Tomorrow came
 

Since http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...13-fallen.html I've been wandering among sobriety, moderation, and drunkeness.

Got the new job, moved to Atlanta, was doing pretty good at controlling myself. Then they downsized me. I didn't lose all of my control but I got much worse.

I started keeping a journal of my drinking, feeling, thoughts. I started researching. In my sober moments, I made a plan.

Then my dear 70-something parents unknowingly pulled a page right out of the RR methodology. Knowing my plan was not doable while I was uninsured and underemployed, they offered to pay for it and made a doctors appointment for me. As long as I did it right now.

So, a very good office visit, a prescription, and a counselor referral later...I'm back.

Glad to hear it, t. Done a bit of wandering myself......RR has been the only thought construct that actually helped me STOP.

The prescription helped me make it through the withdrawal.

Rooting for you.

Never used anything for withdrawal. Just tough them out. I always manage to taper down before quitting. This scrip was for an antidepressant.

Welcome back Trachemys. Good to see you! There is so much riding on our success, I imagined I was going to get only one shot at this, and I was going to succeed.

I know you can succeed. What does your plan look like?

Slow and steady wins the race!

Welcome back! :c011:

^^^^^ x2! ^^^^^

Great work on the doctor visit and managing your depression. Big step.

What are you going to do to keep off the drink?

Understood. So often alcohol and depression go hand in hand, don't they?

Wishing you all the best.

B

Plan? I need a plan? :react :gaah :dunno :help :giveup

Woot your back! You were here when I first got here. I remember when you left you said we would have to carry on without you. Naw...we just waited.

Well, speaking from experience: yeah, it's best to get a plan together. You have to make some changes.

I was prescribed anti-depressants late into my drinking career. I felt like maybe depression was the "problem" and everything would be fine. Alas, taking a pill didn't help me change my behavior, things got worse and I ended up in an ambulance with seizures and eventually in rehab.

It's pretty tough, most people feel stuck in a spiral and they can't get out. In my case, treatment was a must - I spent the last of my savings, quit my job, etc - and there I learned a bit more about feeling powerful in my resolve.

Meeting others with similar struggles can also help. I'm not an AA'er myself but I went in the early goings and it helped. It's not as bad as you think, probably. Some kind of peer support goes a long way. That said, many make it work with SR alone and perhaps that's enough.

The bottom line: you have to have some kind of idea what you're going to start doing differently. Whatever your daily habits have been, you've got to try and start altering them, I think. Others might have good ideas.

big, we're limited to five smilies per post. I couldn't add the :biglaugh smilie.

I'm not new to this rodeo. I have a plan. A medically consulted and approved plan. On a timetable. With a backup plan. And a whole lot more insight into myself, my condition and my goals. Last year, I didn't.

Those are very positive steps, trachemys, an excellent plan. When I finally was honest with my Dr., I found it went a long way towards me being honest with myself. Like finding and going to an AA meeting or two, it helped cement my decision and my resolve - I had decided to quit, and I was going to make it as easy as possible on myself to succeed.

This might sound trite, but at some point you will consider yourself a non-drinker, and it will help you to visualize what that will mean for you. Are you a calmer person? A happier person, more easy going maybe? Less anxious? How will you get to that place?

It helped me to look at things that non-drinkers did and how they did them, and I imagined myself doing those things. The visualization became an important aspect - I set goals and met them, and this became a self reinforcing loop that left me stronger and more confident in myself, more easily able to deal with the daily slings and arrows. It was a huge relief to finally feel as though I was getting things back on track.

Hope you keep posting, trachemys. Best to you.

trachemys,

it's good to see you go for it again!
and it seems people who not only have plans but actually follow them do better.

I've never been "on track". Even before I started drinking and drugging at 16, I was off track. Biologically.

Continued as I missed the editing deadline

That lead to me going farther off track chemically. By 21, I had my already screwed-up brain chemistry so far "off track" that my current condition is no surprise. If I'm lucky, I'll never be back on the track I've lived on all my life.

I have to make a new track. I have to make a whole new me.

It's sounds like you're at least working your way into a better track, trachemys! Glad to see you back and trying to grab ahold of a better life.

Hey, Myth! I'm just trying to grab life.

I nearly killed myself with vodka last year.

do good trachemys, do good

Update: One week in and my first thought upon waking was NOT: Let's have a drink.
:bananadan:

This is really great! You must be feeling empowered right now? hold on to this feeling tightly :) own It!