I feel a bit of struggle.
Samantha
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 2,031
I feel a bit of struggle.
I am currently working but then I have tomorrow off, which if course means I could drink tonight.
I am stressed about work so drinking seems like a great idea.
I am also on my last week of a weight loss challenge and drinking helps me lose weight. The only week of this 8 week challenge I actually lost weight was 2 weeks ago when I drank! I'd like to make a bit more progress.
But i don't want the anxiety that comes with drinking
. That's my rant for the day
I am stressed about work so drinking seems like a great idea.
I am also on my last week of a weight loss challenge and drinking helps me lose weight. The only week of this 8 week challenge I actually lost weight was 2 weeks ago when I drank! I'd like to make a bit more progress.
But i don't want the anxiety that comes with drinking
. That's my rant for the day
Member
Join Date: Jan 2020
Location: Colorado
Posts: 702
What helps me when I’m struggling with my AV is to “play the tape through”. When I start romanticizing alcohol, I’m only think about those first few drinks. When I play the tape through to how I will disappoint my family, make a fool of myself, and have a hangover the next day, it doesn’t sound so enticing anymore. Hang in there!
saoutchik
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: London
Posts: 16,182
You can do this anxiousrock. One fairly immediate pay off for not drinking this evening will be that you are not feeling hungover on your day off and you can fully enjoy it. Also, if you are stressed about work (or anything else) then drinking only offers a very temporary escape and in the medium and long term it usually exacerbates whatever it is that is causing stress. Good luck.
Member
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: DFW area, Texas
Posts: 521
Originally Posted by DaisyBelle7 
What helps me when I’m struggling with my AV is to “play the tape through”. When I start romanticizing alcohol, I’m only think about those first few drinks. When I play the tape through to how I will disappoint my family, make a fool of myself, and have a hangover the next day, it doesn’t sound so enticing anymore. Hang in there!
Definitely hang in there AnxiousRock!
Samantha
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 2,031
Originally Posted by HeadEast
Rant away. Don't drink. Good luck on the weight loss but make not drinking a priority.
Member
Join Date: Dec 2018
Posts: 218
Stay strong anxiousrock!
i understand what you say about losing weight when drinking. The anxiety and nervous tension I feel when I’m drinking or hungover keeps me from having a healthy appetite for days. But I wouldn’t trade that mental rollercoaster for a few pounds any day. If you can stay off the sauce you may find that when you’re recovering mentally that the weight loss challenge is more attainable.
i understand what you say about losing weight when drinking. The anxiety and nervous tension I feel when I’m drinking or hungover keeps me from having a healthy appetite for days. But I wouldn’t trade that mental rollercoaster for a few pounds any day. If you can stay off the sauce you may find that when you’re recovering mentally that the weight loss challenge is more attainable.
Samantha
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 2,031
Originally Posted by Hopingwishing
Stay strong anxiousrock!
i understand what you say about losing weight when drinking. The anxiety and nervous tension I feel when I’m drinking or hungover keeps me from having a healthy appetite for days. But I wouldn’t trade that mental rollercoaster for a few pounds any day. If you can stay off the sauce you may find that when you’re recovering mentally that the weight loss challenge is more attainable.
i understand what you say about losing weight when drinking. The anxiety and nervous tension I feel when I’m drinking or hungover keeps me from having a healthy appetite for days. But I wouldn’t trade that mental rollercoaster for a few pounds any day. If you can stay off the sauce you may find that when you’re recovering mentally that the weight loss challenge is more attainable.
Member
Join Date: Nov 2018
Posts: 5,152
Originally Posted by anxiousrock
Thanks everyone. Only one more hour until the liquor store closes so I am hoping I just make it til then.
At 5:00 PM, I went for a hamburger at a joint across the street from the liquor store, so I could buy that emergency bottle before the place closed at 6:00. I finished my burger at 5:30 and sat there having the most intense obsession over alcohol I can remember. I didn't want to go to the meeting drunk, but if things didn't go well in the meeting, I'd need that bottle when it was over. At 5 minutes before closing, I decided I could go to a bar and pay some egregious price for a fifth.
In spite of my reservations about AA, that first meeting was a wonderful experience. Folks were friendly and supportive, and when I told them why I was there, they completely understood. The meeting was over and I promised I would show up the next night. I drove right past the liquor store, and made it to a record breaking day 4, and I didn't drink that day because I knew I'd be OK if I could just make it to the meeting that night, and the next, and the next. So I started my 90 meetings in 90 days routine with my last drink of my life being the Tuesday before that 1st AA meeting on a Friday night. That was 24 years ago.
Mostly, I used AA as place to go to celebrate not drinking one more night, and it wasn't long before my cravings were gone.
Samantha
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 2,031
Originally Posted by DriGuy
I had finally committed to my first AA meeting, which would be at 8:00 PM on a Friday night, and I had just gotten off work. I had gone three days before on a few occasions, but I could never get past day three without caving in and drinking. So here it was on day three, and it was a Friday night. I used to kiddingly say that there was a law on the books that required everyone to get drunk on Friday night.
At 5:00 PM, I went for a hamburger at a joint across the street from the liquor store, so I could buy that emergency bottle before the place closed at 6:00. I finished my burger at 5:30 and sat there having the most intense obsession over alcohol I can remember. I didn't want to go to the meeting drunk, but if things didn't go well in the meeting, I'd need that bottle when it was over. At 5 minutes before closing, I decided I could go to a bar and pay some egregious price for a fifth.
