Newbies Nest

[daisy45]

Newbies Nest

Hi everyone; a gorgeous, sunny day here in Ireland - feels so good when the sun shines!
Day 9 and doin fine!! Just back from the gym - thighs are feeling it, but a couple more sessions should do the trick.......lots to do so hope you all have a great day.
Juja, I remember you had a bit of a challenge today, so just know we are all with you.....

[frances]

Newbies Nest

Morning all -

Ava good for you for getting through that stressful situation without drinking - it's not always going to be easy but it is always going to be the right thing!

I was out last night with friends and arrived a little late for dinner - they all had their cocktails and my friend asked me if I wanted to taste hers. I did want to (being honest here), but I didn't do it. I just said "no that's okay" or something. Then later she had a red wine with her dinner and it had a strange 'nose' as she said and she said it tasted good though. I smelled it and agreed it smelled funny and she asked me if I wanted to taste it - I said 'no'. She said "are you still not drinking, I thought it was just for lent" and I said "I decided to extend it" and that was the end of the conversation. No stress no funny looks or pressure or anything. We were with a couple of friends who I don't know as well but otherwise I would have talked a little more with her about why I'm not drinking. Anyway I did worry before hand about how it would go, and of course it went fine. Noone cared what I was drinking of course, especially since they had each other to drink with.

Driving home I thought, can't I just have a sip if someone offers in a situation like that? Now I'm thinking why bother? What would be the point? There is no reason to have a sip of something when I know what it might lead to.

I had a nice night out, and racked up another AF day. Is this really me? It is the new me!

Keep up the good work everyone and stay nearby especially if you are struggling (and even if you are not - we cannot be complacent with this beast!)

Frances

[Booze Blues]

Newbies Nest

Wow!!!! Well done Francis and Ava!!! I too am going to dig down deep and discover whatever will power I might have. (Everybody has to have at least a little, right?) Daisy way to go, good start with the gym! Juja, thanks for your concern! You are very sweet It was fine but I must go to another appt tomorrow, and 2 more next week and another in a month or so and I still won?t have any answers. ( not al related) but I?ve been injured and there are lawyers and lots of drs and lots of bs. I don?t want my husband to have to give it up because I can?t handle it. This is a good test. Next weekend I have a house full of company. There will be wine and I will have to be strong, let?s see if I can. I will be cooking and baking which goes perfectly with a glass of wine and the right music but I love diet coke too. So I will enjoy my diet coke and maybe make some mocktails as well. I will begin to look for recipes! Everyone don?t forget how amazing and inspiring you are! Good luck today!

[Orimus]

Newbies Nest

Last night was a bit of a crash. Thankfully I ended up posting here with my hyper inflated ego instead of the whole Facebook/texting thing. Will have some reading to do to figure out what all I said. It will take about an hour or two of kicking myself before I shake it off and move on. In the meantime thank god for work from home days and that I didn't have jury duty today. I could see that going well. Still have to make it to the Dojan tonight and was unfortunately watching Dr. Who until four in the morning. Not sure why my mood never changed to drunk.

Back to day 1 AF/NF. Almost made 3 this time.

[daisy45]

Newbies Nest

Orimus, right back to it! You know the way to go......
I need to give up smoking too and have tried doing both, like you, in the past. Some can, but maybe you are putting too much pressure on yourself. For me, right now, alcohol was stealing everything from me, so it has to go first......but only you can decide....
A massive congratulations to Hypernova!!! 100 days! Yeeha! Way to go!

[j-vo]

Newbies Nest

Morning Nesters,

Dila,
There are so many documentaries on youtube. Just search "alcohol docu" and you'll find lots. I, too, listen to the Bubble Hour and it's great because you can listen anywhere or time with ear buds. I bought wireless headphones and love them. Check out the "What we're reading" down in the boards below. There are so many great memoirs, which is my favorite thing to read. Just seeing how people can change for the better is so inspiring. Just like we see on here with Ava, NS, Byrdie, Lav, and so many others. Success stories are everywhere.

