Newbies Nest

[j-vo]

Happy 100th G!!:love:

[Byrdlady]

G, on behalf of your fellow nesters, please accept our most hearty congrats on your 100 days!! We are mighty proud of you! You are a star in our eyes!!! Rock on! :horse:

Freefly, 7 days is massive. As Ava said, they dont get much tougher than those first 7, and now they are behind you!!! :butt: Keep up the streak!!
Byrdie

[Guitarista]

The great breakthrough for me was understanding that my thinking was actually creating EVERYTHING I felt. Whilst some people will say they know this I do not believe that 99% of people appreciate that EVERYTHING they feel is coming from inside them.

NONE of our feelings are coming from:

the bad traffic that made us late
our partner's behaviour
our crappy job
the weather
our bank balance
what our parent's said/did/didn't do when we were kids/last year/yesterday
our health
our drinking/lack of drinking

The BELIEF that how we feel can be caused from things outside is an innocent misunderstanding stemming from childhood and society's wish to motivate us to conform.

Once this fact truly ingrains you no longer have to 'work' at thinking positive/stopping thinking negative..... those thoughts simply don't bother you either way.

You are then at peace.... and that is when the true 'magic' can happen. The beauty of intuition can occur in the calmness created by this peace.

I love this Kuya. Thanks.

G - what awesome guitar work! I wish I could do that. I loved, loved, *loved* your posted article. Thank you so much for throwing that out there! It was a great reminder to me that we don't really taste the full benefits of stopping until we have solid AF time under our belts. I've been struggling with fully committing to a long-lasting quit. But I want what she has and so clearly put into words. And only AF time will do it.

Thank you Mam. All part of the service. Yes, cool article. I must thank Eloise for finding it. The site is Hip sobriety, and isn't as cheesy as it sounds. Some free simple meditations there too.

Congrat's Freefly on 7 days. Great job!

Thanks PP2/Byrdy and y'all for your congratulations. QDubbya should be surfacing here soon. Next stop, 6 months. But who's counting?

[Eloise]

Oh Eloise! I wish I could hug you! Your thumb must hurt like crazy. Remember how bad it would be to mix pain meds and alcohol. Hang in there and know I am thinking about you.

I am losing track of time here, so glad I go to hospital again tomorrow.
I will be seeking some good news.
I went to stables today it felt good to be there. I even gave Akim some carrots.
My thumb is sometimes numb & painful, how is this possible? Its worse at night.

[abcowboy]

Hey El, this has "you" written all over it!

175451675-222279-Cowboy_love_quotes___.jpg

[All done drinking]

My thumb is sometimes numb & painful, how is this possible? Its worse at night.

E, Keep it elevated with pillows at nightime. That may help. Also take an anti-inflammatory if the doctor hasn't given you pain meds. I would think they would have? but if not...

Taking it easy this week-end as I'm fighting a cold. Watched a t.v. show where they had a wild Christmas party and did things they definitely would regret the next day. Think back to my party last year where we did an ornament exchange. I came home without one as I got sappy and mushy and thought one of the doctor's wives I admired deserved mine. I would just get so sentimental and lovey/dovey and stupid sometimes with drinking. My behavior wasn't super obvious to everyone - just borderline - but one of those things that I am SO happy I don't have to worry about repeating. Bri and I were discussing on another post how the wine can look appealing at these types of functions, but when I just add to that "appealing" memory the fact that the craving would then come and I'd regret I'd started, or the hangover would occur if I couldn't control the craving (along with the guilt and remorse if I couldn't control it) it takes away the allure of it all. There is power in the thought that I'll be attending the party, will be prepared with a fun non-al drink of choice that I'll be bringing, and will not make a fool of myself in any way because I will maintain my power and control - not alcohol!

Have an enpowered evening friends.
~Addy

[Lavande]

Good evening Nesters,

:welldone: on your 100 AF days G!!!!!
Stay with it now, no going back!

Freefly, Congrats on your 7 AF days!!!
The first week is the hardest, you're well on your way now

Glad to see everyone is pretty much OK. Moods & feelings come & go, don't let them throw yo off your plans.
Have a cozy & safe night in the nest!

Lav

[Dutch1988]

Sorry your having such a hard time El, hang in there! I've broken baby toes before and that was agonizing because they just would ache all the time, can't imagine if part was just nipped off like a finger...

I am getting close to 9 months here, just a week away. I am definitely feeling better than I was at 2-7, and emotionally feel pretty good. I have the usual reservations about going back to work after a mini thanksgiving vacation. Worried about losing money, about people complaining about our long holiday break time, and overall my brothers mental health. But I am just chilling here on the coach with the wife and daughter sleeping, think I'll treat myself to some green tea. Ate leftover pizza and the ulcer I had is getting much better, so that's good. Thinking about going for a jog, yeah that sounds good. Happy Sunday all, stay strong!

[Pavati]

Night, Nest.

CONGRATULATIONS, G! 100 looks amazing on you. Here's to the next 100,000. Onya!

And whoot to you, FF.

Dutch - glad you're feeling better.

Sorry about your pain, El.

J-Vo - Did you see this article - "The Case for Melancholy." in the NY Times? I definitely relate, as I am moody and sad sometimes. My husband always wants to fix it, but sometimes I enjoy a good bout of sad. Well, I don't enjoy it, but I am learning to embrace it.

Happy SOBER Sunday.

Pav

[Guitarista]

Onya Pavi!

[Quit wining]

Well done G-Man!

Catch up with you tomorrow!

[FreeFly]

Thanks for all the premature wishes! That's faith for you :happy2:

[Lavande]

Good morning Nesters,

It's sunny & Monday - go figure, ha ha!!!
I had a great weekend with family, I hope everyone else did as well.

Dutch, glad you are OK & looking forward to reaching another milestone on your journey. I remember as I was nearing the 1 year mark I finally felt my quit was the 'real thing'. I think I had been pretty much faking it until then & just hoping it was real. As it turned out it certainly was the real thing. Believe in yourself

Hello to everyone & wishing a great AF day for all!

Lav

[LilBit]

Throwing a hand up for Mr. G, our century man. 100 reasons to smile, 100 rawkin guitar pieces, 100 words of love & wisdom and 100% better section of novel pulled from the trash than I could have written! Mr G, you emit a warm, lovely glow in our humble nest and I'm so glad that you're here with us. I always smile when I see your name on the left side. Mwah! :triumphant::triumphant::triumphant:

[Byrdlady]

Good Morning, Nest...
Hi ho...hi ho....it's off to work I go. Oy. I hope this week is better than last. It should be.

Ok, we need to be hearing from Starfish and Matt M.... wakey, wakey!!

There is a wonderful post from Starty in 'Relapse in Retrospect' that should be required reading for all of us. If you were to ask Lav, NS, Kuya, The P-AVa Twins what is the one thing that derails us the most often or what is the tool that helps us the most, I imagine their answer would be complacency is the derailer and support is the helper. If you look hard at it all, they are really the same....we get complacent because we don't think we need support. As I look around at the really long timers around here, they have ONE thing in common....they stay connected with their support. It is the most cunning, ruthless disease I have ever seen in that it convinces us we are cured. Unfortunately, treatment will always be needed (in my opinion). I MAY be able to wander off and be ok on my own for a while, but I've seen WAYYY too many stories like the one Starty just posted...."I lost my connection". The statistics are not in our favor, we must do everything we can to not land in the OTHER column! Do whatever it takes to get thru this day AF.....that's what I'm going to do. So far, so good. Byrdie