Newbies Nest

[scottish lass]

Newbies Nest

Yes Byrdie! Thank you for the pep talk - it may actually be a help as I have realised just how bad i felt!
Thanks 8ofcups, Lav and mylife - your support means the world. I will not let AL get the better of me - I will win this fight.
These forums will help so much - I have worked out how to get posts on my Blackberry, so I read before I even get out of bed in the morning, and that will start me out right!!!

[mimi911]

Newbies Nest

:new:Today is day 10 for me. It's been pretty easy for the most part. I haven't been in a position where there has been huge temptations so I am glad for that. They will come and I hope I can continue to be AF.

[vintage girl]

Newbies Nest

hi Nesters! had an eceptionally busy and happy Easter weekend, hope you all did too!

Nice to see so many new faces, welcome eight of cups and mimi

Scottish: byrd is right. Add this experience to your list of why AL is not such a good idea and remember the experience and how bad it made you feel. 21 days is awesome, don't let AL take that away from you.

I was around AL a fair bit this weekend, it is always going to be there during holidays and once or twice I was almost tempted....then I remembered the awful feelings from drinking. The shame, the guilt, the hangovers from hell, so not worth it!

Off to bed now, will have a good read and post some more tomorrow!

Lolab, nice to see you

mylife, leaveinsilence, DSLR, jolie, our lovely Lav, byrdy, InChains and all who drop by, have a lovely night! :l

[Hippy Chick]

Newbies Nest

Morning nesters.

Good to see so many people around. I love these long holidays..... maybe I had better buy a lotto ticket so I dont have to go back to work.....

Scottishlass - your story is so familiar to me and I am sure to lots of others here. Sit back and analyse what you felt at that moment when you knew you were going to drink. Did the feeling AL gave you, get rid of the feelings that pushed you toward the bottle (your daughters leaving)? Were the feelings of missing your daughters worse than the feelings of shame and anger and disgust you feel now? I am just trying to get down to basics of why you drank. I find it helps me when I look twice at a glass of wine. I think to myself, what would AL add to this feeling I am feeling now? Would it make me feel better in the long run or worse? I know it is easy to say "just dont drink" but if you try and work out the thoughts and feeling behind wanting a drink, it does take it down to the very basis of the craving/desire.
You did really well reaching 20 days so you CAN do it again. We are all here to support you and know what you are feeling now. There is no need for shame or anger - just keep it in mind when you feel low again. Congratulations for coming here and sharing what you have been thru. It takes a lot of courage to admit what you have done. Take care of yourself. X

lolab - I take calms forte and cant speak more highly of them. I take 3 at night and they get me thru the whole night - at least 7 hours sleep. If I get up in the middle of the night, which I usually do as my darling little kitty wants to play at some ridiculous time :ignore: I can go straight back to sleep. I have taken one in the afternoon too if I need calming down.

Byrdy - 96 days - thats fantastic!! I hope you are soooo proud of your self as I know how hard you have struggled. Well done.:wd::greatjob2:

Mimi - great to see you back. The longer you go AF the stronger you will be when faced with temptations. Keep it up.

8ofcups - you have such clarity. Keep going - you will get there. Keep visiting us too, it sure does help.

One more day of holidays - us Aussies commemorated ANZAC day yesterday and even though it was a Monday, we got another day off . But i am not complaining.

Catchya later.
HC

[sunshinetoday]

Newbies Nest

Good Morning Nest,
Lolab, sounds like you are plodding along wonderfully with your journey. I to will be ordering the CALM because I take sleeping pills from time to time but they make me want to sleep the entire following day as well.
Scottish Lass, Don't be so down on yourself. Everyone is right, 21 days is marvelous, don't discount that. Drinking is easy to do when we associate it with our feelings whether good or bad. I am proud of you for making it this far, and for keeping coming back. You will be surpassing 21 days in no time!:l
Byrd, Wonderful 96 days!!!!!!!
DSLR, hope you had a nice ANZAC day!
Mylife, hope all is well on your end.
Lav, Again I commend your positive attitude! Love it!
Mimi, congrats on those 10 days. That is a great start.
8ofCups, I myself only take one day at a time. I can not commit to more than that. So I say just get through today AF.
Jolie, Byrd, Mazzie, VG, LIS, and everyone else, hope all is well.