Orimus, what happened last night when you got home? What can you do differently tonight? I agree with Daisy, that quitting both nicotine and al at the same time is quite difficult. Concentrating on one for now, the one that is causing you the most pain, al, would be enough. We're here for you.

Ava, you've shown how a day can totally suck, yet you got through it without AL making it 1,000x worse. You always say, "don't drink at that person or that thing" and you didn't. Hugs to you and hope your day tomorrow goes much better.

Mr. V, you have six sisters and you lived to tell that. Wow!

Sarah, whatever your choice is with the medicine or herbal supps, I think you should also see if Al could be a contributor to that shaking. NS says take one variable away and see what happens. If you take more than one away at a time, then you don't know which it was that may have been causing it. I took Al out of my life and my anxiety decreased like never before. It was like night and day. I wish I had before and after videos to show the difference in myself when in social situations. Quite amazing.

B Blues, I hope your doc appt. goes well. That is a real pain having to deal with lawyers and injuries. I'm going to the doc's today to tell him I'm ready to cut some meds down. Damn, this is so exciting to me.

Juja, good for you for making it after your stressful day! As Byrdie says, rinse and repeat.

Daisy, we're suppose to get storms here today, but I noticed this morning the birds chirping when I got up. Well, maybe it's because I slept 15 minutes longer than usual! But I never cared about the birds, never listened to them. It's a really sweet sound. Oh, that means, too, that school's almost out, so that may be why they sound so darn cute.

Frances, 20's not enough and a sip is too much. Glad your dinner went well. I know I get worked up predicting what people will say or question me about and it usually ends up to be nothing or like you had a few quiet questions and then that was it. But I know, it's a relief.

Hypernova, congrats on 100!

Today I'm going to my family doctor as I see him once every three months. I'm ready to go off one of my meds for anxiety, and I really can't wait to tell him this. I've been going to him for about 4 years now and he's seen me at my worst. My heart palpitations that I had while drinking are gone, and my anxiety has decreased lots. All because I took Al off the table. You can, too!

[Byrdlady]

Newbies Nest

Morning, Nesters!!
Everyone sounding strong!
Ava, I have had a couple of big tests along the way where I wanted to drink to make it go away. I'm so glad I didn't. AL wouldn't make cancer go away or bring my dad back or my son in law. I would then have to feel that awful pull of AL. I HATE THAT PULL. I no longer want to be a slave to that pull. I had to actually face these situations and deal with them and put the feelings in their proper spots. This is new to us, but it is a skill that is learned, just like math. I'm so proud of you for muscling thru it. I imagine in hindsight, you are SO glad you didn't cave! I know I was.

BoozeB, those bottles of AL can grow heads and start speaking in tongue! It is amazing what they are capable of! Try to get it out of your space if you can. Does hubs have another fridge he can use? Mine has one downstairs in the garage, and that's where he keeps his. It helps to be able to open the fridge and NOT be constantly bombarded with what we can't have. At least it did for me.

Sarah, I know what you mean about the twins thing! I kept talking to my neurologist about all the crazy shakes (I also have jumpy legs....do you?) and finally she said in a stern voice, YOU DO NOT HAVE PARKINSON'S! She tested me sideways from Sunday and assured me that I don't have that! So that put my mind at ease, ET is not a precursor to Parkinson's...according to my dr. I did not try any herbal supplements, I got such good results with Primidone that I closed the chapter and moved on!!!

Juja, on your way home today, may your compass point to S!! (SOBER!)
Daisy, you sound AWESOME!

Orimus, I am jealous of the folks here that can get sober on the first try. Hindsight is so clear, if I had only done it that way I could have saved tremendous despair (all self inflicted). I was not one of the folks that took the shortest route from A to B....in fact, I am one of the ones that took the longest, most painful route possible (I tried to MODERATE!) It took me 10 days shy of a year to finally make it stick, but it DID. You sound a lot smarter than I am, so here's to getting there quickly! We are all pulling for you!!

