Newbies Nest

[Kairos]

Hi All,
Day 3 here and coping. My other half announced last night that we were having a couple of friends over to stay tonight and they were taking us out to dinner.
My heart almost stopped thinking I would hate having to be THAT strong on day 3 and I wouldn't make it through the evening without having at least one drink.
However, someone up there is looking after me because a couple of hours ago they phoned and called off because the guy has a stomach virus.
What a wonderful relief. In the early stages it's all I can do to think about one thing at a time and entertaining was not on my to do list this weekend!
Deo Gratias!

Kairos

[Lavande]

Good Saturday morning everyone!

Goodness, welcome home Ava!
Sounds like you need a good 24 hour sleep after all that excitement. Glad to hear your Mum is OK, you will be too!

Kairos, you lucked out - good for you!
Your quit is the most important thing right now

Jane, thanks for that article, interesting to read & I have to agree with the content. Life is much easier to navigate with a clear head

Wishing everyone a good AF Saturday!

Lav

[LilBit]

Hi Nest! 'Up at 5 am for a Saturday skate and popping in.

Lav, thanks. I'm doing fine for now. 'Have decided to regard my lump as Schrodinger's Cat for the time being. It's neither benign nor malignant until I open the box. This gets me thinking about Quantum Physics which is quite effective at getting my mind off of it. Re: the dream, I often have funny dreams because humor is such a coping mechanism for me. But I've never had kahonies before.

Ava, glad you & your mum made it safely home. I'm sure the fur babies were quite happy to see you and that your own bed feels marvelous.

Lucky you, Kairos. My third AF day was the "Do I really mean it?" day, so I'm glad that you avoided any extra pressure.

Jane, I LOVE the article. You had me at "Everything is illuminated..."

Have a great weekend, everyone!

[frances]

Thanks Jane, I also loved that article! This really resonated with me: You start to approach life as if you were the one living it, rather than just passively sitting in the movie theater as events unfold around you.

Kairos - glad that you got out of that one! That would definitely be difficult so early on.

Ava - wow, that sounds scary. I hope your mom gets back to normal very soon!

Stay strong and don't stray everyone!

[Byrdlady]

Quick check in. Hope everyone has an easy day! B

[Pavati]

HI, Nest:

Jane - that is a good summary of how I feel. As you all know I had a crazy work week and people kept passing me in the hallway saying, "wow, aren't you stressed out..." etc. I kept saying no. I actually wasn't. I knew what I could control and knew I had done my best in the work, and I knew what I couldn't control. I felt good about my preparation, and knew something unanticipated could go wrong. It felt fantastic!

I'm off with son #2 for an academic competition/festival all day. Good thing I'm not hungover!

Pav

[jane27]

Ava, How scary! I'm glad your strong self pulled through it with your sobriety in tact. I hope your Mom is OK. Welcome home, we missed you!

[jane27]

I found the inspiring post below on a blog called AllBottledUp.

Sobriety: My dirty little secret* (*In response to a post on the booze-free brigade

I'm 32 days sober right now. My decision to get sober was long-thought out and a long time coming, but just kind of started "off-the-cuff" I woke up one morning and just said "I quit" No specific reason, no "plan"....just, done.

....Id like to believe that this journey is truly one day at a time. therefore, when I tell people, no matter WHO they are that I a not drinking today, that is IT! That's what I am committed to: not drinking today. Tomorrow may be different. I can accept that, but today, and for the last 32 days, I'm off the bottle. Not everyone is going to understand this, and that's OK. They are lucky enough to not HAVE to understand it. At the end of the day, this day, this 24 hours, the only person I need to answer to is myself. Am I happy with who I am today? Yes!

Who gives a F%$& what anyone else thinks?.......

Here is the full post: http://pennysallbottledup.blogspot.c...le-secret.html

[peppersnow]

Happy Sober Saturday! There's so much more to life that you can accomplish and experience when you stop drinking. I'm sitting in a graduate course right now that began at 8:00 this morning. It's a program that's on-line, but once a month meets in person. I have 3 classes on those weekends - Friday night, 6:00-9:00, Saturday 8:30-3:00. This afternoon will be half-way through the program. Every Friday night that we've met this year, I've experienced this secret, giddy joy about being here and being sober. This something I NEVER EVER would have been able to do when I was drinking!

In fact, I tried a few years ago with 2 classes that met in the evenings, twice a week, 7:00-10:00. Inevitably, I'd go home after work for a few bumps before class...try to sit away from the other students hoping none would smell my breath (I'm sure they did). But I missed more than a few classes because I knew I'd had too many and needed to stay home. And I missed turning in papers because evenings were drunk-time and weekends were recovery time, which pretty much shot to hell my studying hours.

Jane and Frances - I also LOVED that line from Jane's article and put it into my phone: "You start to approach life as if you were the one living it, rather than just passively sitting in the movie theater as events unfold around you." Thank you for that!

[available]

Morning nest

Well i'm feeling pretty ordinary but did manage to sleep with the help of some valium, jetlag is a bitch. Mum has more colour in her today so that is good. i told her she has to stay in bed and she said "no", the she said her legs felt funny so she is in bed. I told her to please please let me know if they get worse as that is an immediate go to hospital. I seem to always think the worst but better to be safe than sorry.

Time to do some washing and unpacking.

Hope everyone is having a sober weekend, very quiet on the nest.

[Lavande]

Good evening Nesters,

Hope everyone had a good day!
I've been up to my eyeballs in dogs & chickens all day - think I need a shower, ha ha!!!
It was a beautiful day out & now we have a full moon, pretty cool.

Ava, glad you are coping. Make sure your Mum stays well hydrated, OK?

pepper, good luck with your class. Sounds like you are doing well.

Enjoying the company Byrdie??

Wishing everyone a safe & comfy night in the nest!

Lav

[go2goal]

Hello All!

I am not new here, but have been away, so I thought i would get re-acquainted. Currently I am doing another AF 'stint'. Each time its a bit different getting started. Over the last 5 years I have done a few stints of 30 days, 60 days, a 100 day, and a 5 month stint last year. It is interesting that they all are getting longer..... I have never said its forever because I do not want to let myself down. And, forever, is forever and I am not good with absolutes
Each new stint though, I feel more open to the idea because I have really enjoyed the longer sober times.

I look forward to learning more here.

Happy Day,
G2G

[available]

G2G hi there. I could never deal with forever either but now i know in my heart that it has to be. Its either all or nothing for me and as time goes on its easier each and every day but i do always say to myself "today i will not drink". I fear failure like most of us on here but its not a battle to me like it used to be. One day at a time is all we can do.

keep up the good work, never stop trying G2G.

[Elvis]

Welcome back G2G! I like to tell people who struggle with the word "forever" not to use it. Instead, commit to not drinking for the next 200 years.

[Kairos]

Hi all,

I wrote yesterday about narrowly avoiding the disaster of having house guests on day 3 of my sobriety plan. But I made it through! Phew.
Actually, Lilbit I have to thank you for your little gift of this sentence too because it made me think the same thought at exactly the right time.

“My third AF day was the "Do I really mean it?" day, so I'm glad that you avoided any extra pressure.”

I was also in that “Do I really mean this ?” mode and it was just what I needed to hear, at the exact moment I needed to hear it -thanks.
So now it’s Day 4 woohoo! It's only the beginning but it feels so good.
Thanks to everyone for the support.
K