STDragon

Hi tetra, Wow I am so happy for you! thanks so much for the update. Hope to see you around these parts again real soon.

Epictetus

Check out: It once was my life (if someone can post)

Apt for this moment.

Reminds me of an Irish gangster movie "The General". Diagnosed as Diabetic he was celebrating a birthday or something in a resteraunt, when the waiters came around with a trolly full of sweet desserts he replied......"nah those days are gone" (acceptance)

theVman31

Here you are epictetus:
Van's the man.

theVman31

Welcome to the weekender cleomie and nice to see you back carpetCleaner

It's nearly 04h00 on Saturday morning with no work today and wide awake...
There has to be a bug in the code

Mags1

Vinny, early mornings are the best, but better when it’s light outside....and not raining!

Willow, good for you beating that AV down!

When I stopped drinking, for me that was it, I didn’t drink anymore, now the big problem, which I’d failed miserably so many times before, how do I stay stopped

Luckily I found SR, read a lot of wise words from people who had been in my position, and slowly built up my very own ‘tool kit’., which I knew I could follow.

Quite honestly I thought it was hard at first but I really wanted this, no more failures, so eventually my ‘tool kit’ became just like rules we follow day to day without realising it... for example, crossing the road, we wouldn’t dream of crossing without checking both ways, being sure the road was clear before we crossed...... something we don’t even think of now...we just do it.

And that’s how it becomes with our toolkit with us... and after a while we can brush off the AV without too much thought.

Have a good Sober Saturday

theVman31

Morning Mags.
You're an early riser too so

johnnyt53

Going golfing tomorrow with my youngest son, I have shamrock stickers for the golf balls. I was helping this 92 y/o Italian guy with some yardwork. When done he said he had a surprise for me and it was a gallon of his homemade wine. I told him I didn't drink and he looked at me like I had 3 heads. It was kind of a funny scene but I'm grateful that I don't care what people think about me so much anymore when I'm doing what I've been given the grace for. God bless the Irish and Italians which I'm neither but I've heard everyone's Irish on St. Patrick's Day.

Mags1

Morning Vinny , yeah I love the early mornings,

Mags1

johnny, it’s great you could tell the guy you helped that you didn’t drink!

saoutchik

Morning everyone, welcome to Weekenders Epictetus!

johnny maybe even a "normie" drinker might not have appreciated that wine. Homemade wine doesn't always have the greatest reputation.

andyh

morning all. my new job starts on Monday, so I'm making the most of my last few days of being a gentleman of leisure. & also, hopefully, my last few days of having no money.

welcome Epictetus. I'm a great believer in this quote from your namesake, which became the basis for a lot of REBT/CBT & Stoicism:

Bim - just too much time spent on the internet I'm afraid.

Willow00

Lol Bim
You were right.... but Now I’m the BOSS

You’re welcome Chrissy
Hopefully talking about my struggles might help someone else somehow. I know everyone on SR has helped me enormously!

Enjoy the days off Andy before you’re at work. Cute kittyby the way. I still keep thinking about that highrise kitty though. Made my stomach fall out through my shoes heights and I have never gotten along too well

STDragon

Slept in for a bit today, Not sure yet what I'm going to do with myself before lessons today. Work on one of my projects at least.....

I still get drinking thoughts every once and awhile. More like a "wouldn't that be nice" pull. The visions that flash through my head are nothing like the reality it would become. I can brush them off as I am committed to my sobrety. But I think I need some new counter thinking tho like: "yeah that maybe nice, but I'd never learn that new song" instead of "Bugger off!".

Lena1231

biminiblue

Early sobriety?

I think it's part of the whole process.

In early days I had to cut out caffeine completely. I didn't start having caffeine again until I was about six months sober. I was just too jumpy and it set off my spinning thoughts.

The other thing that I noticed made a huge difference was whether or not I got any exercise during the day. A good brisk hike or walk for 45 minutes would allow me to sleep through the night (other than bathroom visits.)

Also, if I woke up in the middle of the night and wasn't able to go right back to sleep I would come on this site, and have some herbal tea or hot cocoa and toast. That always worked. After the snack I could go back to sleep easily. 20 minutes or so to look at posts and have my snack.

It took a few months for this to settle down completely, though. I just accepted it as part of the healing. At least it wasn't the 3AM terrors after drinking.

CaptainHaddock

Evening Weekenders and welcome to all newcomers!

A quiet Saturday evening at home. Some barbecue and Netflix still to come. Right now I am enjoying a home brewed cupachino, knowing it means waking up refreshed and well rested tomorrow morning.

I much prefer this to the chemical euphoria that would previously have taken a hold by now, only to fizzle out in a blackout, followed by a mix of tossing and turning, cold sweets, racing thoughts and heart and the kind of anxiety tomorrow morning that made staying burried under the covers seem like the only option.

CaptainHaddock

having a cappuccino, I meant to say....

theVman31

I agree that coffee and caffeine should be avoided or limited to the early morning.
I find it sets me off too, edgy, cranky, flying off the handle, jumpy, thoughts completely dispersed...

I've been drinking more tea and less Kawa.

It was a pretty hectic day. 3 rugby matches. A little gardening. Grocery shopping. Time to chill.

Tomorrow morning I got my 10kms trail run for charity. I usually do a longer distance but I'm not fit at the moment...

The countdown is on Andy...

Goodnight weekenders

saoutchik

Cupachino is a good onomatopoeiac alternative though.

Lena it was not 100% effective but I found forcing my self up and active earlier than normal helped.

Glad you have this weekend end off knowing you have a job starting Andy.

Had the plaster in my bedroom "skimmed" today, as a result I will be sleeping in the small second bedroom. Kinda reminds me of my married drinking days when I would sometimes have to sleep on the couch due to snoring issues.

Hawkeye13

Good Afternoon / Evening depending on your locale.

Beautiful sunny day here at the lake. I just opened the sliding door to the porch so doggos could enjoy the sunshine.

I took the chuck roast and veggies I made two days ago and turned into a kind of sliced beef in Mexican Ranchero Sauce of my own concoction.

I pureed remaining potatoes, carrots and onions into the tomato soup base, added some thyme and Santa Fe Chili powder, then gently gently simmered the remaining beef in the mix to make the mouth feel perfect.

Meanwhile, I worked on cleaning a trashed kitchen with some good success.
I always clean well and long when procrastinating work

Tetra, do you go the St. Patrick's parade year to year?
When I was in Galway, I really enjoyed watching it.
Pub food was amazing with specials too if I recall right.

Anyway, been letting some stuff stress me too much but hopefully making some mental and observable progress these next few days.

Best to all
Hawk

We'll see how I did soon.