I will be heading back to work tomorrow! No risks there. My husband also said last night that after next weekend he wants to quit smoking again!:bday3: I think he sees what a I good job I am doing and wants to join in. Who knows, I am just happy he wants to quit smoking. I hate smoking. 3 of my family members died from smoking related deaths before I turned 14. Any who, have a great day!:rays:

[sunshinetoday]

Newbies Nest

Hippy Chick,

You buy the lotto ticket for WA and I will buy one for QLD, then we can split pot and have two chances. After 5 days off I feel like I could not work at all anymore!
:alf:

[Lavande]

Newbies Nest

A lottery ticket sounds like a good idea

Still Monday evening here and I just wanted to say good night!

Great to see so many here today. Mimi, congrats on your 10 AF days - wonderful feeling, isn't it?
Wishing everyone a good night/day!

Lav

[4MyHealth]

Newbies Nest

Hi all,
Scottish lass, sorry about your separation & frustration with yourself. Like the group, I think 20 days is amazing & you should be proud of that.
Byrdie, great that you are so close to 100 days!
I have been lurking here today . Did do well tonight, so determined tomorrow will be a successful day 2.
Goodnight nesters, sleep well! (Good morning sunshine today!)

[leaveinsilence]

Newbies Nest

Morning al

SL you know you can learn from that slip, you can build on how you felt the following day more importantly you know you can live without AL, you've proved that to yourself....

Welcome to all the newbies, get comfy and be assured we all know how you feel as we've all been there done that got the t shirt, you are among friends here and don't be afraid to ask

Well eldest is back at school today the little ones don't go back ntil tomorrow, little one is exhausted and still asleep thats so unusual her sleeping in:H

As usual I've left my revision until the last moment, but it is so much easier doing it without the haze of AL.... Luckily it is Spanish listening so it entails listening to spanish radio and watching my fave films with the spanish soundtracks instead of the english

Something I've noticed in the last few weeks is my confidence is soaring, all that drinking to give me courage and now the old confident me is emerging from her shell, I've even been wondering about looking into training to become a midwife, something I've wanted to do since I had my eldest and have always been too scared to even consider scared of the responsibilty it would entail, even if it goes no further it is such an achievement for me to think about doing it.

Have a good day all and stay strong and lets kick AL's ass into submission

[Hippy Chick]

Newbies Nest

Evening all.

LIS - go for it! I have often thought about becoming a midwife - I think it would be so rewarding. But as usual I give up before I start as i have all the usual excuses - no nursing back ground, have to go back and get my high school leaving, blah, blah, blah. So you do it for both of us. That confidence is wonderful isnt it. It is so great to be able to go out in public holding my head high without thinking everyone knows my dirty little secret.

Sunshine - sounds like a great idea.....One powerball..... :H

Have had a really lazy day today, even managed a nana nap.

Hope everyone who pops in and those lurking have a great evening.

Hippy

[Lavande]

Newbies Nest

Good Tuesday morning Nesters!

Wow, I actually did look into a nurse midwife school about a hundred years ago but the closest one was in another state & was newly married at the time so I declined. I really thought I would enjoy that as I found my nursing job to be a bit- boring (but it did pay the bills)

Another warm & sunny day predicted in my portion of the nest! I hope everyone has a positive AF Tuesday

Lav

[lolab]

Newbies Nest

Loved your post 8ofcups - lifting someone else up with your amazement while you're still so new.... Scottishlass - yep, been there too. As long as you don't let it start you in a tailspin - and you get up and brush yourself off and start again, you are still ahead of the game. Chalk it up to a learning experience.

When I first posted here, I was 7 days sober, I think. And I made it over 30 days...I couldn't IMAGINE falling into the category of falling back into drinking after making it that far. But I did. I think just about everybody has to fall a few times to realize that we'll always be a bit vulnerable and to always keep our guard up.

