Newbies Nest

[lolab]

Newbies Nest

Haha see? Stupidphone

Running this weekend...we made so any trips to the auto supply store yesterday!
In the old days I'd have driven buzzed or disappointed him terribly by making excuses to not go...

[Byrdlady]

Newbies Nest

Morning nesters!!

Kuya, not to beat a dead horse, but over the years I've seen so many folks leave the support system of MWO. They venture out into the world with their wobbly new sober legs...only to get swept up in that old life again. As you know, the culture is full of smiling faces drinking and the ads on tv show full rich glasses of (insert your favorite drink here) and people at parties lving it up or in romatic settings...this is what's out there, and it is easy to think....DAM, maybe I was over reacting to this whole thing after all...now that I have some sober time under my belt, I'm more aware of it now. WHAT was all the fuss??? I'll tell you what all the fuss is....We are not like everybody else. We are obsessed with AL and the buzz it gives and the numbness it gives us. If you want some alone time...just start drinking again, now THAT is solitude! Please don't minimize the importance of like-minded people here....we can not drink normally, and the world wants to make you think you can. I need the support I get from the people here who KNOW the shitshake that AL serves up! I am NOT alone here EVER!! If you do decide to go....please keep these words close: Don't give up your quit for anything!!! Don't give in no matter who and no matter who!! How bad can someone be when their advice to you is to NOT drink?? Eh? Like the person that tells you not to stick your hand in the light socket....same thing.

Happy Sober Sunday everyone!!! Hugs to all! Byrdie

[Kradle123]

Newbies Nest

You make me cry Byrdie you're so smart and you say it all soooooo well. :h

Kuya didn't we just talk about isolation on the other thread? I know you recomemended going with my flow but I swear I wasn't talking about isolating from here.
People can be icky anywhere; doesn't matter the forum. We just have to polish ourselves constantly to stay calm in the eye of their storms. We just have too. Too many storms out there.

IMO there is just too much positive in here to let the negative blow us out.

And remember what your son said, honey? The break remark??? :eeks:

Okay, I'll stop talking now

Good Morning everyone !
:l

[porqoui]

Newbies Nest

DON'T MAKE ME COME UP THERE!!!

KY what's all this talk about leaving? Want to do some personal bitching pm me any time but please don't go. :upset: PPQ

[akaMonique]

Newbies Nest

Good morning,

Freefly, thanks for reposting Kuya's ice skating analogy, I love that. I must have developed an amazing lack of coordination these past few years because I certainly fell a LOT. And sometimes the ice is still so thin. So Kuya, hang around a bit more. I'd like to get to know you.

Lavande and AllanK, thanks for the encouragement on the quit smoking. It's not going to be a huge deal for me, I hope. I only smoked at my worst maybe 5 cigarettes a day and the last week I was down to 2-3 half cigarettes. So it was really just for the "pleasure" of it. And at work, it would be the "break" I needed. My plan is that I will make myself take a break in other ways, take my Sudoku book to the cafeteria for a few minutes. Carry a book with me. Go for a short walk. And Allan yes, yesterday, the few times it occurred to me how nice a smoke would be I did take a few deep breaths and tell myself that "this too shall pass" and that having an urge doesn't necessarily mean giving in to the urge. A foreign concept to an alcoholic, but one that must become part of life. Also, I am on Wellbutrin, which is often prescribed off-label for those quitting smoking. Thanks for the support!

Prairie Fairy and Jenni, congratulations on getting through those evenings out. It will continue to get easier.

I'm feeling pretty grateful this morning. I slept 8+ hours last night which is the norm these days. So much better than passing out after a couple of bottles of wine, only to wake up at 2a.m., dry-mouthed in sweat-soaked sheets, then gulping down another glass -- if I'd left any -- to go back to sleep. Ugh.

