Mags1

to the Weekenders



Join us this weekend for a sober, stress free weekend.



There’ll be cakes.











There’ll be laughter





Maybe a few tears





Encouragement, small steps climb big mountains.





Above all, there is support for each other in our sober life.






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!)

andyh

thanks Mags

Dee74

mags

Hawkeye13

Shotgun! I am in and thanks Mags-

Mags1

Congratulations on shotgun, Hawkeye!

MLD51

I'm in! Thanks, Mags.
Stress less, I doubt it. Sober, yes.
I have so much on my plate right now, but none of it is life-threatening or extreme. It's just a lot of small things adding up quickly. I'll be slogging along, trying to avoid freaking out. One of the things hanging over me is that my kid is going to college soon, and we have to get her ready. I have lists going of all the things we need to buy and paperwork that still needs to be done. She also does not have her driver's license yet. That's on the list. Very timid driver, but getting there. That's all on top of the work situation and the man friend's DUI, which does affect me in several ways. But like I said, in the grand scheme of things this is all details. I will try not to whine.

Forwards

Hi friends, I'm in!

Thanks Mags for the thread. I'm planning a low-stress, sober but super-productive weekend. Having said this we only have an hour and a half of sunshine forecast here before the thunder clouds roll in so I'm heading for a lap of the park...

To any newcomer's reading - do join us this weekend. To the rest of you - stay close!

All the best, Forwards.

Cityboy

MLD, my kid (16) is a very timid driver as well. I know that eventually he is going to see the necessity of driving himself. Nothing about that whole situation is stress-reducing.

Reid82

Thanks Mags.

biminiblue

Stress less.

Yep. If there is one huge benefit to continuous long-term sobriety it is the ability to put things in perspective more quickly. I still have the same stressORs, but the actual fight/flight/freeze reaction is far less disturbing and less debilitating. It doesn't happen very often and that comes from a healthy nervous system and a lot of work on resentments, fears, anger, control and letting go and acceptance.

Anyone who is newly sober or thinking about becoming sober, it is so worth it. I wish I could send you this view of life but I can't.

You'll have to earn it yourself - and you can.

Thanks, Mags.

MLD51

Bim, that is the true magic of sobriety for me. Things that used to send me into an automatic tailspin no longer do that. Or rather, I should say, I can pull myself out of any tailspin fairly fast now. That's a result of the work I have done in sobriety, and also just not having a depressant in my system every day. Less anxiety overall, just because chemically, I'm not messing with my brain. But also, as a defense mechanism, I had to learn to identify what was necessary for me to worry about and deal with (control) and what was not. Because worrying about and trying to fix EVERYTHING, like I used to, is a recipe for relapse for me.

biminiblue

I was a skydiver for many years. In the beginning they only put new jumpers out for just a few seconds before the parachute opens because new skydivers don't have control of their body in freefall. If someone gets into a flat spin in freefall it can be fatal due to blood rushing to their head and blacking out or even due to the parachute getting tangled as it opens because a spinning body will cause a spinning parachute/tangled lines/no opening at all.

The more jumps I had, the more I learned. I learned to look at the ground. That way I knew if I was spinning and was about to black out. I learned how to stop the spin, it was as simple as paying attention to how I was holding my body. If I was spinning, I needed to raise one shoulder or knee or lower the other one. That came with experience and time. I needed to be in balance.

The spin is dangerous. Very dangerous. There is a way out.

MLD51

Nice analogy.

Coldfusion

Thanks for the new thread, Mags!

I do not think I have the courage or balance to skydive. I have recently shared at AA meetings about how I view my clumsiness as a character defect. I am also not a very good driver--I have always lived on islands, and am not skilled at big city traffic or freeways. I was challenged yesterday when we went to the mainland ("madland") to get fish for our aquarium. We used to get smashed on those trips, always driving home drunk. At least I can now deal with my character defects in a sober manner.

(My great uncle Sgt. Randall Bose was the first person to make a delayed freefall descent. He did it on a bet in 1925).

So I am looking forward to a stress-free weekend. The Employment Security Department has made all recent payments, and I'll go back to work in a couple weeks (unless COVID-19 has other ideas...) House painting is finished, and I may or may not do the weed-eating to finish the lawn (but the lawn mower part is done). In addition to the cats and deer, we now have about 40 fish in our aquarium. And the weather forecast is warm and fairly dry.

Best wishes to all!

saoutchik

I'm in for another sober weekend.

Thanks Mags for the OP, these are indeed stressful times for a lot of us, financially, socially and of course healthwise. bim and Marty have hit the nail on the head. Booze does not just affect us for the duration we are intoxicated.It continues no negatively affect our judgements and reactions long after the affect could be registered on a breathalyser.


Cityboy I understand that is frustrating, my oldest daughter was a timid learner driver. On the other hand being timid is preferable to being over confident which is commonplace in teenagers (including me) On the rare occasions I have sat in the passenger seat when my 26 year old younger daughter is driving like a maniac it was equally stressful. Especially when we switch from Impulse to Warp.

If you are coming out of Lockdown and don't want to come out of it with drink ruining everything then SR is a very good place to enable you to do that and for extra help at the weekends then this thread will provide it.

Cityboy

Can not foresee jumping out of a perfectly good aeroplane for anything short of a dire emergency, LOL. I watched a show about the HALO jump training and I remember them saying the same type thing about spinning, and guys that couldn't keep themselves from spinning were out of the program very quickly.

It really is amazing how much less anxiety is felt compared to when I was drinking.

lunar

I'm in- Thanks Mags, for another Weekender!

Fished the reservoir this morning.

Caught some nice smallies on ultralight tackle with slip bobbers and nightcrawlers.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

MLD51

WOW, Lunar. Gorgeous picture. Glad you got some fish, too.

saoutchik

That's a cool fact about your great uncle Coldfusion!

Phenomenal sunrise pic Lunar.

Btw I forgot it but last weekend I passed 2000 days sober. When I quit I couldn't even begin to think beyond about two or three weeks at the most. I was really scared that I would not make it.

venuscat

Now I know why you are so chilled most of the time dear bim.....you are a skydiver.
How is anything scary after that?

Stress less you say....sobriety helps me to get out of tailspins faster.....yes, for sure. The second part is 151% true.
But I have no clue how to stress less right now.
I feel like we are living in an episode of the twilight zone....maybe Rod Serling could have a hole in his mask for the cigarette.

Thank you for the new thread darling Mags. s ❤️