Clarity51

I just wanted to check in and say hello. The day is nearly over and i have 36 days sober. I go to an out patient group on Mondays and 3 AA meetings per week. I will start having private sessions with a drug/alcohol counselor twice a month beginning on may 15th. I went and bought an AA workbook to do steps 4 through 7 and will start working in it tomorrow. (Im off work tomorrow). Its amazing how much you can heal just after 36 days of no alcohol. My sobriety date is March 25th. On April 15th i decided i might as well start eating healthy since I want to change my life, so I changed my diet to fruits, vegetables and lean meats only. Ive been on 2 blood pressure meds for the last 5 years for very high blood pressure problems and last Friday I had to go to the doctor because my blood pressure dropped too low and stayed there for days... ive never been honest about my drinking with doctors. When asked about alcohol, ive always said I drink socially. Ha! Anyway, I was honest this time. They took me off one of my meds and cut my other med in half. Im supposed to monitor and taper off to see if i dont need them anymore at all. Doc said it could have been the alcohol binges causing high blood pressure all along. Regardless, im just grateful to sober and that im finally making some actual changes in my life instead of just wishing my obssession to drink would just go away on its own! Lol! I dont post alot...i use this site on my phone which makes it a little harder to use...but i read almost daily and all of the posts help me so much!!! PS: The saying is true: "God is doing for me what I couldnt do myself". All I've had to do was ask Him to help me and give up fighting this alone...then take baby steps toward change: acceptance, meetings (i found a small group of alcoholics that I just love! Never liked AA before...it must've been my arrogant attitude!), diet, new activities that dont include alcohol...all these things are working! Thanks...all of you! A bunch of strangers with a common problem, supporting each other like this is amazing! God bless you guys!

Bathbomb

What a lovely post. Congrats on 36 days. I'm on day 23 and already feel so much better. It's time I had a good hard look at my diet too but like you said baby steps. We really need to just listen to our bodies more. I know I do. Amazing job you're doing, well done.

kinzoku

Love it! Congrats

least

Welcome back and congrats on over a month sober! Keep going, it gets better.

Dee74

Great to hear from you Katlyne

D

kiki26

DriGuy

Now that's taking this recovering thing seriously!

Clarity51

Thanks! And congrats to you for 23 days!!!! 🤗 Lets keep on going! We can do this together! I still smoke (and have for 30+ years) and I'm not ready to tackle that just yet. Right now, the most important thing for me is learning to live sober.

Clarity51

Thank you, kinzoku!!!

Clarity51

Thanks, Least!! I have had some difficult moments but I feel determined! Last night I was reading my old posts. What an eye opener! I was miserable but not willing to do anything to change. I feel a little stronger each day.

Clarity51

Thank you, Dee!!! 😊

Clarity51

Thank you, Kiki!!! ❤

Clarity51

Thanks, DriGuy! That's what I needed to do a long time ago...but I wasn't willing. I'm so grateful that I changed my outlook! I'm grateful for that last drunk...it was a devastating one! And it was followed by 3 days of waking up drinking more beers from morning to bedtime just to deal with the depression and hopelessness I felt following it. And then came some hope on that 4th day that depended upon complete abstinance. It was just the kick in the ass I needed!

KTB5000

Congrats on your successes! Thank u for this post. It is encouraging for me at Day 3

Clarity51

Thanks, KTB! Congrats to you as well...3 days is great! It gets easier!! Lets keep it going!

DriGuy

I think that's often what it takes. We talk a lot about hitting bottom, but this is an arbitrary point, and not everyone's bottom is exactly at the same level of dysfunction. Many of us wait it out much longer, some never stop waiting it out. I think the sooner we realize how totally screwed we are, the easier it is to make that solid commitment to sobriety. Until that happens, many of us get stuck on trying to moderate our behavior. We may take a vow of abstinence, but it's not commitment. We harbor a hidden desire to be normal, and continually fail.

We also hear a lot about the "easier softer way." I don't particularly like that saying because it implies [to me] that getting sober requires a gargantuan effort. Admittedly it's not exactly a cake walk, but we make it seem like it is much more difficult through our infatuation with the concept of "half measures." In fact, there is an easier softer way to solve our problem. It's abstinence. The problem is in fully embracing it. At least this is my thinking. There maybe some hopeless cases that cannot get sober, but I think in most cases alcoholics fail because of their love of half measures.