Fall is my favorite season and we're having beautiful weather in the Northwest (U.S.) It's so nice to know that my day will be much more constructive than it was just 4+ short months ago when I might have already been drinking wine and then nursing a bottle or two all day/night in my robe, ignoring people, bills, my house, laundry, feeling depressed to really ugly depths, beyond caring for anyone, isolating because I hated being with me so why would I inflict myself on anyone else? A very sad, selfish, 1-dimensional life. Yes, today will be different. The sunshine doesn't hurt my eyes/psyche. Another cup of fresh French-pressed coffee, some Pilates, a drive out in the country with the boyfriend, finishing up the wash, a little cleaning, a new book, making a bracelet for a friend -- simple chores, simple pleasures. Enjoying the difference and the wonder of it all.

Thank you all for being here to help me on this journey.
Have a great day.

[Lavande]

Newbies Nest

Good evening Nesters,

Boy it sure is getting dark earlier!!!!!
The nest lights are on so everyone can fly back in for a safe & cozy night

Lav

[stumpy]

Newbies Nest

kuya, don't leave me now! You have helped me so much in our PM's. Please let me help you. I swear, I understand what you are going through and how you feel about the MWO forum, it's like everything else in life, you take what you need and give if you can, but damnit; you need to take what you need right now because you sure as hell gave me friendship when I fell and I took from you. :-( sad face.

[RunningCourage]

Newbies Nest

Hello...

:new: Hello everyone. New here. Been lurking, reading posts, and recognising some of your stories with my own.

That I am here I feel is saying a lot about my personal relationship with AL.

I'm not a colossal drinker by any stretch of the imagination. But I am the daily evening drinker, and recognising quickly how one single, innocent pint becomes 3, before picking up a bottle of wine for the last couple of hours of the day. I've been doing this for 10 years.

I could lie to myself and say that due to the fact that i have both a f/t job and a freelance p/t teaching job, that i make time to train for a running a marathon, that really there's no problem here. But there is... And it is one I hide...

I work in the Creative Industries which can be, in part, fuelled by AL. We all joke about the amount we drink. It all seems in jest. Normal. But that i return home most evenings for a private party of one, and wake up a bit groggy, fuzzy, and actually pissed off with myself for not abstaining for just one night, has me think that my actions are not normal. Or that my mind is telling me that if they are normal for me, it sure as hell aint doing that much good.

I'll put it out there: I've not had an AF day in perhaps a year, maybe more. I would like today to be one. In fact, i would love to have the next 14 be AF... due to the fact that i run my first marathon on 30 Sep.

Anyway, just saying hello, and thanks for reading...

[MissTipsy]

Newbies Nest

Hi :new:

I could have written the exact same thing RunningCourage.

I am in the same industry and have been drinking for over 10 years. I drink a bottle of wine every single day and I am so tired of feeling like a prisoner.

I wake up every morning feeling like rubbish and vowing that it is enough, that I wont do it again. Then it gets to "wine oclock" and the cycle repeats itself.

I feel so stuck.

[Lavande]

Newbies Nest

Good morning all Nesters &
Welcome to RunningCourage & MissTipsy! So glad you decided to join us

If you haven't already please be sure to download the MWO book from the Health store here on the site. It has lots of good info you you.
Next thing you need to do is make a good plan for yourselves. Look in the https://www.mywayout.org/community/f1...box-27556.html for lots of helpful ideas. Stay close to the nest & let us know how you are doing!

Wishing everyone a wonderful AF Monday!
Lav

[Prairie Fairy]

Newbies Nest

Woop Woop!

Morning nesters - up and at em - I'm excited - today is day 28 - no hat yet - but for me - I'm marking the 4 week mark. :-) 4 weeks since I woke up in panic attacks - at rock bottom, hyperventilating - got up and poured out the wine, called the SO - and said come get everything else out of the house on your way home.

All my problems have not magically disappeared because I stopped drinking. A lot of them are trust issues that will take time to go away. Some of them are relationship issues - that frankly the drinking may have simply masked....and I may ultimately need to make different choices.

