Newbies Nest

[windy]

Newbies Nest

Hi Nesters,

Lolab --:goodjob: CONGRATULATIONS ON 30 DAYS AF

I'm just wondering how you are feeling about accomplishing 30 days AF. I know one thing for me that is different this time -- I am in no way going to try to moderate or even think I am close to considering that. It feels like the start of something BIG.

I'm Here Now -- Your experience is so familiar to me. I think it is very good that you came back here and let us know how it went for you. I did 30 days quite some time ago and thought I was okay to moderate. I didn't do too bad, but it wasn't ultimately where I want or NEED to be. Being completely alcohol free is so much better than trying to moderate at any level.

GREG -- So you were sucker punched and then kicked it's A$$ anyway!! Take that -- the old one two. I hope LAV is right that it will go away some day. Those feelings are bizarre and make me feel lost, as if, just having the feeling is giving in. Confusing too. I know it's not, but it is a CRAP feeling none the less. Good job.

Off to find pink lounge pants at Old Navy...

Onward and Upward.

[Byrdlady]

Newbies Nest

Good morning Twigsters!
Nollie, your peddling to the store reminds me of the wicked witch in the Wizard Of Oz! It's not so funny tho. The things I did to get a fix sure weren't funny (see note about drinking vodka out of a hairspray bottle). You have found a good place. It's a place where I have found success. My hubs had his clothes packed up and an apartment lined up before I got my act together. Wish it hadn't come to that, but it did. If I can do it, you can!
I'mHere....all you have to do is go back on my posts to Feb-Mar-Apr of 2010 and see how confident I was that I wasn't like THESE people here. For God's Sake, I had some self control, after all! After a year of coming back to the nest with my hat in my hand, I came to realize that I am not any different at all. Maybe we are in different cultures, male vs. female, rich vs. poor, whatever....it doesn't matter, addiction is addiction. What DOES matter is this day. It doesn't take but a day or two before you get your sea legs back and start to feel like maybe you CAN whip this thing! But you must get it into your thinking that ANY AL is going to make you spirial. I never drank so much in my life as I did when I was MODERATING!! Why? Because it makes you panic and think that you can't have, and while you are getting, you better get all you can get!! And thus, this is the trap. It's a pattern that is as true as the North Star. HOPE is the killer here....you hope that after you've done your AF time that things will be different, that you've learned your lesson. But the lessons come pretty tough here in this nest....The real lesson is that you must cut the Beast's head OFF! You can't just do half the job and think it will go away. You must cut it off and that means NO ALCOHOL...NO HOW!
After you accept this truth, a sense of peace insues....enpowerment like you won't believe. It's why Lav always seems so in control. She knows that any AL would bring the Beast right back to life and WORSE than it ever was before. You CAN control your alcohol...BY NOT DRINKING IT. It is a CHOICE, nobody forces it up to your mouth and makes you drink it. You buy it. You prolly pour it. You can waste another year, as I did...REALLY making SURE that this is the case. And frankly, most people do just that. But the real successes in this battle, drink absolutely no alcohol and take it off the table for the future. It ISN'T a bad thing. Would I prefer it not be this way? Absolutely, but it is what it is, and today is what I must be concerned with.
Good for you for coming back, I welcome you with open wings and you've got some real solid knowledge under your beak. Now let's get to the business of beating this thing!!! Byrdie

[mimi911]

Newbies Nest

Good Morning Nesters,
wow, some great posts this morning.
When I went to bed last night I felt a little defeated because I knew that if I had wine in the house I would drink it. We have beer and wisky but they didn't seem to temp me.

I dozed off, woke up and realized that "I had no wine in the house" yay, I didn't drink because I had no wine in the house. At that moment I felt gratitude instead of defeat.

I am thankful to be AF and that this is day 5 and that I am doing this with all of your help.

Lolab-:goodjob: on your 30 days. I hope you will go another 30 days because it is worth it and I am following your example.

