When it’s so bad only a drink will do-what can I do? Weekenders 19 - 22 July 2019
 

:welcome

Welcome to the Weekenders :wavey:

When it’s so bad only a drink will do. - Really?

We honestly told ourselves everything would be okay after that drink? Yeah?

We think we’ve got this...we’ve got it in the bag.

Remember why you’re here?
Remember, not drink One but drink Ten and Twenty?

But that’s all our bodies need and we’ll be okay!

How can you beat this beast, this insidious beast?(borrowed Kaily’s footnote)


Have you had the ‘ping’ yet? When you realise ‘Nope, Nah, Nada, Never!

And more importantly ‘how do we get there and how do we stay there?

https://i.postimg.cc/NjmCfSYQ/E05-D4...11-CA4-C73.jpg

If this is your first weekend sober, or many, come join us for support and chat...as we know the weekends can be a struggle sometimes. (We’re here all week too!) :)

Thanks Mags :)

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Thanks Dee, I think you just sorted the pic out? I couldn’t get it to show! :)

Yeah I'm not sure what all that extra stuff was :)

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Shotgun!

Thanks Mags--I'm in.

There's nothing a drink won't make worse, not better for me.

thanks Mags :)

Thanks Mags,

At this early morning moment, I can't for the life of me recall why I needed a drink. I knew it was hurting me but I kept going back. Insanity. I finally managed to stop and it was because I felt so horrible inside. I think I knew it would have to a permanent quit, but I denied that thought for some months. I do remember the feeling, the internal change, when I posted on SR that I would never drink again. Freeing it was.

Good luck with the job hunt Manta!

Thanks Mags.
I'm in too.

Good topic again.
I getted pinged alot :)

"Have you had the ‘ping’ yet? When you realise ‘Nope, Nah, Nada, Never!

And more importantly ‘how do we get there and how do we stay there?"

Good will alone didn't cut it for me. I had to try alot of techniques and sometimes medications. Personally it's a psychic flaw. Something underlying was so wedged in it came back every few months. Fortunately today I'm not drinking. It takes work to find what works.

But the only way is committing to not drinking this weekend. With continued abstinence the work it takes to find what works gets easier.
Uummmm
Better stop...

Count me in, going into my third weekend here and I’m loving it! Hopefully I can make this optimism last throughout the next few days!
I’m planning on the usual easy stuff... some work around the house, a meeting, a few park & playground visits with my kid, and some quiet time for myself, hitting up the trails for a run.
What’s everyone else got on the books for this weekend?

Hi there sapph... :wavey:

Right Vman, we need find what works. I managed by will and pink cloud for the first six months but I did need to find something to focus my engeries on. Hence, Ukulele.

Great topic! This is my first weekend out of rehab. I've figured out that I'm fairly autonomous here in the sober living house so I have some plans today to see if I can get to a meeting.

Count me in for the weekend :)
Hi everyone :wavey:
Thanks Mags :)
Glad Alfie and Max are getting along Manta :)
Nearly 10pm here and I’m falling asleep, so I’m off to bed, see you all later.

I am going to try to go to a meeting this evening if I can get there on time. I need it, really.

Great post. The old hair of the dog trick was the worst thing I ever learned. It brought me to my worst.

..or when it's so good that a drink will take it to the next level.

Really?

I had made alcohol my god. It made everything better. Till it didn't. Well, it did for an hour but then the next four hours were spent trying to keep that going and the whole next morning was misery. Sometimes the whole next day. All that did is make me sicker and sicker. It's a terribad cycle. SO GLAD to be on the sober side.

There is nothing a drink can make better. Nothing a drink can fix. I can sort out my own thoughts and emotions just fine, thank you very much.

