Newbies Nest

[Lavande]

Newbies Nest

lifechange, that was a good move on your part!
Keep making decisions like that & you will do just fine

Lilly, I'm glad to hear your friend is being sensitive & responsive to your needs. So many people are so self-involved these days that they don't pick up on the needs of others. She just may end up joining you on your journey ~ you never know.

Wishing everyone a safe night in the Nest!
Lav

[KittyKatLost]

Newbies Nest

Byrd and Lanvande and K9 wow
you dont know how much you have helped me

I wanted to go out and celebrate a party for a birthday at a club but I knew there was alcohol involved...

Wow so hard to just stay home when you know your used to the usual !
I did not go, still feel like **** after 9 days sober ughhhh

[LillyE]

Newbies Nest

Hey Kitty Kat,

Glad you're finding help here. WELL DONE on 9 days sober. I'm sorry you're still feeling shit but give yourself some time, hey? From memory you were drinking a substantial amount, right? It's not all going to heal overnight - or maybe even in 9 days - but stick with it and you will start to feel better soon. I'd bet on it. Good job on avoiding temptation too.

A week here... my booze brain is wondering why if there's a chance I might throw it all away on holiday, as discussed, but I'm working on reinforcing my motivation - reading a lot here and elsewhere. Going through old journals to remind myself of my most miserable times with Alcohol.

Byrdie... I found a post of yours in the Gratitude thread about finding it hard because your consequences hadn't been 'that bad' - though you feared they could be 'in the post'. I could really relate to it as it's where I'm at. I know it's bad for me, know it's caused lots of problems and anxiety/depression but, on the surface at least I'm still pretty functional. (Can go days/weeks relatively easily - though then do binge drink when I go back to it, often for a few nights in a row after a break; drink way too much too often - no drinking in the am, job or friendship loss and so on.) I know you're quite far along now. Would love to hear more sometime about how your life has improved without it despite the fact you hadn't hit that 'rock bottom'.

You can see I'm still summoning my resolve, hey?

Go well all.

Lilly x

[ronnie]

Newbies Nest

Hi all,
Just thought i would check in & thanks for the welcome back.
I know i am only on day 2 but i am feeling really good about myself today and i hope this feeling lasts.
I feel like i am in total control of my life again without the dreaded AL.
How i cope with staying A/F is that i keep really busy all of the time so that by the time evening comes i am too tired to even think about having a drink, this worked for me last time so i am going to try the same thing again.
Hope you all have a great day/evening

[patricia]

Newbies Nest

Hi everybody

LilyE, I found these in the Apple App Store - Deep Relax by Darren Marks Hypnosis and Drinkless Alcohol by Diana Parkinson - they were just a few pence. I think they may have helped reinforce my subconscious mind about what I want to do. Well done everybody else - I'm now on day 13 with 12 AF evenings under my belt. I was definitely not so stressed out this weekend as last and am feeling strong - my tummy seems to be going down as well which is nice and I'm going to weight myself tomorrow to see if I am just being deluded (as is my want!). Onwards and upwards Px

[Lavande]

Newbies Nest

Good morning Nesters,

Nice to see folks moving along & finding AF success
Each day gets just a little easier, especially when you develop an attitude of gratitude & put the deprivation thinking away, forever

Wishing everyone a wonderful AF Monday!
Lav

[SAUSAGE]

Newbies Nest

Hi everyone, quick drop in from me. Everyone sounds to be doing well. Patricia huge congrats on your day 13 and congrats to Lilly and Kitty , and life change for getting through the weekend. Yes Ronnie staying busy and changing your routine helped me a lot in early days.

Hi to Lav and everyone else. I am working on my gratitude thinking and trying to put deprivation thoughts away. Don't think I did this properly with my quit attempts before, even when I managed the 8 months AF. I've just downloaded "the secret" by Ronda Byrne, on to my Amazon Kindle ( someone mentioned it on MWO) as I hope it helps me work on a positive mental attitude. If anyone else has read this or seen the film, do let me know your thoughts.

Well must go, lots to do, this is day 60 for me and I'm feeling good physically and the mental cravings are much more occasional now, so those of you in the early days, just keep going. It will get easier.

See you all later
Sausage x
Day 60

[ronnie]

Newbies Nest

:grouptrophy::wave::wave:

Well done Sausage on 60 days your doing great :-)

[LibraryGirl]

Newbies Nest

Excellent Sausage on 60 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:goodjob::goodjob:

Good morning Nesties! Very brisk here in S.C. Unusually cold for this time of year, but I'll take it! Less time to have to run air-conditioning, lol. Plan for today is work (till 5), then maybe takeout from Applebee's for bf's bday dinner.

Hope everyone is having a lovely Monday. Are those two words allowed to be said together?:H:H

[Byrdlady]