But at the end of 28 days - I don't check my phone log to see who I drunk dialed and for how long. I don't check my Facebook for drunk posts that need deletion ASAP. I don't wake up hung-over. I don't regret things I said that I can't remember that someone has to tell me I said. And then I cry. Because I don't know why I said that.

Today - I'm stronger. I depend on myself more. I think for myself more and depend on other's choices a whole lot less. I am proud of surviving withdrawals. I am proud of being here.

I am taking the steps I need to take to be strong for myself - and my family.

And I was a mess...

If you are a newbie and you are wondering if you can do this - you can. You simply have to WANT this every single day more than the AL. Or - be like me - and want it 95% of the time more than the AL but take AB all the time - and that knocks the 5% of the time you would have given in - off the table.

You can do this. You are in the right place.

[Slaythefear]

Newbies Nest

Prairie Fairy;1379263 wrote: Woop Woop!

Morning nesters - up and at em - I'm excited - today is day 28 - no hat yet - but for me - I'm marking the 4 week mark. :-) 4 weeks since I woke up in panic attacks - at rock bottom, hyperventilating - got up and poured out the wine, called the SO - and said come get everything else out of the house on your way home.

All my problems have not magically disappeared because I stopped drinking. A lot of them are trust issues that will take time to go away. Some of them are relationship issues - that frankly the drinking may have simply masked....and I may ultimately need to make different choices.

But at the end of 28 days - I don't check my phone log to see who I drunk dialed and for how long. I don't check my Facebook for drunk posts that need deletion ASAP. I don't wake up hung-over. I don't regret things I said that I can't remember that someone has to tell me I said. And then I cry. Because I don't know why I said that.

Today - I'm stronger. I depend on myself more. I think for myself more and depend on other's choices a whole lot less. I am proud of surviving withdrawals. I am proud of being here.

I am taking the steps I need to take to be strong for myself - and my family.

And I was a mess...

If you are a newbie and you are wondering if you can do this - you can. You simply have to WANT this every single day more than the AL. Or - be like me - and want it 95% of the time more than the AL but take AB all the time - and that knocks the 5% of the time you would have given in - off the table.

You can do this. You are in the right place.

I second that. Great post, PF!! Although, I'm not on Anabuse, we do what is necessary to achieve the goal. There is more than one way to skin a ...ahh, maybe there is a better way to say that.

[allankay]

Newbies Nest

Well done Prairie Fairy!!! What an achievement, I can totally relate to drunk calling people and anxiously checking the social media from the night before.

Slay, I believe your momentous goal is only a few days away. Will need to get you a hat

ALLAN

[Byrdlady]

Newbies Nest

Running Courage and Miss Tipsy...welcome to this wonderful place! Please read back a couple weeks or so and get to know us, if you haven't already. As you can see, you are in mighty good company. There really ARE other people out there that are going thru the exact same mind games as you are. One of the first and most difficult parts of this IS getting control of your mind. At this moment in time, it is a spoiled child who is used to getting his way...and he is going to pitch a FIT when he doesn't. But we all know what you have to do to break that little tantrum. Please visit the tool box that Lav posted a link to, there are 100's of tips and tricks to get you thru those first challenging hours and days....Just remember, if you got thru the last 15 minutes, you can get thru the next 15. We are so glad you are with us on this journey...we will help you in whatever ways we can. There is a great life out there beyond AL!! Byrdie

[Fin]

Newbies Nest

Day 1

Next, please;1378396 wrote: Fin-

I'm a serial lurker and would love to join you on Monday. Was planning on getting back in the game with another Day 1 on Sunday. But.....I guess I can wait to start on Monday.

Yes, of course I know I can still not drink Sunday. Unfortunately, I don't need much of an excuse to delay a day at this point....sigh.....

Okay, you're with me? If so, I'll commit today. Who else needs a reboot?