Newbies Nest

[Eloise]

This feels amazing huh Dutch!!
:grouphugs::spin::tenten:

I missed 450 yesterday, doing well in the no drinking department. I really do still think about it, but then I pop in here and it always reminds me why I stopped. Hope all is well with everyone. To think I haven't drank for 452 days, pretty stoked.

[Eloise]

Yeah, but you did it right friend.
You are gonna be SO HAPPY when you wake up sober.
:victorious:

Day 79 here..

A testing day today as this is the day of the annual end of year party in work ...

A lot of people asking why I'm not drinking... Or 'come out for a few beers' ...

I'm at home instead.

It would be embarrassing to tell them if I went out drinking this evening then I would be already planning where my first beer would come from tomorrow when I woke up with a hangover ...
And then rinse and repeat for days on end. They wouldn't understand because they can go out drinking tonight and not need to go out drinking again tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow ...

Keep well folks ...

Still sober.

[Lavande]

Good Saturday morning Nesters!

Looks like we are in for a soggy weekend in my portion of the nest, oh well. I can find plenty to do inside to keep me out of trouble today

What's on everyone else's AF plan this weekend?
Wishing everyone a great AF day ahead!

Lav

[Byrdlady]

Good Morning, Nesters!

Laoet, 80 days today! Isnt it amazing the transformation that can take place in such a short amount of time!? It gets better, too! A bad day sober is 1000 times better than a day spent drunk! Keep it going!

I would have never believed all this if I hadnt lived it, but there is life after AL and it is fabulous. It's much more simple and honest. Hang in everybody, it is worth it!

Happy Sattidy, Byrdie

[Justme Again]

Hi Nest!

Was standing on a sports field all day watching my son play. In the end the parents started joking about needing a drink. I almost made the decision to drink.

I've been in a bad mad mood for about 2 weeks now. Little sleep and feel like I am getting sick... Good reasons to drink, al would make it better, I thought...

But while I listened to what who "needs" to drink, I read some posts in the Nest on my cell.

Laeot - thank you! I felt so much better to know I am not alone.

I am on 2 months AF this weekend. If I had fatty liver, it should be reversed by now. Many good things without al.

And if my son keeps playing so well I don't want to pitch up for his games hung over...

No, I am not going to drink!!

So thankful for this wonderful Nest!

[Eloise]

Awesome, well done Justme Again! This is what you have to do, derail those drinking thoughts as they hit!
It gets easier, promise.

[Lavande]

Good evening Nesters,

Not much to add tonight so I'll just wish everyone a safe night in the nest.
Protect your quits, you'll never be sorry

Lav

[Lavande]

WAKEY WAKEY NESTERS!!

Good Sunday morning to everyone & wishing a great AF day for all

Lav

[Byrdlady]

Good morning, Nesters!
Hope everyone is waking to a beautiful, no-guilt/shame/remorse Sunday.

As I was getting ready this morning, there is a popular 'quit smoking' commercial that played. The guy says, 'I quit smoking a lot, and I started back a lot, in the end I got nowhere'. Boy howdy, does that sum it up. Any time we think we can start drinking again in a controlled way, we are really engaging in a line of thinking that just doesnt prove out. As I dove deeper into the SCIENCE of addiction (thanks to NS) I discovered there is a huge difference between a bad habit and addiction. Totally different. Anyone lurking or trying to learn how to stop drinking, I would urge you to learn as much as you can about this disease. We can no more WISH this away than we can diabetes or peanut allergies. Knowledge is power. HOPING that I would be able to drink again really held me back for a lot of years....wasted years. 'In the end I got nowhere'. Well, actually, I got worse! If you are on the fence about all this, you KNOW you should quit but are putting it off, please jump in and just do it. You will never regret it. Im 1964 AF days today. At $10 a day, Ive saved almost 20,000 bucks. And that is the least important benefit of stopping!! Think of my poor liver! My relationships! My mental health! The benefits of quitting are many and yet the one thing that keeps it going is FEAR. Take that leap of faith and break the cycle. You will never wake up in the morning wishing you'd drank the night before! Happy Sunday, all, Byrdie

[Matt M.]

