Newbies Nest

[moni]

Insomnia is a pain, was awake half the night. Going to have a relaxing day today, get the place tidy. That uni result has really motivated me, if I can achieve that how I was a month ago - I can achieve so much more without AL.

[daisy45]

That's the spirit Moni! You didn't realise your own greatness.....imagine what the future holds!
Hope everyone is getting in the festive spirit......heading out for my last visit to the shops before Christmas.....day 23 here....my best Christmas present to myself will be sobriety!

[NoSugar]

Mollyka posted a "warning" about the next few days that I think we should all keep in mind: https://www.mywayout.org/community/sh...=1#post1584669. Thanks, Molly!

[ShoshannaDreyfus]

Day 1 again and having some troubles. I'm mourning the loss of my dog and I'm medicating with champagne. I woke up this morning and I'm just fed up with myself. I must have gave myself the talk for an hour before getting out of bed. I over drank, I feel like crap and I feel like I deserve it. I'm not taking any pain meds so I can keep this feeling with me on how bad my body feels for when I feel I want to drink again. It's time to make a serious change in my life and to stop. I was doing good, almost two weeks in. I want back there again, so it's time to do what I've been hearing you all saying and protect my quit. I talked to my husband about how much sadness I'm feeling, about how much I miss my girl. He understands, he's an animal lover as well and is going to give me some extra support to get through this.

[Lavande]

Good morning Nesters,

Fog & rain here today, oh well.
Had kind of a crappy night myself Moni. I couldn't turn off the vision of my poor mangled chicken after yesterday's hawk attack :egad:
Keep your sobriety forefront at all times & you will be amazed at what you can accomplish.

Greetings to everyone & sending wishes for a good AF Tuesday for all!

Lav

[moni]

I'm having a lazy day so far, chilling in my pj's, watching tv and getting some very sweet messages from my guy friend... Going to go for a jog soon before it starts getting dark, get a few last minute presents and start packing. Driving 200 miles tomorrow morning to stay with a friend.

Edited to say - First big challenge in front of me that I didn't expect. Landlord just dropped in a bottle of white wine for xmas. Thankfully it's a Chardonnay so not AS tempted - yes I was a very very fussy alcohol abuser. I think I'll pop it in the back of the car and gift it on tomorrow. It's defo not staying in the apartment tonight anyway. I have already seen that movie... I'll just have a glass, well another won't harm me, the bottle... then ringing the off license to deliver another bottle because I just want one more glass. Then finding I'm too sick tomorrow morning to drive 200 miles because I downed two bottles of wine...
Isn't it terrible that somebody thinking they're doing something kind is actually almost doing the complete opposite unknowenst to themselves.

[Byrdlady]

Moni, what you say is true in every respect. That is why I do not contribute to the AL industry any more. No body needs that stuff! And while THEY may be able to control it, there is one out there who can't, and I am not going to contribute to that cycle any more. You are doing the right thing in getting rid of it. There at the end of my drinking career, my standards dropped considerably and I was drinking peppermint schnapps trying to chase a buzz. Talk about sick (but even THAT didn't stop me).

Great link, NoSugar...Molly's word are the truth. We are chasing a buzz we'll never get because we have crossed the line. We go from 'just having a couple' to ; if one is good, 10 is better!' Our problem is the first drink. Quantity really doesn't matter after we've had that first one....I don't even remember my last drink. I was too messed up. I remember thinking during those crazy hazy daze that I was AWARE of what I was doing, so how could I be THAT drunk? I took to writing things down that I had done that evening to refresh my memory the next day. Some days I'd look at that writing and think, HOLY SPIT, what was going on in my head. It is sad. Those misty watercolor memories of the way WE were, are not so rosy when you really think them out in gruesome detail. There is NOTHING sexy about a 50 year old drunk woman. UGG. I am not missing THAT!

We are in the thick of it now, Nesters, but if you went the last 24 hours without AL you can go the next!! And so it goes! Do whatever it takes to get thru THIS day AF! You will never regret a day you spent sober!! Byrdie

[narilly]

NS, thank you for that post. It is a very good reminder. This time of year is tough and having 'just one drink' is something we can never do.
Hey, gotta work now and will check in later.
Hi to Moni, Byrdie, Lav, Sho and everyone.

No hangover today and feeling great.

