MARCH MOTIVATORS

[mylife]

MARCH MOTIVATORS

Happy Friday everyone!

Blonde - sounds like you had a great couple days off and enjoyed the weather.
Alls - good luck with your fundraiser. My husband invited some friends of ours for an improptu barbeque on Sunday. They said they will bring "wine and dessert" so I'm going to have to deal with that. My plan is to have a nice bottle of AF wine in the fridge for myself and no one will know what I'm pouring. The important part is I have a plan.

Ginger - good luck with your pain-free plan. I very much sympathize with what you're going through! Those were my words exactly - I'm too young to go through the rest of my life like this!

UW - that drink sounds delish. Let me know if you get the recipe to work and share it!!

Have a fantastic AF weekend everyone!

[K9Lover]

MARCH MOTIVATORS

Morning Marchies!

Happy Friday to everyone! Nothing much planned for this weekend. My daughter will be spending Saturday night at a friends so of course my first thought was "I'll get some beer", but of course that only last about 2 seconds, it's amazing how the brain just keeps going back to the old habits, even though I know good and well that I am NOT getting any beer and it's not even an option! I'm glad to say that those thoughts come and go very quickly now. In the past (maybe not even too long ao) I may have planned to "forget" my antabuse for about a week knowing she was going to be spending the night away...but that didn't happen and I didn't even think about it. I guess that's progress!

I just need to make it through the day, my stomach feels queasy for some reason and I'm super tired...so glad it's Friday and I can sleep in tomorrow.

Good luck to all of you facing challenges this weekend. Just remember the big picture, and don't let alcohol suck you back into a place you don't want to be. I'll be thinking of you all and sending you strength!

K9

[allswell]

MARCH MOTIVATORS

Hi All,

Unwasted, that lemon basil drink sounds really interesting.
Well, I'm going to this event tonight that I volunteered for and although I'm sure alcohol will be splashing all over the place I'm not going to let it get the best of me. I'll bring AB as a security blanket but spent some time yesterday thinking and the scales are weighed so heavily on the AF side I don't see temptation being an issue. In addition to all of the usual benefits everyone talks about I thought of the following:
I no longer feel like a fraud when I meet a client because I'm hungover or in a fog, I feel like I'm on top of my game right now which is important because it's the busiest time of year for my business, No longer fear the future, out of a relationship that really didn't work for either of us, going to Asia in June to visit family. None of this would be possible if the poison was still a part of my daily life. Hope everyone has a great Saturday!

[Jolie]

MARCH MOTIVATORS

Allswell,

Inspiring words - I'm finding I have a lot more self confidence and not always living on the edge - you know, that feeling of just living for 5:00 to roll around so I can start drinking. You sound very positive and sounds like you've resolved some issues that maybe you couldn't have had you been drinking.

Enjoy the visit with your family!

[mylife]

MARCH MOTIVATORS

Morning guys.

Quick check in. I'm off to run errands with hubs today and getting some things done around the house.

It's kind of a dreary day toda - of course after being beautiful sunshine all week long during my working time!

Alls - I agree very inspiring post. There is a world of stuff to be done that can't be done with AL fogging up our lives.

Hi Jolie! Nice to hear from you!

Have a great day all.

[allswell]

MARCH MOTIVATORS

Thanks Mylife and Jolie,

Went to the store this morning and picked up some strawberries, lemons, and basil - going to give UW's drink a try!

