care of yourself and double down on whatever you think it will take to stay sober. Avoid situations where you will be tempted to drink when possible. Time is your friend when it comes to making lasting change. Give yourself the gift of time. it gets easier
Member
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: California
Posts: 80
Originally Posted by Minion09
Forme... good morning! Glad you’re back at it and not still nursing that one glass of wine that could easily have been a whole bottle. Thing is, our brains want that one and more... it’s like a light switch!! Think of it as looking for an item in the dark...we search for it and then the light comes on and it was there all along. Similar to how our body and mind reacts to alcohol. Being sober is like the darkness, our brain is missing/searching for the alcohol and employing every tactic to find it. When we turn on the light “I can have just one” switch, boom the bad feelings, cravings etc begin and the brain looks for all the lost time. Just my analogy, but it helps me not to entertain the thought of flipping the switch.
Hope today is better for you! Keep the switch off! 💕One more day, just today.
Hope today is better for you! Keep the switch off! 💕One more day, just today.
Member
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Buffalo, NY
Posts: 95
Day 19 for me. I made a list of things that are working well in my recovery and things that are not. Then I looked at each of them and made plans to strengthen and make a habit of the things that are going well; I looked at the things that aren't and focused on how I could change or avoid them.
19 days. That's 456 hours, 27,360 minutes. I've got some milestones to look forward to: 500 hours, and 30,000 minutes. I'm well past 1.5 million seconds.
19 days. That's 456 hours, 27,360 minutes. I've got some milestones to look forward to: 500 hours, and 30,000 minutes. I'm well past 1.5 million seconds.
Member
Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 48
15 days and a whole lot of resolve
Checking in because I am feeling bad just being a lurker for the past couple of weeks! 15 days sober and feeling good and am resolved to remain sober. Drinking with my wife has always been something I cherished, but so were other things that drinking made near impossible.
Here I am and here I intend to stay. I have plans in place for the AV moments and I have a LOT of reasons to never slide back ever again.
Here I am and here I intend to stay. I have plans in place for the AV moments and I have a LOT of reasons to never slide back ever again.
Member
Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 2
Hi everyone,
It's getting a bit late in July, but I hope you good folks don't mind me joining the group. I've been lurking here on this site for quite a while, and it's long past due that I ask for help. I have tried what feels like a million times to moderate and/or quit on my own, and I have failed every single time. The days, weeks, months, and years continue to pile up, and nothing has changed. It's become more and more clear to me that I need to ask people who have done it before for support, because I don't know how to do this on my own.
I'm going to work on a plan to help with the tough times when the urges come around. If today follows my usual pattern, I'll start feeling better mid to late afternoon, and then my resolve will fail around dinnertime, I'll tell myself that one more day is not a big deal, and then I'll find myself heading for the liquor store on autopilot. And this self-destructive cycle will continue. I can't keep living like this. It's been going on for far too long.
I feel like this is a big step for me. I've never asked for help like this, and I hope that this is the first sign that things will be different this time. I'm going to take a walk this evening if I feel that itchy twitchy moment coming on. I'll post more about myself later, and I'm looking forward to offering support to others too.
Thanks to you all in advance for your help. You are an amazing group here, and I've been in awe of how supportive you all are to each other.
It's getting a bit late in July, but I hope you good folks don't mind me joining the group. I've been lurking here on this site for quite a while, and it's long past due that I ask for help. I have tried what feels like a million times to moderate and/or quit on my own, and I have failed every single time. The days, weeks, months, and years continue to pile up, and nothing has changed. It's become more and more clear to me that I need to ask people who have done it before for support, because I don't know how to do this on my own.
I'm going to work on a plan to help with the tough times when the urges come around. If today follows my usual pattern, I'll start feeling better mid to late afternoon, and then my resolve will fail around dinnertime, I'll tell myself that one more day is not a big deal, and then I'll find myself heading for the liquor store on autopilot. And this self-destructive cycle will continue. I can't keep living like this. It's been going on for far too long.
I feel like this is a big step for me. I've never asked for help like this, and I hope that this is the first sign that things will be different this time. I'm going to take a walk this evening if I feel that itchy twitchy moment coming on. I'll post more about myself later, and I'm looking forward to offering support to others too.
Thanks to you all in advance for your help. You are an amazing group here, and I've been in awe of how supportive you all are to each other.
