Newbies Nest

[OlgadaPolga]

Newbies Nest

What does MAE mean?

[Mr Vervill]

Newbies Nest

Morning/Afternoon/ Evening, since we are all over the globe, in different time zones. It's a wonderful community!

[lifechange]

Newbies Nest

GOOD MAE Nesters!!

Today coffee and carrot muffins are on the run!
Have yourselves a wonderful AF Humpday.
xoxox

[available]

Newbies Nest

Cup of tea here and a unhealthy meat pie for dinner but a crap day at work so all i want to do is read on here and watch the idiot box and go to sleep.

Hope all is well with you my friend. When is your birthday again?

[DreamThinkDo]

Newbies Nest

MAE again Nesters

Humble - :goodjob: on your 30 days!! Our Ladybyrd will in later with her special award.

Mr Verv, why stay away? We all need encouragement, and I'm sure nobody checks on a person's AF status when they get good solid advice. My energy levels were really low as well; a vit B12 shot seems to have helped - maybe you should consider one.

Pav, yesterday must have been a difficult one for you, but one that I hope you will remember as the day when you changed your life around. My day of acceptance came right here on MWO, after a month of reading, reading, reading, fighting with myself and my demons and more reading. I felt a mix of acceptance, resignation, and relief when I finally admitted the truth. Also a huge sense of hope: OK, so this is what I am and I am no longer going to deny it. I cannot change it but I can do one simple (simple, but not easy) thing to change my life: Stop drinking. Life is still not a feel-good movie, but I feel good about myself. No, change that: I feel better about myself. There are many things I still have to work on, but I have the courage to face things now that I'm sober and not hiding in a bottle. At the moment, life is both exhilarating and scary, but I am so much stronger than I was 50-odd days ago. Does this help in any way?

:l:l Mimi :l:l are about all I can do for you. Just stay strong, and please, do not let this derail you. Drinking will just make things worse.

Over, Gardener, Classic, and everybody else in the Nest: keep on keeping on, ok?

[Londoner]

Newbies Nest

Update:

I am over 2 weeks in, which means 2 weekends of not binging.

The thoughts are slowly fading in my head. Those thoughts where I would be thinking about the clubs I went to all of the time, and how fun getting wasted is.

The thoughts rarely pop into my head now, which is good as I will be better prepared to say no to myself (the biggest devil) and other people over the festive period. If I went out this weekend, I know that my festive period would be an absolute mess.

So it appears 2 weekends of abstitence is my first hurdle.

[Lavande]

Newbies Nest

Good morning Nesters,

It's a sunny Wednesday morning in my part of the world - yay!

HumbleRide, CONGRATS on 30 AF days :wd:
Makes all the difference - don't you think? Keep going & stay proud!

Mimi, still thinking of you this morning, please check in.

Mr V, glad you are progressing as well.

available, the truth is we are all going to have shitty days, it's normal. Learning to let that stuff go & not internalize it is key for us. We just cannot let anything or anyone push us into WTF thinking & grabbing a bottle I loved using the MWO CDs to help clear all that garbage. I find now just 5 or 10 minutes of meditation or mindful thinking does the trick

I have to run so I'll wish everyone a wonderful AF Wednesday!

Lav

[HumbleRider]

Newbies Nest

Thanks Lavande and DTD for my 30 day well wishes and support. It means a lot. Now, I'm just waiting for my moon from Byrdie! Day 31 here, 5 in the am on the Pacific coast. Cold, like below freezing up here in the Northwest of the US, but at least it will be sunny beginning tomorrow.

I like Samstone's answer to Pav's question. Which time? We need to be firm and resolved or those feelings of complacency might creep back in, insidiously and with intent to do harm.

Have a great MAE all and I'll check back in tonight. By the way, what does GWAWKY mean, and do I even have the acronym right???

[Byrdlady]

Newbies Nest

HumbleRider! You get MORE than a moon! You get the Ultimate! A HAT!!! I do not give awards until the person checks in!! So I'm happy to see you this morning!!

:goodtime:

You've earned it, too! I'll tell you, not everyone can hit 30 days, it eluded me for a very long time!! You should be very proud! Can you share with some of our newest newbies what worked and what didn't? How did you accomplish this monumental feat? Speech!!! Thank you for being here, and we wish you a lifetime of sobriety!!!
XO

[aclassicgirl]

Newbies Nest

Mr. V - Yay to you! I'm looking forward to day 8. I haven't been sober for 8 days in a row in at least 10 years, probably longer.