[Unwasted]

MARCH MOTIVATORS

Good Morning Everyone,

I went to two AA meetings yesterday. I have to say, that I think this will be an important component of maintaining sobriety for me. Mainly, I'm finally going to have some real people in my life who don't drink. People just couldn't be nicer and they reach out to you in a concrete way so you have solid support. I had lunch with the first group and already have plans to get together with some of them again outside of AA. I think part of the reason I didn't make it in my first two attempts was tied to being isolated. The meetings themselves are helping too -- just to hear stories of where I'll end up if I choose to drink again..........I think the most compelling part of the meetings is when people talk about drinking after long periods of sobriety. The cunning, baffling part of alcoholism that catches us completely off guard when nothing special is happening to catapult us into drinking.......we just pick up. One guy talked about being in Italy on vacation having a lovely day swimming in the Mediterranean with his family. Suddenly he was at the bar and soon thereafter in the portapotty (LOL) with a bunch of liquor, drinking it there to hide it from his family. He wasn't upset about anything......having a good time........and it just hit. THAT's the scary part....just out of the blue. Anyway, I'm getting past the things that kept me from going to these meetings because I want every tool I can get. I'm excited to have people I can now call or meet for coffee or lunch who understand and will be there for support.

I bought the stuff yesterday for the yummy drink and will get back to you guys. Of course, you have to know it's going to have a bunch of sugar. Sorry, I'm not past the sugar thing yet. Basically, though, I'm going to make lemonade, make a strawberry syrup with strawberries and sugar, put those two things together and throw in several basil leaves........I've been making this strawberry sauce to put on cupcakes and a white cake I make. I think it's about 3-4 cups of strawberries with 1/2 cup of sugar. So I'll just throw a spoonful of that in as the strawberry sauce part of the drink. Major yum!

Have a great day everyone..........

[mylife]

MARCH MOTIVATORS

Happy Monday morning guys!

UW - you sound like you're on a very positive path. I am lucky that I have friends who don't drink that much and don't really notice if I do or not. Of course I do have a couple of those old friends that were "drinking friends" but we haven't really gotten together in years so that works in my favor.

We had gorgeous weather here this weekend - yesterday my husband and I invited friends over for a barbeque. I drank sparkling water and Cranberry juice and no one even noticed. The food was very yummy and we had a really nice afternoon. I wish I would have had the ingredients for that yummy lemonade/strawberry drink!

Hope everyone has a great Monday.

[Unwasted]

MARCH MOTIVATORS

Good Morning Everyone,

Alls and ML, here is one recipe I found. I made it yesterday and although it was good, it wasn't like the one in the restaurant. I'm going to post another one (below) that looks like it might be more like what I had. I really liked the first one, but still want to try the second one.

ML, I'm feeling strong, but you know how that goes. No complacency here. They tell me in AA (Mary specifically on the AA thread here..........she just celebrated 3 years AF by the way..........) that most of the people she sees relapse are those who stop going to meetings. There are many women in my Saturday group that have 20-30- years of sobriety and still go to meetings. I'm really starting to understand why.

ML - way to go on your party yesterday. I agree that most people don't care all that much about what we're drinking as long as they get theirs. And, if they're not fixated on alcohol, it's just a nonissue to them.

OK, here are the recipes (you can just copy and paste into a Word doc):

INGREDIENTS

For the strawberry-basil syrup:
•1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
•1 cup water
•1 pound strawberries, washed, hulled, and sliced 1/2 inch thick
•3/4 cup tightly packed basil leaves
For the lemonade:
•8 cups cold water
•2 cups lemon juice, chilled
•Ice
•1/2 pound strawberries, washed, hulled, and sliced 1/2 inch thick, for garnish
•1/4 cup tightly packed, blemish-free basil leaves, for garnish

INSTRUCTIONS

For the strawberry-basil syrup:
Place the sugar and water in a medium saucepan over high heat and stir until the sugar dissolves and the mixture comes to a boil. Add the strawberries, reduce the heat to medium low, and simmer until the strawberries have softened, about 10 minutes.
Remove from the heat, add the basil leaves, and stir to incorporate. Cool to room temperature, about 45 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer set over a medium bowl; discard the solids. Cover the syrup and refrigerate until ready to use.

For the lemonade:
Pour the water, lemon juice, and 1 1/2 cups of the strawberry-basil syrup into a 3-quart pitcher or punch bowl and stir to combine. Taste and add additional strawberry-basil syrup as needed. Add ice and garnish with the sliced strawberries and basil leaves.