Newbies Nest

Hey Lilly! That 8 pounds on Lexapro came out of nowhere! So I know what you mean...Nothing I did seemed to get it off...I certainly wasn't going to stop drinking, so I figured changing meds might help and it did.
I tried to look back and see where I posted in a gratitude thread, alas, I'm not the best at finding things on this site, so I couldn't find it, in fact I couldn't find my first 6 months of posts, which is a bummer....I refer back to those from time to time, to remind myself of how far I have come. That's a large part of my success, I think, the ability to find my own words. Sometimes they help when no one else's can. But, I will tell you.. I never got a DUI, or physically hurt anyone, or got arrested or went to jail, so I guess in that respect, I didn't go as low as I could have gone into the pit. But on the night of Jan 19, 2011, my husband of 23 years at the time, packed his clothes, slammed the door and I had no idea where he was going. He had had enough of me and my lies and my sneaking and my passing out. I remember going to bed and sobbing and my little dog trying to console me. She cried, too, it was amazing...she knew something was very wrong. The next day he came and told me that he was leaving and that I should be thinking of how to divide our assests. He took some more clothes and left. I have never felt more alone in my life. For me, this was as bad as it could be...we had a wonderful marriage, we traveled, we were best friends....until we weren't. Until I got lost inside my own world and passed out every night after dinner on the couch. I don't remember going to bed most nights. On the rare occasions we might have been intimate, I took an eye pencil and marked it on the counter so I would remember it the next day if he said something. I will never forget the fear in his eyes that morning, that everything we had worked so hard for, was about to be divided between us. I had a decision to make that day....and it was a damned HARD one. My husband/life/home....or Alcohol. I couldn't imagine never drinking again...it was just beyond the realm of possibility...but by GOD, I had to do it. I had to fight for this man and my life back and I did it one hour at a time...one afternoon at a time...and one day at a time. Today our marriage is STRONG and we are happy! When we talk about AL now, it hurts. I can't believe I put it above everything else. But then again...yes I can...it is a STRONG and mighty opponent. So I'm sure there's a bottom for everyone....but that was mine. I am so glad that you are here with us, and fighting to get your self back. It is the best gift I have ever given him...or me. Strength to you! Byrdie

[patricia]

Newbies Nest

Thanks for this BL. I'm sorry you've been through so much . . . . . . . Px

[ronnie]

Newbies Nest

Wow Byrdie
What a wonderful post thanks for that although i am sorry you had to go threw all that xx

[K9Lover]

Newbies Nest

Good morning all!

Ronnie, welcome back! And Sausage, huge congrats on 60 days!!! Way to go!!!

Lilly, KK and LC, great job getting through the weekend. Each one gets easier!

Not much to report here, a pretty boring/relaxing weekend (MUCH better than my weekends of the past...full of drama and anxiety!). My poor daughter got sick and wasn't able to go to the fair yesterday I took the ticket that I had already purchased and went down to the fair, and they gave me $5 more than I paid for it! I was trying to "scalp" it off to the side, but the lady at the ticket booth saw me, I thought I'd be in trouble, but she just laughed and said she'd buy it back from me! I thought she was "on to" me and I was going to have to run. LOL

I did a little thrift store shopping, one of my favorite pastimes. I came out with 3 huge bags, which then means I have to spend the day doing laundry. I did a little housework but not enough to mention. LOL

I hope everyone is doing well, and racking up those days. Tomorrow will be my 120 day mark...a feat I have never accomplished before. I feel like I am finally in unchartered waters and feeling stronger than ever.

Have a great day everyone, and I'll check in later!

K9

[DesertLady]

Newbies Nest

Morning All!
It's been a few days since I last posted, but I'm still AF - 27 days today, which makes tomorrow a full four weeks, and 30 days around the corner. My mind gets more and more clear, and I'm less tired too. I still haven't started exercising, but I am beginning to feel that it is something my body "wants", if that makes sense. Perhaps today I'll just try to go for a walk...
My brain chemistry must be quite messed up because I've been on an emotional rollercoaster, quite often feeling quite depressed and down. This past weekend was especially bad as there was an incident at school where my ds was falsely accused of something and it brought out the tiger in me - and then the frustration that there is not much I can do about the whole situation. This was followed by the dawning realisation that my life isn't miraculously all better and different. I might be sober, and that's awesome, but the shitty stuff is still shitty - and I'm aware of it so much more of the time because I'm not blotting it out with AL. So the mental cravings this weekend were fierce - thinking about how if I were having a drink or seven I would get to the point where I wouldn't be feeling anything. I KNOW this is silly thinking, which is why I didn't have a drink, but I'm just realising that sober isn't enough - now I really need to start doing the work to deal with these things that I've drunk into submission before, or it will only be a matter of time before something comes along and I'll give in to the temptation to run away from it back into the arms of oblivion. My hypnosis CDs arrived yesterday, so I'll get started with them and hope they help too...

Sausage - I'm keen to hear what you think of "The Secret". I've heard about it for years, but never read or seen it. Congrats on 60 days though - wonderful how ODAAT starts to add up to something solid...

Kitty - from what I've read here a lot of people started really feeling better after 13/14 days. For me I was in a fog of tiredness for the first 3 weeks. I had also been drinking quite heavily for a long time though, so I think my body just needed more time to get over the shock of not having to deal with all that toxicity all the time. My next challenge is to actually start taking the supps and AllOne every day to give my body the good stuff it needs to rebuild itself! Hang in there - it definitely gets better.

LillyE - I so feel for you having such a challenge so soon after quitting, especially seeing as it will be on a holiday, which shouldn't be a stressful time. I reckon the gratitude rather than deprivation thing could be a big thing to focus on. Could you find things you'd really like to experience sober? Maybe seeing the sunrises, or going for early morning walks alone, or tasting new foods etc - maybe if you could find something special to focus on wanting to experience sober each day, that will help motivate you to keep AF? Will you be able to post while away, so you can know we're all close by rooting for you?

Well, let the day begin, I've got plenty to do. Have a good one, lovely people!

[LibraryGirl]

Newbies Nest

DesertLady, I just want to let you know that you are not alone. I too have found that the "stuff" (issues) do not go away just because you take AL away. Logically it only makes sense, but I felt sorta cheated because I had done all this work to get free of AL, and then I still had problems, lol. Of course I do! That's why I drank so much, lol.

However, I was never going to face them drunk every night, so now's my chance. I have said what you said many times on here, and I wanted you to know that it's a common experience, at least there's two of us!