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Step into the Weekend - Weekenders 10-13 July 2020

Old 07-09-2020, 01:35 AM
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Step into the Weekend - Weekenders 10-13 July 2020

to the Weekenders



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!)



Sometimes it’s so hard to motivate ourselves to get up and do it! I know I struggle to start from my list of things ‘to do’.



For sure though, one of our biggest hurdles can be to stop and stay free of alcohol/drugs.



For me, I saw myself through my husband’s eyes and hated the person I’d become.



I knew that wasn’t me really, deep down, but that person had been taken over me by addiction and I was stuck in a deep chasm.







I was in a class for slimming once. The consultant held a candle in her hands, whilst we were all sat in a semi circle facing her. ‘Try to blow out the candle’ she said. After a few huffs and puffs from 10feet away, we all realised we couldn’t.



‘What does it need to blow out the candle?’

‘Well it’s obvious, we need to be nearer’ some piped up.



‘How do you get nearer?’ ‘Show me’ the consultant said.



Some people got up and walked until they could blow out the candle.



Everything we want or need usually takes some effort.







I saw this scenario in my life as:



Getting Sober is knowing you want to blow out the candle.



Staying Sober is making a decision to walk over and blow the candle out.




My grandmother once gave me a tip:

In difficult times, you move forward in small steps.

Do what you have to do, but little by little.

Don't think about the future, or what may happen tomorrow.

Wash the dishes.

Remove the dust.

Write a letter.

Make a soup.

You see?

You are advancing step by step.

Take a step and stop.

Rest a little.

Praise yourself.

Take another step.

Then another.

You won't notice, but your steps will grow more and more.

And the time will come when you can think about the future without crying.



- Elena Mikhalkova
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Old 07-09-2020, 02:03 AM
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ours de petit cerveau
 
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thanks Mags

ye gods - Thursday already (again)!
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Old 07-09-2020, 02:32 AM
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Thanks Mags. Great OP.

Hoping to make this my second sober weekend.

I see shotgun is up for grabs...
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Old 07-09-2020, 03:02 AM
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Thank you for the insightful OP, Mags.

Hi Andy 👋.

CaptainHaddock, you can do it!
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Old 07-09-2020, 03:08 AM
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Captain, shotgun it is then! Congratulations. You can do it!
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Old 07-09-2020, 04:54 AM
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That's a lovely thought, Mags. I spend time over on Myfitnesspal too and I thought I was coming to yet another thread about FitBit steps.

I like yours better. How do you climb a mountain? One step at a time. Yeah, okay. Your post was much more meaningful.

I've had a tough week. It's a long story, but it doesn't take much to tip me over these days with nothing but scary news everywhere I turn.

I will try to get in my 15,000(ish) steps today, for two days I've gotten very little exercise unless you count the stressful monthly grocery-shop. Seems like exercise is the first thing to go when I'm stressed and really it's about my most important tool when it comes to anxiety. I know better! Back to the resistance bands. Back outside in Nature.

Willow, Captain, anyone else just getting started - keep it going.

Blessings.



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Old 07-09-2020, 05:13 AM
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Thanks Mags. Tasty, welcome to the Weekender thread and please stick around.

My wife and I had to get tested for Covid a few weeks ago. There is a mandatory medical examination, so out came the dreaded blood pressure monitor. I had been drinking the previous days so I knew better than to expect to be in the “optimal” range. The sky high result was a real wake up call, but still it took a while for me to quit. I now have my own BP monitor and I’m happy to say that after a week of abstinence I’m almost back in the normal range.

Edit: Bim, our posts crossed. Thanks and good on you for resuming the exercise routine.

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Old 07-09-2020, 05:29 AM
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Did they drug that cat?


Magnificent OP dear Mags. s xx ❤️
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Old 07-09-2020, 05:35 AM
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Oh, no, Venus! I hadn't thought that there could be something wrong with the cat. I choose to think it was just being silly.
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Old 07-09-2020, 05:36 AM
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Oh love, I am kidding, really.....it was hysterical. ❤️

I mean that cat must do that all of the time, and the owners must laugh hysterically...I would have filmed that too.
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Old 07-09-2020, 05:44 AM
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ours de petit cerveau
 
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I hope they've called the cat 'Slinky'


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Old 07-09-2020, 05:49 AM
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I LOVED my slinky. Oh gosh.....I want one now.
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Old 07-09-2020, 06:29 AM
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Bim, sorry it’s been a rough week. I can get too much news what with the internet and tv, I’m maxed out on Covid news. It can’t be nice going for your monthly shop (they come round really fast at the moment) but I know you take every precaution you can. Hope it’s better at the weekend.

My cat slides along the floor sometimes for me to to stroke her, instead of standing up, it’s gotten to be a game we play now. She looks comical doing it.

Captain, I’m glad your blood pressure went back to normal. We don’t realise that besides brain altering that alcohol does, how bad it can be for our health too.

Hi Suze, Tatsy and Andy, be well.
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Old 07-09-2020, 07:46 AM
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I'm in
Having a bad week, emotionally. I don't want to whine, because I do not have things that bad. I just feel sad and defeated lately. Sat in a budget committee meeting on Tuesday and it sent me into a bit of a tailspin. Up until now the consequences of the pandemic were inconveniences to me, but now, real people are really losing their jobs where I work. I am probably going to have to go to a 10- or 11-month appointment instead of the 12 I have now. I can handle it, I guess. I don't make much money anyway, and I have supplemental income I can draw more form. But other people are being either reduced to half-time appointments or being let go altogether. It's so disheartening. And all the division in the rest of the world, and all sorts of other things going on in my life - it all gets to me sometimes. Thank goodness, drinking does not even occur to me. I would like to run away to a cabin in the woods for a week, and I might try to do that, at least for a couple of days.

My dog is slowly improving, but I am still very very worried about him. He's drinking water but not eating. I think the antibiotics upset his stomach, but he's supposed to take them with food, and I'm making him take them anyway, with peanut butter or a pill pouch treat, but I'm sure the lack of other food is just making his stomach more upset. I have tried every tempting thing he loves to eat.
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Old 07-09-2020, 08:01 AM
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If I had a sore bum I wouldn't want to eat either, poor guy. What does the vet say about how long he can go without eating? I know for cats it's dangerous and I've had to syringe feed my cat a few times when she was off her food.

It is dire out there. I'm thinking I need to pull back from forums for a while and do what Kaily said, "No internet or news so you just know what you know in your own life." I gave up news a long time ago, but I can't escape it (the economic and psychological trauma) on forums.


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Old 07-09-2020, 08:12 AM
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I might have to call the vet today and ask for advice about the food if he doesn't eat pretty soon here. He ate well on Tuesday night, and that was the last time he had more than a bite or two. That was before the antibiotics got into his system. He did go outside this morning to do his business, so that's all working fine.
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Old 07-09-2020, 09:27 AM
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In!
Thanks for the new thread Mags.

Sometime it's the little things that were important all along.

Well done on shotgun Captain and more importantly moving on to your second weekend.

I hope you have a better week this week bim and Marty. Times are extremely tough right now. A good time to be sober.

I hope that cat is OK, it is probably just scratching itself on the curved edge of the stairs.
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Old 07-09-2020, 09:36 AM
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MLD, might be a good idea to phone the vet if you are worried. But let me tell you that at the end of last year my dog got a very bad gastroenteritis. Of course we took her to the vet (a couple of times) and even though she ate virtually nothing at all for about 4 days, she came out fine in the end. As I understand it, dehydration is the more serious of the two, but of course I’m not offering any veterinarian advice.


Evening and thanks, Sao.

The thread being called what it is, I hope we all have something planned for the weekend, even if just staying at home and doing nothing.
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Old 07-09-2020, 10:19 AM
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I saw this elsewhere and it made me laugh out loud. The "two wolves" saying is used here on SR often, but this is a funny twist on it.


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Old 07-09-2020, 10:21 AM
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