Today, I'll come home and get water, start laundry, and begin packing for the Girl Scout camp out this weekend. I'm happy to be camping with my youngest and happy that there will be no AL there!! It'll be a win - win!

Good clean day, All! :thanks:

[aclassicgirl]

Newbies Nest

Nice HumbleRider! Do share! :goodjob:

[Byrdlady]

Newbies Nest

Mimi, I hope you'll check in this morning. I spent some time reading your old posts last night, and I see that this is an ongoing situation. Back in May, I shared with you the story of how my hubs of then 24 years packed up and left. My choice was HIM or AL. In my mind at the time, I saw it as 'I just had too many last night, what's the problem?'. It wasn't that last night that was my problem, it was my constant promises of quitting and then not being able to follow thru that did me in. What seemed like an impossible choice at the time ended up saving my life. I HAD to chose ONE. You can't serve 2 masters as they say. Getting sober will help you in so many ways...if you are indeed beginning a new course in life, being sober will be the best gift you ever gave yourself. To repeat Lav, you can't change him, but you can change you. And every single one of us who have done it LOVE our new selves! Please check in with us!

Pavati...great post. Over the years I have seen so many people here in denial. 'I'm NOT an ALKIE', they protest...'I just drink too much' or 'I'm a problem drinker, not an ALKIE'. They try and quit and just never seem to gain traction. I believe that it has to do with the stages of grief. Anger, denial, bargaining, depression and acceptance. People who don't accept that they are ALKIE's just seem to flounder in between the stages of anger, denial, bargaining and depression...(this happened to me when I tried to moderate). In that final stage of acceptance there is GREAT FREEDOM! While it is a LIFE sentence, it isn't a DEATH sentence! All you have to do to feel absolutely wonderful is NOT DRINK AL!! It is a strange transition, but totally do-able as you see right here! Understanding addiction and accepting it is a gift! You can now move on to the business of RECOVERY! I'm here to tell you, that's where it's at! It is a sucker punch to the gut, but now you can move on! When I first started the 100 day thread, one of the first questions I asked that group was,' Do you consider yourself an Alcoholic?' Without reservation, we all said YES! After all, you can't fix what you won't acknowledge, right? Why treat for cancer if you don't have it? Why STOP drinking if I'm not an ALKIE? Same principle. I'm VERY proud of you!
Mr V, stick around with your string of days and let's ADD to them! Most of us are in uncharted waters! That's the place to be, who wants to repeat DAY 1???? Great job!
Londoner, 2 weekends is massive in our world! So proud of you, too!
Everyone is kicking arse! Keep up the great work, you will never regret one day of being sober! Byrdie

[Pavati]

Newbies Nest

MAE, All:

A quick stop by on my way to work for the first time in a week. I actually like my job and am looking forward to normalcy and structure after a week of uncertainty and feeling like s&#t. I just hope I don't cry all day.

DTD - Of course your wisdom helps - it all does. It must feel great to look back from 50 plus days.

Sam - I get what you're saying. It is great to remember that whatever acceptance and relief I feel right now, I will experience temptation and doubt in the future. I have started keeping a journal here at my house that begins with my horrible week and how awful I feel. I will keep it close.

Byrdie - your words are SO spot on. I really have never regretted being sober, ever, and I have regretted drinking alcohol on so many times. And truly what I feel is great freedom from acceptance that I am an alcoholic. I'm not sure how I can pass that along to others waffling - I did it for so long (and at a weak day 3 believe me I am not out of the woods yet) - it is SO much more scary to consider a lifetime of boozy regret than a lifetime of the occasional wistful contemplation of that perfect ice cold beer that you can't have.

I am even ready to tell friends and family - like many here say, it won't exactly be a surprise that I abuse alcohol. Not sure exactly what to say to my kids (14 and 11), but I have time to work that out. I have already talked to them about alcoholism in the family.

Humble - great accomplishment on 30 days. I don't drink either, and doesn't it feel great to say.

Mr. V - keep posting - it really does help.

Mimi - I hope you are OK.

Everyone else, Happy Sober Wednesday!

[Elvis]

Newbies Nest

GWAWKY MAE!

Good job on 30 days HumbleRider!

[Dottie Belle]

Newbies Nest

MAE all,
Darn prednisone kept me awake all night....boohiss....so I am grumpy this morning.
So many folks are racking up many, many AF days and that is fantastic. I am loving my new life so keep up the good work!!! :goodjob: