7 Days In - Anyone else want to share?

[hazeleyes]

I have now achieved 7 days without Wine and wanted to share how it went.

My attitude this time was to focus on accepting that I didn't want to be the person who drank wine every other night to relieve stress and get through the day. Acceptance of my life, and how it was never going to get better, until I took steps to improve it has been very important to achieve sucess this time. I needed to turn my focus to how to have a great life that I enjoyed, without wine. I managed to keep busy at night, and to use sparkling fejoa drinks as a substitute. I read alot of success stories on MWO and posted in the Gratitude thread. Throughout this week I have suffered from severe headaches, that even pain killer did not shift. I was confused about this until I realised that I was carrying alot of stress in my neck and shoulders, and normally wine would help to relieve this stress. I started doing neck excercises to relieve the pressure and this helped the headaches. I also drank lots of water.

Overall, I am pleased to have achieve this small goal and I hope to continue on this path. I still have thoughts about drinking, but I follow these up every time with a reminded of what I don't want my life to be like anymore. I have lost some of the bloated stomach, I make better decisions, and I handle stress a bit better than before. I realise this is a small step, but it has taken me 1 1/2 years to achieve this goal, so I feel its a fabulous start.

Anyone else like to share how they got through the first 7 days AL free? Love to hear your stories...

[NoraC]

Hazel - great post! And, you are right, it is a fabulous start!

I am also at 7 days. Many starts & stops over the years. Right now, I am just taking it minute by minute. But, it is helping me to post every morning in the Newbies Nest Roll Call and on the 24 Hour threads. It seems like I've made my decision and already written it down so I can't change it.

Congratulations and let's both keep it up. :hug:

[Mr Vervill]

7 days is a great start, been ther many times, lol. The best way is to keep it up is to have a plan when the cravings come, of know what to do in social settings that may cause you to drink. The tool box has tons of solutions. It is your friend. copy and paste the link. https://www.mywayout.org/community/sh...24253-Tool-box

[All done drinking]

Good morning hazeleyes,

I am 19 days AF and I can really relate to your post. For me, thinking about drinking and thinking about not drinking consumes my thoughts at times. What has helped me is coming here daiy and posting a lot. Started a new thread with abcowboy entitled "Dedicated to the quit we love" and we are going to have a weekly subject about working this process of not only staying alcohol free, but loving be alcohol free. Our topic this week is triggers so if you or anyone here has any feedback on triggers for the group over there, your input would be most welcome.

I shared on another thread that I have had a paradigm shift and now see myself as a person who no longer drinks, rather than as a person who may eventually be able to control my drinking. I gave it a good 7 years and a lot of posts on the mod board of believing and trying to moderate successfully. I usually could...but it was those times that I couldn't that eventually made me have to change my thinking. It was truly like Russian Roulette. Could drink most times and be fine, but never knew when the night would come when I couldn't control it and I wouldn't be fine. It is so mentally freeing now to just say I am all done drinking and will get busy living life, not being caught up in the thought of "when can I drink again?" and then being too lazy when drinking to accomplish anything. Hang in there with me! We can do this!

Addy (All Done Drinking...Yes!) :love:

[Eloise]

Prize Patrol popping in to congratulate Nora & Hazeleyes on their 7 days of sobriety!
Good goin' and great post Hazeleyes, thanks for sharing!

[NoraC]

Thanks Eloise.

[hazeleyes]

Thanks everyone for sharing. I really appreciate your comments. Here's a blog I found on "go ask Alice" about tiredness.
Dear reader,

First of all, congratulations for deciding to stop drinking. People can define "heavy drinking" differently, but regardless of how much you were drinking, quitting is a big commitment to make to yourself, and one that will surely bring results well worth the effort.

The exhaustion you are experiencing may be due to symptoms of alcohol withdrawal. The more heavily a person had been drinking, the more likely they are to develop symptoms when they stop. Withdrawal symptoms include insomnia, fatigue, cravings, and mood instability, all of which can last from three to twelve months. The severity of symptoms is the most acute for the first week or two, and lessen as time goes on.

It sounds like fatigue is the main problem you've encountered, and this may be due to a disrupted sleep cycle, a typical symptom of both chronic drinking and the early stages of withdrawal. Both heavy drinking and its cessation can alter the circadian pattern of sleep, increasing the ratio of REM stage sleep to the more restful deep stage sleep. It's also possible that as your changed sleep cycle causes you to wake up periodically throughout the night, which could make you feel more tired during the day. This alteration of the sleep cycle is usually reversed by 3 months of sobriety, if not sooner.

Your exhaustion could also be due to dehydration. Alcohol dehydrates the body, and the last few years of heavy drinking may have significantly dehydrated you. During this early period of sobriety it might help you to drink lots of water. Eating nourishing food, getting enough (but not excessive) sleep, and treating your body well in other ways can help your body better deal with and recover from withdrawal symptoms. If you feel you need help dealing with the process of quitting drinking, you might want to seek out therapy or a support group.

If the exhaustion continues, or you have symptoms strong enough to keep you from functioning normally, you may want to consider visiting a primary health care provider. They can help you determine how to get your body back on track and/or identify any other medical conditions that are related to your lethargy.

[paulywogg]

Good post Hazel and great job on 7 days