In spite of my reservations about AA, that first meeting was a wonderful experience. Folks were friendly and supportive, and when I told them why I was there, they completely understood. The meeting was over and I promised I would show up the next night. I drove right past the liquor store, and made it to a record breaking day 4, and I didn't drink that day because I knew I'd be OK if I could just make it to the meeting that night, and the next, and the next. So I started my 90 meetings in 90 days routine with my last drink of my life being the Tuesday before that 1st AA meeting on a Friday night. That was 24 years ago.
Mostly, I used AA as place to go to celebrate not drinking one more night, and it wasn't long before my cravings were gone.
At 5:00 PM, I went for a hamburger at a joint across the street from the liquor store, so I could buy that emergency bottle before the place closed at 6:00. I finished my burger at 5:30 and sat there having the most intense obsession over alcohol I can remember. I didn't want to go to the meeting drunk, but if things didn't go well in the meeting, I'd need that bottle when it was over. At 5 minutes before closing, I decided I could go to a bar and pay some egregious price for a fifth.
In spite of my reservations about AA, that first meeting was a wonderful experience. Folks were friendly and supportive, and when I told them why I was there, they completely understood. The meeting was over and I promised I would show up the next night. I drove right past the liquor store, and made it to a record breaking day 4, and I didn't drink that day because I knew I'd be OK if I could just make it to the meeting that night, and the next, and the next. So I started my 90 meetings in 90 days routine with my last drink of my life being the Tuesday before that 1st AA meeting on a Friday night. That was 24 years ago.
Mostly, I used AA as place to go to celebrate not drinking one more night, and it wasn't long before my cravings were gone.
Member
Join Date: Nov 2018
Posts: 5,152
Originally Posted by anxiousrock
AA is not for me. I have been many many times and even to different groups and I have to say I have never felt like I've fit in.
What I needed was to be around people who understood the struggle of alcoholism. I needed a place where sobriety was a celebration, not just someone's default state, I needed a place to go every night and officially punch in another day of sobriety. I can't explain why those particular issues were important to me. They just were. They were available in AA. SR was a place unknown to me 25 years ago, and possibly I could have used SR for the contact I needed back then.
On the other hand, AA methodology (arguably the most important part) drove me nuts, and took me years to arrive at a "live and let live point in my life." Not all of his was my personal shortcoming, because so many people in AA were not satisfied with "living and letting me live" a life where I could pursue recovery using logic rather than faith in the unseen. I ended up pushing back rejecting their methods the same way they rejected mine, although I kept this battle to myself.
I must make it clear that not all AAers can be described that way. Many are open to other points of view, but there were enough Nazi's (for lack of a better term) to make AA barely tolerable. I can laugh about it now. But AA cannot be everybody's cup of tea. Other ways can be equally effective, and finding a fit is more important that forcing yourself into a shoe that is 4 sizes too small.
Samantha
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 2,031
Originally Posted by DriGuy
I understand that totally. AA was a love/hate relationship for me. It's a program drawing on philosophical and mystical foundations, and for those who are comfortable with the supernatural, it can be a good fit. However, the program and it's foundations I can never embrace fully.
What I needed was to be around people who understood the struggle of alcoholism. I needed a place where sobriety was a celebration, not just someone's default state, I needed a place to go every night and officially punch in another day of sobriety. I can't explain why those particular issues were important to me. They just were. They were available in AA. SR was a place unknown to me 25 years ago, and possibly I could have used SR for the contact I needed back then.
On the other hand, AA methodology (arguably the most important part) drove me nuts, and took me years to arrive at a "live and let live point in my life." Not all of his was my personal shortcoming, because so many people in AA were not satisfied with "living and letting me live" a life where I could pursue recovery using logic rather than faith in the unseen. I ended up pushing back rejecting their methods the same way they rejected mine, although I kept this battle to myself.
I must make it clear that not all AAers can be described that way. Many are open to other points of view, but there were enough Nazi's (for lack of a better term) to make AA barely tolerable. I can laugh about it now. But AA cannot be everybody's cup of tea. Other ways can be equally effective, and finding a fit is more important that forcing yourself into a shoe that is 4 sizes too small.
What I needed was to be around people who understood the struggle of alcoholism. I needed a place where sobriety was a celebration, not just someone's default state, I needed a place to go every night and officially punch in another day of sobriety. I can't explain why those particular issues were important to me. They just were. They were available in AA. SR was a place unknown to me 25 years ago, and possibly I could have used SR for the contact I needed back then.
On the other hand, AA methodology (arguably the most important part) drove me nuts, and took me years to arrive at a "live and let live point in my life." Not all of his was my personal shortcoming, because so many people in AA were not satisfied with "living and letting me live" a life where I could pursue recovery using logic rather than faith in the unseen. I ended up pushing back rejecting their methods the same way they rejected mine, although I kept this battle to myself.
I must make it clear that not all AAers can be described that way. Many are open to other points of view, but there were enough Nazi's (for lack of a better term) to make AA barely tolerable. I can laugh about it now. But AA cannot be everybody's cup of tea. Other ways can be equally effective, and finding a fit is more important that forcing yourself into a shoe that is 4 sizes too small.
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