Days 1-30: Hello Sober Living

[wonderworld]

Days 1-30: Hello Sober Living

Such good news 1morechance! Seriously. Great news. WAY. TO. GO.

We missed you in chat - A few of us had a little bit of a raucous party going on there for a while. We'll make sure to get you there one of these days. The rest of everyone too!!!

Wooflet it's 11:30 a.m. Sunday, no? How you doing?

LVT - OMG I sang out loud to every word!!!! Loved it!!!

nojoke - great meeting you in chat. Hope you hang out here more!

gelgit - how's your digging? Is the hole big enough yet? Take some advil and have a nice rest when you're all done with 'the project', okay?

I hope everyone gets some good rest - see you tomorrow .


KEEP TALKING. AL DOESN'T LIKE IT


Love WW xox

[fresh-start-at-36]

Days 1-30: Hello Sober Living

Great work Wooflet,

may it be the first of many.

Cheers

Brett.

Wooflet;319836 wrote: Hi WW

Yes it is just past 10:30pm - I just posted elsewhere because I thought perhaps I'd managed to kill this thread already!

Tonight hasn't been nearly as hard as I thought it would be. Probably because some lovely friends made sure I was distracted, I guess the real test will come when it's just me at home alone. But who cares why or how, I've made it to day 1 AF - the first in 15 months - yay!

Thanks for the support

Wooflet x

[Peanut]

Days 1-30: Hello Sober Living

gung-ho

Hi, it's me, Peanut!
Been posting about for the last few days, thought i'd drop a line here. It's 10:45pm friday night in the middle of the prairie, I normally would be sitting down with a bottle (big) or box of wine right now, but I am feeling very motivated. I will make myself a fancy drink with soda, lime cordial and a splash of AF red wine. Might taste good. My sister made me one similar upon her return from Mexico (soda, vodka, lime and a splash of wine) - if I eliminate the vodka which I don't drink anyway, it should be tastey and icey cold.

I am tired though, as I just listened to the hypno cd's. I do question them though. Not sure that I was actually hypnotized - don't think I am susceptible!!!! Still had to scratch my ear, swallow, clear my throat, etc. Aware of outdoor sounds around me. Does it still work???? I have the subliminal one running right now!

I shall read for a while and go to bed - a miracle as I usually am up until 3am on friday and saturday nights. I want to feel rested in the morning and get lots accomplished, as I usually sleep until noon. With grown or teen kids (16, 18, 20), there is nobody to force me up in the mornings! All my supplements arrived today, so I am gung-ho!!! Yes!!! Come on that healthy feeling!!!

OK - let's hope this keeps up!! I am positive!!!
Tata for now dears!
Peanut

[Peanut]

Days 1-30: Hello Sober Living

By the way, it is Day 2 for me AF today. Hope days 3 and 4 are going to be just as good!
P

[fresh-start-at-36]

Days 1-30: Hello Sober Living

Great work Wooflet,

may it be the first of many.

Cheers

Brett.

Wooflet;319836 wrote: Hi WW

Yes it is just past 10:30pm - I just posted elsewhere because I thought perhaps I'd managed to kill this thread already!

Tonight hasn't been nearly as hard as I thought it would be. Probably because some lovely friends made sure I was distracted, I guess the real test will come when it's just me at home alone. But who cares why or how, I've made it to day 1 AF - the first in 15 months - yay!

Thanks for the support

Wooflet x

[Wooflet]

Days 1-30: Hello Sober Living

Wish me luck for tonight

Hi everyone

Sorry it's taken me so long to post again, my friends did too good a job of distracting me for the first couple of days! And now that it's the witching hour again here in Melbourne (7pm Saturday night) and I'm on my own, I find that reading the boards makes me think about Al even more, so I've been distracting myself by playing games on the MWO arcade. I'm SOOO jealous of you guys on the other side of the world who get to chat together in the evenings - that raucous party sounded like lots of fun yesterday.

Anyway the good news is I made it through day 2 yesterday and actually slept fine last night too

Tonight is going to be a real tough one for me - I'm going to my friends' engagement party which is at a nightclub - yikes. Haven't been to one of those in years, especially not AF. I know it's not a good idea to be surrounded by drinking on day 3 but I can't get out of the party as it would disappoint my friends too much. So wish me strength please - as I wish strength and courage to all of you as you embark on your Saturday.

Wooflet

[Wooflet]

Days 1-30: Hello Sober Living

WW, Thankful, KateH1, Meditation Mama and other old-timers - thanks for all the support and for showing us there really is a light at the end of the tunnel

WW thanks so much for your posts and enquiries, even when I've not had time to respond they've been a great source of motivation and laughter for me, just when I need it. I loved the "few weeks of 'squirelly-ness'"!!!...and of course the mooning smiley :H

And I so identified with what you said about our relationship with Al:

wonderworld;320389 wrote:
As much as I hate and despise AL, and as relieved and happy as I am to have the beast off my back, and as much as I know about what AL does to my body and my life, I also get a weird pang when I think "Never Again !?!?". I can't really wrap my mind around it. And I have a sneaking suspicion that that "scary thought" is also a result of the brain going through physical withdrawal. It's calling to it's lover.......... "Don't leave me !!! What will I do without you !?! I love you!!! (and if loving you is wrong - I don't wanna be right !!! :upset ). Poor brain :l. It's going through a breakup !

BigMac congratulations and thanks so much for sharing your story, I can really identify with the anxiety part and it's good to hear from someone who's recently come out the other side.

And to my fellow new-starters Twinsmommy, Ollie, Booklvr, Keeta , 1morechance, Gelgit, Peanut and anyone else I missed (sorry) - yay to us all on making it thus far, and here's to things getting easier and easier as the days go by.

Gelgit a double massive congratulations to you - one for not drinking and the other for not burying your husband in one of those holes!!

Brett (aka fresh start) thanks for the support mate, and congratulations to your achievements which I've been reading about on other threads.

Have a great day everyone
Wooflet

[LVT25]

Days 1-30: Hello Sober Living

Wooflet--sorry I wasn't here earlier to give you a pep talk before your night club outing. I'm sure you'll do fine!!

Gelgit--are you still working on that big hole??

WW--It's time to wake up!!!!:H

I never can think of any good words of wisdom....I'm a follower, not a leader!! Maybe another song from WW's family to get everyone Happy:

[ame=

]YouTube - The Partridge Family[/ame]


I can't help it, I still think David Cassidy is the dreamiest!!:h

[wakupmom]

Days 1-30: Hello Sober Living

Hello to all you guys!
You know i got up early this morning before the kids got up,and spent an hour reading all the posts and answering to you all.I was so frustrated that i lost it in cyber space.DAM,i should have saved it ,but never mind.
I just kicked the kids of the computer so i could send my message.

Firstly a big thankyou to all the senior members.WW,Thankful,Bootsie,Kate,Liv,Det,Ripple and Bestlife.As said before your experience and insight are so inspiring.

Hi to wooflet(Hope your doo goes ok)Twins,Olie,Booklife,LVT,Roamer,Keeta,1more,Gelg it,No joke,Freshstart,and Peanut.i think we are more or less at the same stage 3/4 days.Welldone,and stay close.If i have missed anyone forgive me!

Big Mac,and Bestlife 25 Days? !Fantastic

Well,some great posts.Interesting the comparrision to leaving the booze to a grieving process.Which for me it is.
Leaving a distructive lover behind,and trying to convince ourselfs we have done the right thing,,even keep going back one more time just in case,frighted of life by yourself.
Letting go.Feeling all the painfull,and uncomfortable symptoms,untill we finally ACCEPT that it is OVER.Only then can we truley grieve and let the emotions flood in,and really FEEL(Mediamama) put this very well,as did Thankfull in exploring the reasons why it is the only way if we truley want a HEALTHY relationship for ourselfs.That is when we begin to recover,and build new beginings.
I know a lot has been said about this.A really good book was written by the late Caroline Knapp..Drinking A Love Affair.If you haven't read it it is well worth it.

Anyway i am almost at the end of day 3,and i know i will not take a drink today.My sleep was restless last night my mind very busy.I know that is to be expected.I felt a little hyper today.I used it to my advantage to be as productive as poss.
Tomorrow is another day.
Thanks again WW,for caring enough to get this thread on the road xx

Have a good weekend everyone.Wishing you all much strenghth xx

[wonderworld]

Days 1-30: Hello Sober Living

Good morning friends-

Wooflet - OMG a nightclub. Even without the AL subject, I would find that daunting!!! It's been (quite) a while for me too. Hope it went okay. Look forward to hearing all about it.
I know what you mean about reading posts making you feel like drinking. That has happened to me sometimes, and with certain kinds of posts. Good job on working around it! I've spent a few hours on games myself .

As far as chat parties - we will find times when you can be there too. It has taken me a while, but now I understand that the Aussies are 38 hours ahead of us, right? When I'm figuring it out, in my head I say - tomorrow this same time + plus 12 hours + plus 2 hours. See - simple? Is that right for your time zone? And ........ are you a late night or early morning person? We can work around it

And speaking of ........ Hi Brett ! Glad we have some more representation from Down Under. We don't want Wooflet standing on her head all by herself !! Hope to see you around here more!

Peanut - you too!!! I can't believe how many nice folks are starting up with MWO right now. Sounds like you're right on the money honey ! It's just plodding through those AF hours in the beginning. That's it. Just being AF through the waves of anxiety, grief, excitement, sleeplessness, whatever it looks like for you. On that level, it's just so simple. Maybe annoyingly so .

Okay - I have to get moving! I am going to be working this afternoon and all day tomorrow, so I may not be able to spend as much time here as I would like until Monday. But I will most definitely check in later today and a couple times tomorrow at least.
Hope everyone has a good day. Look forward to hearing how it's going-

Love WW xox

[Wooflet]

Days 1-30: Hello Sober Living

Hi Everyone

It's almost 2am on Sunday morning and I just got back from the party and am SOOO high...on the fact that I not only managed to stay AF (day 3 yay) but enjoyed myself too.

Reasons to be AF at a party:
You come back home looking like you did when you left, not like some red-eyed bad-skinned slag
You don't have to worry about whether you're slurring your words and making an idiot of yourself
You get to have fun watching other people slurring their words and making an idiot of themselves
You're sober enough to take your make-up off so you don't look like a raccoon in the morning
You won't wake up the next day with a hangover trying to recall parts of the night that are total blanks

I'm sure there are more but it's late and I'm tired and going to bed with a cup of tea.

Thanks LVT25, wakupmom and WW for your words of support.

WW look forward to finding a time for a chat party. I think the time difference between here and NY is 14 hours, ie it's now midday on Saturday for you and 2am Sunday for me. So your calculation was right with the time, just added on an extra day.

Have a great Saturday everyone, I'll check in later this morning to see how you all went.

Wooflet xox

[Peanut]

Days 1-30: Hello Sober Living

shakey

Morning everybody - or afternoon - or evening!!
Just checking in and in need of a bit of advise from those in the know!
I had a really weird day yesterday. Started of grumpy, ended up pumped and happy and feeling good. I did stay up a bit later than planned, maybe 1am, and had 4 of these nice soda water, bit of lime cordial, splash of AF wine on ice. I know - 4 or 5 of them - when I start, I can't stop, so maybe it isn't just the wine - maybe the ciggies and the book too keep me going and up late. The whole time reading with my beau watching really old Jimmi Hendrix footage. I started to feel a bit shakey before going to bed, and said outloud that I thought I felt a bit drunk (could be the two hoots I had as well). I hadn't eaten very much, given my great gung-ho feeling from the other thread we have going - the weight loss one. I was sooooo cold in bed, felt a bit hungry, and all these bizarre images passing before my eyes. But sooooo cold, and these waves of shivering would pass through me, from head to toe. It was horrid. I couldn't sleep. I kept thinking I might die, and all these silly thoughts. Finally, about 3am, I got up and ate some food and drank some milk, and within 10-15 minutes, I was warm again. An hour later I woke up sweating, and had to peel off my wool socks and sweater and longjohns, and remove some blanket - obviously I was better.

I am wondering if this was a bloodsugar reaction (most likely) but also wonder why this doesn't happen when I do the same thing eating-wise, but drink a litre of wine instead?!? I am still a bit shakey today, tired too, but NOT HUNGOVER!!!!! Maybe need a nap later. I got up earlier and took the All One powder, and will do the rest of the herbals and vitamins, so hopefully I will feel better.

Does this sound familiar to anybody??? Is there a doctor in the house? Ha!

It is supposed to hit 19C today on the prairie (not sure what that is for you metrically challenged types), so I will get some work done and spend some time in the sun too. Maybe hit the pool later when I feel better.

Have a great day 3AF to all you May AFer! And everyone else who is having (or not) success in all their endeavors!
Peanut

[Thankful]

Days 1-30: Hello Sober Living

Hey, Peanut.

Couple of things to consider. Are there any traces of alcohol in the AF wine you drank? Most items that say AF have some traces albeit small amouts. Are you taking Kudzu?

I ask these two questions because I went through something a little similar but not as severe as you over a month ago. I was enjoying my AF beer but indulged more than usual since being AF. I was on my 5th one when all of a sudden I started feeling very strange. I was very scared because I couldn't tell if it was a buzz or not. I was getting a little flushed and got a bit of a headache. Well, I stopped the AF beer immediately and started drinking a lot of water. Another member told me that even small traces of alcohol can have these sort of effects on you if you take Kudzu.

This made me feel so much better. I drank AF more often in the beginning because I found it really helped me and I was not on meds or supplements. And I never experienced this reaction before. But this one time did coinside as to when I started taking my supplements. So voila! It all seemed to make sense. I have since pretty much stayed away from the AF beer as well. I've had maybe 3 total since that happened. Actually the last one I opened I dumped out half way through because it just didn't taste good to me.

Let me know if you take the Kudzu or not. I am very interested if there are repeat patterns of this.

Good luck. I hope you feel better.

Love, Me
:l

[nojoke]

Days 1-30: Hello Sober Living

Tonight is a dance party (not my thing!) and had a heated discussion with partner about going. I was told that I 'never want to go out anymore' and I said I don't want to get drunk anymore. So what is the answer? Theirs: Just don't drink. Mine: Avoid temptation? Aaaagh I'm sure I can manage with water but then I get bored and want to leave. Sorry, I'm also a bit flat today. I find myself craving sugar in the evenings - so unlike me as I've never been a sweet tooth. I will repeat my mantra over and over "I'm not a drinker, I don't want alcohol...

Wooflet, so good to hear you championed the party as an AFer last night - fantastic. I'll check in again tomorrow. Peaceful Sundays all round xx

[LVT25]

Days 1-30: Hello Sober Living

Wooflet---:goodjob:

I am very impressed. I love your reasons for staying sober at a party! I however have difficulty "relating" to drunk people when I'm not one of them! I can handle it for awhile, but probably not until 2 am. Way to go....!!

Peanut---??? I'm guessing glucose or what thankful said.