Today is the day they fix the big error on my deck. Heh. They had to demolish and re-do four of them. I was the complainer, but ya know what? I'm at peace with all of it. I had to talk to the foreman, the construction concierge, my homeowners association President, the architect - but it's getting done. It's a relief. It was a lot to get it done, and took weeks of discussions. I stayed calm, no threats or raised voices on my part. I sent very polite and to-the-point emails and photos. It's good to be able to remain calm through things like this. In the past I would be way too personally offended and I likely wouldn't have stayed with it calmly throughout, especially when the young foreman lost his temper. Sobriety=1, Resentment/Anger=0.

Manta, I hope you find a job that's less personality and more principal. I quit a job like that in early sobriety too. I only lasted a week! I couldn't take the poor morale. I think it's company culture and comes from the top. Well done on the self care. Yay for kitty cuddles.

With owls. :)

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a6/6c...0df71bf72b.gif

*ets: yikes, that was a longer post than I thought. All about me Thursday.

Bim , your words are so true.
There is nothing a drink can make better. Nothing a drink can fix. I can sort out my own thoughts and emotions just fine, thank you very much.

Drink never fixed anything for me just made it worse. And sober it’s easier to cope with what life throws at us.

Bimini I love the owl and the pussycat pic.
love this thread. What a good read.
well done Mags xxxxx

I'm in!

I had the "ping" very early on, thank goodness. Since then, I really have had no serious desire to drink. Yeah, I have random thoughts here and there, but never have I been close to actually drinking. It was a whole shift in my being that was almost the most interesting and profound thing I have experienced (my first child being born was more profound). I know it doesn't happen that way for everyone. But I believe we all get there eventually. I just got lucky and had that ping just when I needed it. Now that I have been through some serious ish sober, I have confidence that nothing in the world requires drinking. Nothing.

Good to see you Snoozy, hope you’re soon feeling better love. xx

I had the moment of clarity that is often talked about in recovery circles. It was a brief moment in time that I often reflect on. Sitting in a dimly lit room holding an empty bottle of whiskey...it seemed like the entire universe stood still in that moment. It was when I realized that I truly did not want to continue the way I was existing. I say existing because I certainly was not living and I certainly wasn't going to be living longer at the rate I was going.

I've prioritized exploring my beliefs about God and relationship with God in my third year of sobriety. The weekender is supposed to be light hearted banter so I don't want to get too deep but I truly believe God saved me. There is no other explanation that makes sense to me. But that is personal and I respect the spiritual perspective of others.

What keeps me sober is being the architect of my life. There is no room for alcohol when I am busy setting goals and working towards achieving them.

I often refer to my moment of clarity as a God moment. Or a spiritual awakening. I can't explain it better than that, really. It was such a revelation that I was actually smiling while I was being booked for the DUI that happened shortly after I took what would become my last drink. It was like God or the universe or whatever said to me. "OK, you've had enough now. Time to surrender." And in that moment, I did. And the sense of relief I felt immediately made me smile. (Then I went home and cried for about 3 straight days).

Spot on. It’s never “ a drink”, is it. Therein lies the problem.

In!

Welcome to Weekenders Sapph21, MovingForward1. I don't have much in the way of plans for the weekend as I have will probably have to go in to work on Saturday morning.

I had my ping moment two or three years before I got sober, maybe more but my addiction was so bad that willpower wasn't enough to get me the two or three months you need before the regular cravings subside. Desperation drove me to climb out of bed at zero dark thirty and spend every spare minute working on an old motor car to avoid craving time from 5pm ish onwards. Cravings, if you can't beat them, avoid them.

I got brushed off at the company I intended to visit this morning so I skyved off and went to visit one of England's myriad of stately homes - Chatsworth House. It was most impressive I must say.

Edit. Welcome Callas!

there's an amusing quip which is probably apocryphal, but I've heard it to attributed to Peter O'Toole or Richard Harris saying "it only takes one drink to get me drunk - usually the 13th or 14th".

it only take me one drink to get drunk - the first. the 13th & 14th would come later, but they would surely come. :(

There is nothing so bad that drinking won't make it worse.