~cattleman cafe~ & another 24...

[abcowboy]

5:23am in Alberta, 24 more for me please, and thanks...

In the last 24 hours, these friends have joined in for 24 hours of wellness:
Jude58 Rava Ginger999 dill

Today is going to be a darn good day not to drink!

[Rava]

Good morning Cafe. Sounds like some of us are struggling. It’s probably the holidays and the fact that we are not normal drinkers. If we were we would not be friends. Some days the struggle is worse than others. Some days honestly, I give in and other days I fight it. I remind myself that I DONT DRINK. When I look back at my drinking career, even sneaking one now and then is much better than I was. No excuse to start down that horrible rabbit hole ever again. I just wish I could be stronger in my quit and end these stupid cravings. My dad is ill with cirrhosis and I don’t want to follow in his footsteps. When I see his struggle that seems to put reality in my face. Thinking of everyone here and wishing you a great Tuesday. I DO NOT DRINK! 24 more please and thank you.

[abcowboy]

Good thing Cyrus is safe and sound Ginger, there's been more than a few farm cats fall prey to coyotes out in these parts. Depending on the winter, they'll even get brave enough to try taking down newborn calves.

I'd love to answer your question with a resounding yes, those niggling thoughts do disappear altogether over time, but that's just not true, for me anyway. And most everyone I've talked to has said the same. But "cravings" for me disappeared many years ago, where I thought I really needed a drink. I think those thoughts will always be with us because of how much alcohol is accepted as normal. All the commercials about alcohol, sales flyers delivered to your mailbox from the different vendors, booze all around us at most every social event, etc. It would be hard not to think about having a drink. But, those are just thoughts for me now, not cravings, and they only last for a few moments without obsessing about them. Every once and a while I think it would be nice to be a normal drinker, then I remind myself that's it's been almost 10 years since I've had a drink and it hasn't affected me in any negative way. None of us "need" alcohol to survive, it's probably the other way around, we wouldn't survive if we kept drinking. So I'll end on a positive note, yes, it does get easier and easier to just let those drinking thoughts go and realize you won't act on them because you don't drink.

[Ginger999]

Thanks, ABC. There's hope for us all, if we stay the course. It makes me scratch my head and wonder.... why drinking poison is so accepted.

I'll take another day of freedom