Hope everyone has a happy hump day! Pav, thanks for noticing my emoticon!!! There wasn't one on the list that applied! My legs and my boobs are competing to see who can reach the ground first!!! :H My support garments are pulling yeoman's dootie! XXOO, Byrdie

[Dottie Belle]

Newbies Nest

Hello all,
Coming up on a US holiday weekend. I have started making my "plan" for an AF weekend. So easy to think about the what ifs but I sure dont want to backslide and I know you all dont want that either. Each new thing in my life that causes me to think about letting go and I do not makes me stronger...we can survive and actually enjoy an AF holiday weekend....

[K9Lover]

Newbies Nest

Juja;1663129 wrote: Oh, good grief, now I need to get out of bed, and kill a wasp. Crap. Maybe he won't bother me tonight.... Do wasps sleep?

See you in the morn.

This reminded me of my attempt at taking a nap last weekend. I was all settled in bed, JUST right, and a big old fly started buzzing around. I tried to ignore it because I didn't want to get up...but after about 20 minutes I said "Screw this" and went out into the living room. Wouldn't you know that bastard followed me out there and started up on his buzzing??? I was like OMG...REALLY??? :H

[Samstone]

Newbies Nest

There's an old Popeye cartoon where a fly is buzzing him whilst he's trying to sleep. At the end there is no more house left.

http://youtu.be/yggULoWn8b4[/video]]Popeye the Sailor -- Flies Ain't Human # 94 April 4, 1941 - YouTube

[K9Lover]

Newbies Nest

LOL Sam! That was me on Saturday...well, minus the pipe. HA

[Juja]

Newbies Nest

K9Lover;1663391 wrote: This reminded me of my attempt at taking a nap last weekend. I was all settled in bed, JUST right, and a big old fly started buzzing around. I tried to ignore it because I didn't want to get up...but after about 20 minutes I said "Screw this" and went out into the living room. Wouldn't you know that bastard followed me out there and started up on his buzzing??? I was like OMG...REALLY??? :H

They do that! I swear they do! I think flies must like our body heat or something.

[Lavande]

Newbies Nest

Hey Nesters ,
Just dropping in to say hello & wish everyone a safe night. I will be heading home tomorrow afternoon, have had a nice two day beach break with my girls

Stay well everyone
Lav

[Juja]

Newbies Nest

"Don't drink at that person or that thing." I like that, j-vo. Thanks. I'll try to remember it, especially when I have to deal with my difficult father tomorrow.

Day 4 here, and it had it's moments, but I made it again. I'm finding I'm depressed and anxious, not overly so, but it's there. We'll see if it lifts as the AF time continues. I think it has more to do with the question of where do I go from here in my life. Separation, divorce, finding a better place to live, finances, elderly parents, etc.

I'm living in a small apt out in the country. I'm upstairs in an 1890's farmhouse, with water from a spring (lots of silt), a bathroom I can't turn around in, and a kitchen sink from the 40's. My husband called it a dump until he saw how I made it a cozy abode. The view is exquisite from my "sleeping porch", and I my downstairs neighbor who does the mowing, and snow shoveling. All in all, I'm pretty damn lucky. I needn't look too far into the future, I can just be for now.

Happily, and I mean that, I have no plans for the holiday weekend, which I had no clue was this weekend, so I'm hoping AL won't be too much of a problem. I'm looking forward to some quiet, restful time, just puttering around my little apt. I probably need to do something though, so I don't ruminate.

Everyone stay strong, and always remember I'm sending you strength.

[peppersnow]

Newbies Nest

Byrd, Frances and others - thanks so much for the well-wishes! 60 was the max I ever made it sober before, and I can't wait to wake up tomorrow morning to Day 61 for the first time since I've been pregnant with my kids, who are now 16 and 19.

Huge congrats to those with big #'s like Hypernova, and to the new folks like BB whose big numbers like 10 are just as big because they are so flippin' hard to achieve and sometimes seem light years away. Those first few days and weeks are harder than anything else you'll ever do for yourself, and better than anything else you'll ever do for yourself.

Hang in there, and Peace to all.