Input on Journaling
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Join Date: Aug 2021
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Input on Journaling
Greetings all--
First day here and still learning the ropes. My last recovery group/forum I found it immensely helpful to keep a daily journal of sorts. Is starting a new thread--here, e.g.--the best way to go? Thx--SS
First day here and still learning the ropes. My last recovery group/forum I found it immensely helpful to keep a daily journal of sorts. Is starting a new thread--here, e.g.--the best way to go? Thx--SS
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Join Date: Feb 2020
Location: Eastern US
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Are you talking about WQD as your last recovery group? If so, journals were much more frequented there, they had there own forum etc. Journals (IE long standing threads from one person) don't seem to gain as much traction except in a few very active members. I am sure long term people here can chime in and might even disagree but definitely there is a difference between here and the last forum I was at (WQD). Still a great place here and a great idea to journal but not sure how much activity you will find in the thread.
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Join Date: Apr 2007
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I wasn't at WQD so we may be talking about different things.
A lot of people start a thread and keep charting their progress through that thread - other members can drop in and give feedback.
Thats the SR definition of a journal thread
Other people start different threads on different topics, specific questions or at various milestones.
That's fine too - do one or the other or both - whatever works best for you :
If you don't especially want feedback and just want to journal, we have a blog section too.
Just click your user name and access the drop down menu to start writing your own blog. You can set it up so noone else can see it or so it can't be commented on.
D
A lot of people start a thread and keep charting their progress through that thread - other members can drop in and give feedback.
Thats the SR definition of a journal thread
Other people start different threads on different topics, specific questions or at various milestones.
That's fine too - do one or the other or both - whatever works best for you :
If you don't especially want feedback and just want to journal, we have a blog section too.
Just click your user name and access the drop down menu to start writing your own blog. You can set it up so noone else can see it or so it can't be commented on.
D
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Join Date: Feb 2020
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SouthernSober, I see from your post in my thread that it was in fact WQD that you were at. In all honesty and not to bad mouth this site in any way, the journaling there was way better, more interactive and was the heart of the site. This site just doesn't have it. It does have a few other things going for it though, lots of activity and great amazing people. WQD got pretty slow there after a while. But yeah, unfortunately the feel is different here in that aspect.
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Join Date: Nov 2018
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I kept a journal every day for 5 years, and I'm pretty sure it was different than the journaling of others. It was focused on my most private thoughts and feelings, and I only shared it with my counselor at the university. So when someone keeps a journal, I naturally wonder what that means to them and what their purpose for it is. Mine was strictly for self knowledge, and what I found out was that there was one Hell of a lot about me that I was not aware of. And it's the same today, many years later.
When I decided to stop drinking, I used much of what I learned in my earlier journaling, because the process of uncovering self knowledge is highly useful in recovery. The two feed off of each other, but they are very different. Recovery was more about following a plan (some of it based on self knowledge). It was more like a cookbook in nature, while journaling was entirely an investigative process.
I'm sure others do it differently.
When I decided to stop drinking, I used much of what I learned in my earlier journaling, because the process of uncovering self knowledge is highly useful in recovery. The two feed off of each other, but they are very different. Recovery was more about following a plan (some of it based on self knowledge). It was more like a cookbook in nature, while journaling was entirely an investigative process.
I'm sure others do it differently.
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Join Date: Aug 2021
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Grateful😎
Great to get to my desk and get these replies. Many thanks. Good start to the day. And already have a buddy from my old group/forum! 😎
Speaking of...I don't know what happened to that group (WQD) but it was a Godsend. It was like a more loosely structured, secular AA meeting that was both 24/7 and asynchronous...I had buddies from all over the world. I could go on and at any time it was an oasis. The chat room was always buzzing, and it was a huge life preserver for those in crisis.
I definitely welcome feedback. best, SS
Speaking of...I don't know what happened to that group (WQD) but it was a Godsend. It was like a more loosely structured, secular AA meeting that was both 24/7 and asynchronous...I had buddies from all over the world. I could go on and at any time it was an oasis. The chat room was always buzzing, and it was a huge life preserver for those in crisis.
I definitely welcome feedback. best, SS
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Journaling cont'd
Another added benefit for me is routine and accountability...even on days that ended with "I just want to eat, take a shower and go to bed," it has been important to at least pop in and check in. In 30 years of on-and-off alcoholic drinking...I can't recall a single day in which I went to a meeting or checked into my online support group...and still went ahead and drank. You also never know when you might come on just to check in, and wind up seeing someone in crisis who needs support.
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Day 4 and White Chip
Well, past midnight and I did not drink today (Day 4). And even tho I was still feeling rocky most of the day and had reservations about being out and among people, I "suited up and showed up." This was my old regular home group, and I sat in the very same chair I sat in last time there in November 2019. Nothing but sincere good wishes and welcome backs from faces both familiar and new.
I shared that just as the BB has it--(paraphrase) it is the obsession of every abnormal drinker that one day he will control and enjoy his drinking. Murmurs of amusement on that one. In some ways, the last ~7 months of drinking, while not constant, produced more misery than my former .30 BAC, pass-out vodka binges endable only by medical detox. At the end, even the ~6 light beers I was trying to regulate were both enough to produce brief comfort but abject misery for the next ~20 hours.
It always gets worse, and here it's like take your pick: acute binging to blackout and detox, lasting a week or two...or nursing hangover helper light beers...for a chronic ~7 months. I probably did more damage with the latter. The hangovers sure felt that way, and I was gaining weight even working out 6 nights a week and eating clean.
You hear a lot about willpower and alcoholics...well, it took every ounce of willpower I had to try maintaining a daily schedule of 20 "off," 4 "on." And the whole time--it conjured up the saying "alcoholism is the only jail where the key is on the inside."
When I resume drinking, it's just a matter of time before anything and everything else is like nails on a chalkboard. Going to the grocery store feels like a military operation, and agoraphobia rules the day. It's a horrible way to live, especially as a career Veteran with PTSD.
After the meeting and some catching up, I hit the gym for an hour. Now a quiet evening of jazz and sipping a diet ginger beer. The thought that I could be drinking instead sends a shock, no exaggeration, of physical pain through my body.
I remind myself that a universal constant at my previous group/forum (WQD)...was that "moderation" is a fool's errand. Staying sober is hard. Trying to retrofit an alcoholic into a "normie," impossible.
Now a late supper and a shot at a peaceful night. Whatever happens tomorrow, I'll wake up and start the day thanking God I didn't drink last night.
best, SS
I shared that just as the BB has it--(paraphrase) it is the obsession of every abnormal drinker that one day he will control and enjoy his drinking. Murmurs of amusement on that one. In some ways, the last ~7 months of drinking, while not constant, produced more misery than my former .30 BAC, pass-out vodka binges endable only by medical detox. At the end, even the ~6 light beers I was trying to regulate were both enough to produce brief comfort but abject misery for the next ~20 hours.
It always gets worse, and here it's like take your pick: acute binging to blackout and detox, lasting a week or two...or nursing hangover helper light beers...for a chronic ~7 months. I probably did more damage with the latter. The hangovers sure felt that way, and I was gaining weight even working out 6 nights a week and eating clean.
You hear a lot about willpower and alcoholics...well, it took every ounce of willpower I had to try maintaining a daily schedule of 20 "off," 4 "on." And the whole time--it conjured up the saying "alcoholism is the only jail where the key is on the inside."
When I resume drinking, it's just a matter of time before anything and everything else is like nails on a chalkboard. Going to the grocery store feels like a military operation, and agoraphobia rules the day. It's a horrible way to live, especially as a career Veteran with PTSD.
After the meeting and some catching up, I hit the gym for an hour. Now a quiet evening of jazz and sipping a diet ginger beer. The thought that I could be drinking instead sends a shock, no exaggeration, of physical pain through my body.
