ARMY..................week beginning 7th September 2015!!!

[IamMary]

Thanks Shambles, its not even the cravings, they are still there, but less frequent/intense. Its more just ongoing thoughts about not drinking, like thinking obout conversations I will have with people or planning a night out in my head or spending hours online looking for answers. They are not necessarly bad thoughts, just thoughts with the same theme all the time!
That said i will look into Acamprosate calcium when I get home later - thanks for all the info. You'll need a career change after this, you'll be an expert!

Rox , I dont know if its the same, but I know that feeling of being overlooked, or not feeling ass smart, witty, interesting.. hope you chat to these Wizards of Oz, they know all the answers!
Hows the dog going?

Hey JC, Satz and Glitzy (great link).
Any update on MrsAs grandaughter?

Later X.

[shambles70]

.....Its more just ongoing thoughts about not drinking, like thinking obout conversations I will have with people or planning a night out in my head or spending hours online looking for answers. They are not necessarly bad thoughts, just thoughts with the same theme all the time....

Ah, I see what you mean. Yeah, I had this a lot during my last 8 months...gradually got less but it was still there. Some days I'd realise I couldn't remember the last time I'd thought about al towards the end. So it does get less. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Turn it around and look at it like this...before you got sober, you were always thinking about alcohol, obsessing about it, planning over it, loving it, hating it. Now you're still thinking about it, but in an entirely different way. And a way that is FAR more healthy, I bet.

I made it my business to find out everything I could about alcohol. Everything. People around me thought it was weird and a bit creepy. But it wasn't. I needed to understand as much as I could about the bastard if I was going to have a fighting chance. Before that, all I knew was that it felt nice, and then it wasn't feeling so nice and then I wasn't drinking it any more, it was drinking me.
So fwiw, don't worry too much that you're preoccupied with it. You'll be doing a lot of things for the first time, sober. If you were going on a first date, you'd be thinking about every last detail, right? Imagining conversations, choosing and re choosing your wardrobe. And you'd think that was totally normal.

I think it might be a bit like that. Possibly.

[shambles70]

That's not to say I see sobriety as a battle. I don't. I think choosing to see it as a fight is a mistake, because I know I will never win. I just turn my back on it, and say 'I'm not getting into this with you'. I also refuse to see it as 'giving up' alcohol. That would suggest I am denying myself something, and keep me engaged.
I made a list once of the pros and cons of alcohol. You know what was on the pro side? Nothing. Not a fucking thing.

[JackieClaire]

I've got that list, Shams and its exactly the same.

I did have at one point in the pro section..............it relaxes me in a social situation where there were strangers to me..................when really I meant..........I make a complete and utter tit in front of strangers because I get so 'relaxed' so it went into the cons.

[JackieClaire]

MIL on phone...now finished.

[shambles70]

Evening molls!

I've got that list, Shams and its exactly the same.

I did have at one point in the pro section..............it relaxes me in a social situation where there were strangers to me..................when really I meant..........I make a complete and utter tit in front of strangers because I get so 'relaxed' so it went into the cons.

Haha that started me thinking about the things I used to think were positive about alcohol....two of my personal bests....

Alcohol makes me more creative. Creative people often use alcohol. Look at Ernest Hemingway, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Jack Kerouac

I never did a single creative thing of any worth on alcohol. Oh, and Hemingway? Shot himself. Pollock? Fatal DUI car crash. Rothko? Hacked himself to death with his paint knife. Kerouac? Internal haemmorage due to cirrhosis.

Alcohol helps me relax after work.

So how is not being able to stop drinking at 1am, knowing I will have a meeting at a school at 9 am the next day, will be shaking, stinking and anxious, that is, if I don't get killed or kill someone on the way, relaxing exactly?

[JackieClaire]

What about the........one glass of red wine is good for you.............well if one glass is good...........then 2 bottles must be fecking fantastic.

[shambles70]

Ooh...someone on the telly/in a film is drinking a small glass of wine. What a nice idea, I think I'll have one too. Where's that 3rd bottle?

[satz123]

Evening molls!



Haha that started me thinking about the things I used to think were positive about alcohol....two of my personal bests....

Alcohol makes me more creative. Creative people often use alcohol. Look at Ernest Hemingway, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Jack Kerouac

I never did a single creative thing of any worth on alcohol. Oh, and Hemingway? Shot himself. Pollock? Fatal DUI car crash. Rothko? Hacked himself to death with his paint knife. Kerouac? Internal haemmorage due to cirrhosis.

Brendan Behan: famous Irish playwrite .............
Behan was known for his drinking problem, which resulted in his suffering from diabetes, which ultimately resulted in his death on 20 March 1964. Age 41
What did the Irish do ? Glorified it and gave him a huge funeral- FFS !!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brendan_Behan

[JackieClaire]

The things that come back...........we went to dinner years and years ago at one of Mr JC's new colleagues. We took 2 bottles of wine.............they took them both and they said ...........we'll save one of those for a special occasion.............we were home by 10.

[IamMary]

Evening..
All in bed, eating icecream (me not kids in bed).
I have that cons list on my phone - How i felt the morning before my first quit.
I find myself looking around work, the school gate or the supermarket and wonder who else 'has it'.. who looks wrecked, anxious.. They all seem grand though, must be just me!
Remember when everyone smoked, then within a few years it was so anti-social, maybe the same will happen with grog, haha, wouldnt that be fantastic.. 'OMG, i can not believe you drink actual alcohol'..
r

[IamMary]

hi Satz, sure we glorify all drinkers dont we, so do the brits. Its a great badge of honor down 10 pints and vomit. Horray!
And no one has a drink problem, whispers, theyre fond of a drink!

[JackieClaire]

41's no age,

Its a case of ..............he's got hollow legs over here, Mrs Yam.

[satz123]

hi Satz, sure we glorify all drinkers dont we, so do the brits. Its a great badge of honor down 10 pints and vomit. Horray!
And no one has a drink problem, whispers, theyre fond of a drink!

When I was in Portugal - I saw this man stagger out of the pub.He couldn't walk so feel asleep standing at a lamp post. Mr S says - "arra sure he's grand - he's HAPPY & minding his own business"
FFS - he changed his tune when they couldn't move him and he collapsed & had to be brought away in an ambulance.
The tolerance is amazing.

[satz123]

He was someone's Dad , Son or husband and I told Mr S that I'd hope someone would help me or him if we were in that state.
No-one did until I called the barman and told him one of his patrons was in trouble and would he go get him some help.

Mr S was kinda embarrassed - that I should leave well enough alone - IMAGINE !!!
The man didn't know his name .............