Checking in, All is well in my part of the nest and not much to add. I really enjoyed what Byrd had to say, one part really gave me one of those "No Shit!" moments.

HOPING that I would be able to drink again really held me back for a lot of years....wasted years. 'In the end I got nowhere'. Well, actually, I got worse!

That is exactly what held me hostage for so many years, with countless quit attempts. That thought that some day, I would magically create a "way to drink normally" and that once I found that "winning" combination I would again magically not drink mass quantities. What I found was, is that there is no such thing, only watched it get worse and wasted so much time and money.
Thanks Byrdie for sharing that gem.

Stay hard my friends!

[Lavande]

Hey there Nesters,

Good to see you Byrdie & Matt! Don't know where everyone else is today.

Well, the big storm rolled in, just as predicted & wiped out our power, cable, internet & everything while I was cooking dinner. Grateful for the borrowed MiFi, ha ha! It's warm & super humid so sleeping without the AC is probsbly not going to be great, oh well.

I hope everyone has a safe & comfy night in the nest!

Lsv

[Pavati]

Grateful to have gotten through another weekend and TWO parties with no hangover, no regrets and no remorse.

Hope all is well here. Justme - Yep. I hear that ALL the time. I am always with people who "need a drink." If they only knew...

Happy SOBER Sunday,
Pav

[Justme Again]

Morning Nest

Real wise words on hoping to drink again. I didn't drink. Today is day 61. Very thankful for that.

And also.... So much shit at work this morning. Fights in management. It will reach us by lunch... If I had drank the weekend, I would be neurotic by now. But I look good and smell good. The fights may come. 😊

Thank you for the support. Have a great Monday Nesters.

[Lavande]

Good Monday morning Nesters,

Grateful for a mostly sunny day in my portion of the nest today, yay
The power is back on so I'm good to go!

Pav, good job on the AF weekend.
Same with you Justme! Mondays just go so much better with a clear head & a clear heart

Wishing everyone a great AF day!

Lav

[Byrdlady]

Good Morning, Nesters!
Justme, you sound (and smell!) great!!!! Keep it going, I'm telling you, getting sober is right up there in my most proud accomplishments! (it's in the top two, along with graduating from college!)

This past month has been a roller coaster of emotions (and I'm sure everyone is sick of hearing about it, I'm sick of it myself) but as I reflect at the loss of something very important in my life, I am using the same skills that it took me to get sober. There is a phase in the process called "Euphoric Recall". This is where we look back at our drinking career with 'misty watercolor memories'. I was doing that same thing with my former job over the weekend....UNTIL I recognized it for what it was. As I try to do with AL, I did with this....I needed a REALITY SLAP. My drinking was not from a classy long-stemmed wine glass at a bistro table in France at sunset. I chugged from the bottle in my closet or from a hairspray bottle I hid in my purse in a bathroom stall. AMAZING that I blocked that out, only to long for the France thing....(I never did that in France, BTW). I was doing the same thing with my job....remembering the nice orders I got and the ease with which I was able to conduct business. The salespeople were KING at one time. But in the last 15 years, the Goose that was laying the Golden Eggs was slowly but surely choked to death. They systematically took away our food supply, our daily support, and the Goose House was a mere skeleton of the palace it once was. Everyone complained about needing MORE eggs, not grateful at all for the eggs that were produced, and not given any supplements to encourage additional egg production. 'Let's take away THIS and see how they do!' "OK, they survived, let's yank THIS and see how they do!' The place really was unrecognizable and I was miserable in that job, truth be known. Both hands were tied behind our backs and we were blindfolded. Now that I'm really talking about it, I know that it really was a miserable place to work. Euphoric Recall is a tough one to overcome, but I'm working thru it, just like I did with AL.

I am so grateful that I learned these tools right here in this nest. I know this is a process and it can't be rushed.

I'm hoping to hear from the other job I interviewed for last week any day now. I am scared and excited at the same time.
Thanks for listening and I hope everyone has a great day!!! If I can do this, I know you can!! Byrdie