Well, I am sitting here with two windows open on my screen...my 13 yr old taught me how to do it. I thought it would help me to post something relevant to different nesters if I could see their posts. I used to play video games with him when he was little and he would come to me to get him out of tough video game "situations" - I was the game queen in our house! And I helped him on the computer. Now I don't even know how to turn on the Xbox and I inherited his old Iphone - so he has to teach me how to use THAT, and if I need help on the computer I ask HIM! When did I turn into THIS kind of mom????

Lav, your clarity about what is important in life is always inspiring - you have one lucky family...

Welcome Mimi - I think the longer you can go without those temptations, the easier they'll be to resist - keep it up! :goodjob:

Thank you vintage - you are always such a sweetie and you're doing so well! I just laughed the other day about that early Aldi post and how I thought the lotion brand was AFAIK...:H

Hippiechick, it might have been you that led me to actually get the calms forte....I owe you BIG time!!!!!!!!! Sunshine, I hope they work well for you, too.

Hi 4myhealth - congratulations on a victory yesterday and may be today be another one!!! yea!

LIS - nice that your little one slept in - I always wished I knew in advance instead of being on pins and needles - waiting for him to wake up...:-) Great news about the confidence - congrats on your 60 days and you can do ANYTHING!!! did you read my post about the joint pain?

Hello, Mazzie, Jo, My life, DSLR - I'm trying to get all this in while I have two windows open - LOL!!!

Princess Marvy you still out there??? My 13 yr old wanted the eggs hidden but got sick of looking for them after 5 minutes...

Piper, I hope you're doing well....:h

[DSLR]

Newbies Nest

Hi I hope you all had a nice Easter and are recovering from all the Easter Eggs!

LIS, my friend is a midwife and she loves it. She is now working in Sydney as a midwife, having already worked in Hong Kong for 2 years, so it is a career with options as well, which I hadn't realised!

I have started planning for my third and final career change at 46 (well I will probably 48-49 when I go totally professional I think) so I would recommend you seriously thinking about it, if that is what you want to do, life is way to short to not at least give something a try if you have a passion for it. It is hard work starting from scratch when you are older and a bit nerve racking, but boy is it worth it in the end and something like that, bringing life into the world, must be sooooo rewarding, the very best of luck to you if you decide to go for it.

:welcome: to our new friends, you have found a great place for support, it doesn't come much better than these guys, all the best to you.

Wishing everyone a lovely AF Tuesday evening/afternoon/night.

[mimi911]

Newbies Nest

:Good Morning Everyone,
It is a beautiful day here in Washington state. Yay, sunshine at last.

Today is day 11 for me. Thank You for all the encouragement and advice. I am hoping that I can stay away from tempting situations until I feel stronger.:thanks::argh:

Scottish Lass, I completely understand your situation as it could have been me instead of you. There is that moment when 1. Just one glass to relax me because today is a really hard day. 2. Life isn't fair and I deserve that one drink (never ends with one) 3. Everyone else drinks and gets tippy so I am entitled. 4. I can control this. 5 I've gone this many days and it was pretty easy so I guess I can drink. SL-Today is #2 (?) but day 2 is so much better than day 1 because now the alcohol should be out of your system and you can start fresh. My heart goes out to everyone who struggles with alcohol.:h

Now when that feeling starts I dwell on my last bad drinking experience. That has helped, but again I am only on day 11 and haven't experienced a huge temptation yet. I think if my husband wouldn't have been home a couple of nights ago I would have been tempted.

Have a great day everyone, Just think in 354 days I will have a year AF.:H

[scottish lass]

Newbies Nest

Thanks so much for everyones support and kind thoughts - you are an incredible bunch of people.
I made it thru last night - sat reading posts for three hours! So today is day 2! Yahoo - and I feel great - appropriately sad about my girls, my separation - not out of control. Slept badly - have the calms tabs (PS - bought them at CVS), have only taken one at a time, with little effect - will try 2 or three tonight.
I appreciate each and everyone of you...good luck to all, with all your missions, goals and struggles.
Interesting how many carers there are in this group - I am in nursing, my mother was a midwife, but I did not go down the same path - very rewarding work thou.
Have a fabulous AF day today everyone...