I remind myself that a universal constant at my previous group/forum (WQD)...was that "moderation" is a fool's errand. Staying sober is hard. Trying to retrofit an alcoholic into a "normie," impossible.
Now a late supper and a shot at a peaceful night. Whatever happens tomorrow, I'll wake up and start the day thanking God I didn't drink last night.
best, SS
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Day 6 mid-day post
Gym early and late yesterday with a meeting in between. Slept like a rock last night.
I could be sitting here wringing my hands over 15 years in the program and being in and out...but I'm not. I'm focused on today and how it will build for the future. I'm focused on how much better I look and feel after just 6 days sober. I'm focused on how I know there will be difficult days and F it days. That's life. And if I feel like I can't handle life sober...well I sure as hell know I can't handle it drinking.
I tried to include affirmations from the AA Promises, but apparently I can't until I have 25 posts. At any rate, they're easy to find and anyone who prefers, can substitute SR or any other method/program and/or HP.
best, SS
I could be sitting here wringing my hands over 15 years in the program and being in and out...but I'm not. I'm focused on today and how it will build for the future. I'm focused on how much better I look and feel after just 6 days sober. I'm focused on how I know there will be difficult days and F it days. That's life. And if I feel like I can't handle life sober...well I sure as hell know I can't handle it drinking.
I tried to include affirmations from the AA Promises, but apparently I can't until I have 25 posts. At any rate, they're easy to find and anyone who prefers, can substitute SR or any other method/program and/or HP.
best, SS
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Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 25,373
Hey, welcome
Just as a little aside, I typed "WQD" into the search box above and got about 20 threads pop up in the results. I know there are still some people here that came over from WQD, maybe you can find some of them that way.
We here at SR also have found "moderation" to be impossibly difficult/impossible in general, and recovery groups take all the fun out of drinking - and that's a good thing.
Just as a little aside, I typed "WQD" into the search box above and got about 20 threads pop up in the results. I know there are still some people here that came over from WQD, maybe you can find some of them that way.
We here at SR also have found "moderation" to be impossibly difficult/impossible in general, and recovery groups take all the fun out of drinking - and that's a good thing.
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Join Date: Aug 2021
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1 week sober
Still early but a light year's worth of difference. Last Thursday night I miserably nursed a 6-pack and woke up to a bad nightmare and a seemingly endless day.
Tonight I'm listening to jazz, sipping a Perrier and feeling sore but good from another hardcore workout.
Thanks and amen.
Tonight I'm listening to jazz, sipping a Perrier and feeling sore but good from another hardcore workout.
Thanks and amen.
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Real quick: I reckon between not drinking and my workouts this past 8 days...I've cut 11,800 calories. Not even factoring in post metabolic burn, that's = ~3.3 pounds.
Imagine losing 3 pounds a week. I'd be over the moon. My reasons for quitting are endless, but that's a good enough reason right there.
Imagine losing 3 pounds a week. I'd be over the moon. My reasons for quitting are endless, but that's a good enough reason right there.
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Day 9, another meeting, another good day in the gym...my HR was 14* beats lower PM than 10 days ago. Truly astonishing.
And realized something important: all my life I've been anxious around people (long before I started drinking). And anxiety is a vicious circle for anyone with a substance abuse problem, especially alcohol. I am healing right now but still jumpy.
Getting and staying calm is a lifelong make or break. There are no shortcuts. It's one of the few things we all really have in common--that ability, or lack thereof, and how we apply or suffer from it.
And realized something important: all my life I've been anxious around people (long before I started drinking). And anxiety is a vicious circle for anyone with a substance abuse problem, especially alcohol. I am healing right now but still jumpy.
Getting and staying calm is a lifelong make or break. There are no shortcuts. It's one of the few things we all really have in common--that ability, or lack thereof, and how we apply or suffer from it.
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