[Fin]

Day 1 again and having some troubles. I'm mourning the loss of my dog and I'm medicating with champagne. I woke up this morning and I'm just fed up with myself. I must have gave myself the talk for an hour before getting out of bed. I over drank, I feel like crap and I feel like I deserve it. I'm not taking any pain meds so I can keep this feeling with me on how bad my body feels for when I feel I want to drink again. It's time to make a serious change in my life and to stop. I was doing good, almost two weeks in. I want back there again, so it's time to do what I've been hearing you all saying and protect my quit. I talked to my husband about how much sadness I'm feeling, about how much I miss my girl. He understands, he's an animal lover as well and is going to give me some extra support to get through this.

Sho, I've been here. DON'T GIVE UP!! That's what I did after 3 fitful starts and it took me another 18 months to come back here where I knew I wanted to be. Don't torture yourself. Just get back to doing the thing. We're all here for you and if you can go two weeks, you've got this! Please don't give up...

Yours,
-Fin

[ShoshannaDreyfus]

Sho, I've been here. DON'T GIVE UP!! That's what I did after 3 fitful starts and it took me another 18 months to come back here where I knew I wanted to be. Don't torture yourself. Just get back to doing the thing. We're all here for you and if you can go two weeks, you've got this! Please don't give up...

Yours,
-Fin

Thank you Fin, I'm going to try to stay close to here if I can. Over Christmas will be hard as we're leaving to visit the folks and won't be home. My father doesn't drink, and my Mom very rarely and I am skipping the family Christmas drunk-athon that goes on every year. I can't stand to be around them when they get some drinks into them. I won't give up, just feeling beaten up. And thank you for the kind post.

[Elvis]

Beer goes home with whoever brought it, or gets gifted to my buddies on Sunday nights where we play cards. Opened liquor gets dumped. The only open alcohol I have in the house at any one time is my wife's bottle of wine, and it annoys me too because it takes up precious room in the fridge!

Have a great day everyone!

[Samstone]

Mollyka posted a "warning" about the next few days that I think we should all keep in mind: https://www.mywayout.org/community/sh...=1#post1584669. Thanks, Molly!

thanks for posting NS. The thing is that we are on all this site for a reason and it ain't cause you only have ONE, nope, no siree, it just don't work that way. This will be my 2nd AF Christmas and it really is quite enjoyable. Instead of fighting an urge, I embrace my "newness".

[Fin]

Great work Fin! On the same path as well, getting fit as hell, just another benefit of going AF..

Nice! So, I did a max muscle impedance test last week and six weeks ago as a baseline. The change was astounding and I attribute much of the improvement to getting AL out of my days. I can work so much harder without, obviously. Here are the stats:

lost 14 lbs of fat, or dropped 7% in body fat (24% to 17% > Goal is 15%)
gained 7 lbs of muscle mass
I'm now 7 lbs lighter overall (goal 10 lbs lighter)
my resting metabolic rate increased by 100 cals.

One thing that's helped burn the fat is that our rowing club does a 100,000 meter rowing challenge every December. I finished the challenge last week, a full week early. In years past I would really struggle through the coached workouts as there are typically a lot of sprints which would have me on the edge of barfing from all the beers consumed the night before. Not anymore!!! Yahoooo...

Net-net, I feel amazingly better and finally sleeping through the night after three weeks AF. That goodness going AF is so rewarding as it's a great motivator when the body responds so positively. I'm really looking forward to next summer when I'm back to being finely tuned and tearing it up on the water.

Thanks for letting me gloat. No one else really knows how significant this is to me as the depths of the underlying struggle has been largely private.

-Fin

[ShoshannaDreyfus]

Thanks for letting me gloat. No one else really knows how significant this is to me as the depths of the underlying struggle has been largely private.

-Fin

My struggle is private as well, it's not something I talk about openly. Some people probably suspect, but honestly I don't voice it openly. I have children and really I don't want it used against me for any reason, and people can do that. Maybe I'm being paranoid but I find it's better that way. I'm not going to come out and say I have a problem and risk someone reporting me, so I keep it private.

[ShoshannaDreyfus]

Fin, congrats on all the hard work you've done. Getting in shape is tough, tougher if you've had to start off working through a drinking problem. I think it's wonderful for your over all wellbeing. The better we feel, the more of it we want. When I was in shape I would never drink, it's like my body just didn't want it. I was into the gym all the time, scuba diving and hiking. Takes a lot of physical work to hike here in Canada carrying all you gear and steel tanks though the woods to a nice dive spot.