RECIPE #2

Ingredients
2 cups lemon juice, about 12 to 15 lemons
2 cups Basil Simple Syrup, recipe follows
2 cups cold or sparkling water
Ice
Lemon twists, for garnish

Directions

Mix lemon juice, Basil Simple Syrup, and water together in a pitcher. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Pour over ice filled glasses and garnish with a lemon twist.

Basil Simple Syrup:

1 bunch fresh basil, washed and stemmed
2 cups sugar
1 cup water

In a saucepan combine basil, sugar, and water and simmer until the sugar is dissolved, 5 minutes. Cool, strain the simple syrup, and store in the refrigerator.


Bon Appetito!

[K9Lover]

MARCH MOTIVATORS

Hi Everyone!

The boards seemed slow over the weekend! I hope everyone is doing well! I had a relaxing weekend even though I had a touch of the stomach flu (still). I didn't even get out of bed until 4pm yesterday! It was rainy and I was reading a book and dozing on and off. I'm kind of glad to be out of the house today, too much laying around starts to get old!

I hope you all were able to stay strong over the weekend, I know a few have been struggling. Each time we beat the beast we get stronger!

Happy Monday everyone, and I will check in later!

K9

[mylife]

MARCH MOTIVATORS

Hi Again Marchers!

Yes, this board has gone quiet!

UW - thanks for the recipes. I'm going to get a list of favorite Non-Al drinks together for myself and start ordering them rather than AL when I go out to dinner or something.

K9 - Sorry to hear about your stomach flu. I hate being sick - especially over the weekend, so I can sympathize!

I'm working lately to remind myself that it's a gift, not a chore to be Al Free. One of the main things I related to in Jason Vale's book is that if you spend your AF time pining away for the AL it seems like a life sentence when in reality its a liberation not to have to drink AL. I really want to focus on the positive aspects and the fact that I choose to live my life this way - because it's a more rewarding and positive way to live.

There's my two cents for the afternoon!

[AGUYFROMNC]

MARCH MOTIVATORS

Trying to remain AF, I did well in the past and this board has helped me alot. Dr. Phil had a show on a few days ago about an alcholic, was very depresssing to watch... The things she did for alcohol and the shakes... Its Day 3 AF, the cravings are the worse, but trying to stay distracted... getting bad anxiety and just feeling all over crappy, same as lasat time, glad I found you alll on this baord...

[Unwasted]

MARCH MOTIVATORS

Guy, welcome! Be sure not to forget the nest too. It's got more action than this thread, which can be a bit slow. We're here for support, though if we can help.

ML, I think this feeling of gratitude becomes more enmeshed. At first we have to work at it, but as time passes it becomes more genuine, organic, natural.....I'm feeling more and more thankful and less and less like I'm giving up anything.

K9, glad you're feeling better. The boards have seemed slow. I was so glad to see Sunflower post - don't know if you guys followed that but she's okay.

Have a great day everyone.

[scottish lass]

MARCH MOTIVATORS

Happy sober monday all, day 8 today, planning to hang in thou.
Off to the coast for a few days next week - first real holiday with my girls since separating, little wary about it and some anxiety. Will be easier not to drink as it will be two kids and myself, but it will seem strange not to drink when on holiday - another habit to break.
Spent a lot of time readng the boards this weekend, some incredible reading here.

[mylife]

MARCH MOTIVATORS

Hello Aguy - I remember you from several months back. Glad you are posting again. You can do this.

Scottish - nice to hear you're doing well and planning a few days off. I am a little nervous about a vacation I'm taking at the end of April as well. You're right another habit to break. I really don't know why we associate vacations with drinking - but we do. I'm bringing my Antabuse and planning not to drink - and I hope it will turn out to be a pleasant experience. Last year I did a vacation AF and although I did not drink I thought about it every day of the vacation. That's where I think the change mindset will be important. (sigh)

Have a great evening everyone.