Member
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: Washington
Posts: 73
Welcome to the new folks. I've found posting here daily really helps keep me plugged in and helps with the resolve. I don't have many sober friends or people I can talk about this with in real life, so having the community here is helpful. I hope to see everyone stick around and keep posting.
I'm on day 11. Made it through a round of golf with friends and a BBQ over the weekend without drinking. Funny thing is it wasn't as big of a deal as I thought it would be. I guess most people don't look at alcohol the way we do.
Started lifting weights again and am SORE. Better my muscles from working out than my head from getting tanked.
I'm on day 11. Made it through a round of golf with friends and a BBQ over the weekend without drinking. Funny thing is it wasn't as big of a deal as I thought it would be. I guess most people don't look at alcohol the way we do.
Started lifting weights again and am SORE. Better my muscles from working out than my head from getting tanked.
Member
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: Florida
Posts: 1,320
nmd-Sorry to hear that about your wife. It's tough. My wife drinks, but she can have 2 and not crave another(Or so she says). All I really know is that if she doesn't drink, she can barely sleep at night. Anyway, I know all too well, that living in a life of drinking, I would drink even though I knew I was hurting my own health. I didn't care about myself. I did however stop drinking awhile back for 5 years because of having young children at home and my health. Did it for them. Don't know, just throwing out ideas, but maybe if you could get your wife to focus on helping you, she might have more motivation to go in the right direction. Hope it stirs up some ideas Good luck!
Good luck!
Administrator
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,414
welcome AZGilly, banjoist and aBetterMe76m
welcome back ForMe - the voice can get portlet loud if we feed it again, but as long as you refuse to so-operate with the voice, it can never get what it wants.
I'm sorry nmd - thats a tough situation
D
welcome back ForMe - the voice can get portlet loud if we feed it again, but as long as you refuse to so-operate with the voice, it can never get what it wants.
I'm sorry nmd - thats a tough situation
D
Member
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: Georgia, USA
Posts: 2,229
Welcome to the July group AZGilly, Banjoist and aBetterMe! Let us know how it's going. It's hard to start with, but gets easier really fast. Stick close and read here a lot. That helped me so much. I love the posts recently from people who have told about how their lives have changed because of staying sober. I like to hear about the pay off!
Sorry about your relapse Forme. I have been there so many times! I had a hard time just coming right back. I immediately would go into the 'one day at a time keep drinking' thing. Every day was my last day, for weeks leading to years sometimes. I hope you are able to just get right back to recovery. I believe you can. Please know we are here for you!
Sorry about your relapse Forme. I have been there so many times! I had a hard time just coming right back. I immediately would go into the 'one day at a time keep drinking' thing. Every day was my last day, for weeks leading to years sometimes. I hope you are able to just get right back to recovery. I believe you can. Please know we are here for you!
Member
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: Manassas, VA
Posts: 2
Today is my first day (again). I stopped drinking abruptly 13 years ago after some pretty bad things happened. I slowly started back up about 3 years ago for a number of reasons, apparently choosing to forget the past. I'm now kind of having flashbacks of how it started spiraling out of control for me the first time, and I really don't want to go on that ride again.
I'm working on replacing some old bad habits with new ones, including checking in here day to day. Thanks for the support.
I'm working on replacing some old bad habits with new ones, including checking in here day to day. Thanks for the support.
Member
Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 48
Today marks 16 days!! I haven’t gone this long without a drink since college 22 years ago. I’m very happy
Now for a question: For the past couple of days I’ve felt like there is cotton in my ears and a faint ringing. It’s driving me nuts. Have any of you experienced that after 2 or so weeks of sobriety? Wondering if it’s another one of those delightful withdrawal symptoms.
Now for a question: For the past couple of days I’ve felt like there is cotton in my ears and a faint ringing. It’s driving me nuts. Have any of you experienced that after 2 or so weeks of sobriety? Wondering if it’s another one of those delightful withdrawal symptoms.
Member
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Western New York
Posts: 2,444
Thanks bobdrop&dee. Doing a bit better today
Welcome to everyone joining! A bunch of us have tried to get sober before or had some sober time. I recomitted to quit drinking completely and permanently because I failed at every attempt to moderate. I feel lucky I survived the moderation experiment, i can only hope we all do. Life is definitely worth living sober
Welcome to everyone joining! A bunch of us have tried to get sober before or had some sober time. I recomitted to quit drinking completely and permanently because I failed at every attempt to moderate. I feel lucky I survived the moderation experiment, i can only hope we all do. Life is definitely worth living sober
Currently Active Users Viewing this Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