Nollie, glad you made it home safe and sound with no AL. recently I decided to stop by the mini-mart and get a bottle of wine on the way home and was kinda relieved that the store hours had changed, I was 2 minutes late so couldn't get my wine. I thought about driving back into town but was tired and forced myself to drive home.

Greg-Thanks for the reminder to always be on our guard. I went on a diet and lost some weight, during that time I stopped drinking for 60 days and was sure that I would never drink again. However, I did and here I am back at day 5.

Hi to turnagain, Lavande, Byrde, Windy, Ronnie, Mightymight, Cantbelieve, Mauri, herenow, Davin and anyone else I missed.

One more thing. Instead of drinking in the evenings, I am eating. This is really bad because i have been at a fabulous weight for over a year now and I need some other way to cope with NOT DRINKING that doesn't use calories................. HELP

[windy]

Newbies Nest

Something that is standing out to me today is how many people here have had significant AF time (at least 30 days) and tried to moderate and then came back here seeking to be AF indefinitely. You can count me in that club. It seems like almost everyone. I have become aware that 30 days is truly not enough time to make that decision (for me). But the other odd thing is it is almost like part of the "program". I am just wondering if anyone who admits to themselves they need to cut down, can actually moderate successfully. But on the other had, there are soooo many people who drink excessively who do not acknowledge they are over doing it. What makes us so different?

However, I have noticed most people don't drink as much as I DID either (but a lot do). I guess I am one of the lucky ones in that I am finally waking up.

[K9Lover]

Newbies Nest

Hello Everyone!

Hope everyone is having a great day so far. Other than giving in on the smokes, I am doing great. Will try YET AGAIN to kick that nasty habit?but I?m happy to report that I have 208 AF days so far this year!!

I finished Jason Vale?s book yesterday, and I too highly recommend it. There were several points that really made me think. I mentioned one previously, and that was how when we pass out from too much alcohol, that?s our body choosing to keep us alive instead of awake, since it can?t do both with all that poison in it. Considering that I was blacking out and passing out every single night towards the end, that really scared me! The book really made me view alcohol differently. I finally realize that alcohol doesn?t actually DO anything, like if we felt relaxed with a drink, it?s probably because we already were already in a relaxing situation. So many times I?d plunk down on the couch after work, get all comfy and pop open a beer. Well it wasn?t the beer that was relaxing me?I was already relaxing (hopefully that made sense). And more often than not, the relaxing feeling I had would turn into a drunken mess, ending up emotional, sometimes angry, and always making a bad decision, be it drunk texting or much, much worse, drunk driving. Needless to say, I don?t miss that!

On another note, I tried Kava Kava Root for the first time yesterday, and it really did ?take the edge off??not sure what the ?edge? was for me yesterday, but I guess that happens from time to time. And I?m happy to say I feel much more peaceful today!

Well, everybody have a good day and I hope to check in later and catch up on the threads.

K9

[Lavande]

Newbies Nest

windy ~ of course I'm right :H
I have found that the longer I'm AF the stronger my commitment gets! I know the many attempts to moderate before coming to MWO were total failures. I decided this time to just stop BS_ing myself. Why the hell would I want to screw all that up now? My attitude is known as 'Lavan-ittude' around here & you are welcome to a share

mimi, awesome work on your 5 AF days!!!!!
Just keep moving forward, one day at a time

K9, glad you are doing well
Give yourself some solid AF time then sign up at Quit Smoking All Together: the Web's Largest Quit Smoking Community
That's what I did & it worked!

Better get my sober self back to what I was doing!!

[awsome]

Newbies Nest

new guy here, UK based, functioning but dependent.

25+ units a day beer/liquor for the last 6-7 years easy
have cut out the liquor 3 days ago and am tapering down slowly on the lager. Plan to drop to 0 in 2 weeks.

I feel like if I don't manage this I will die...

[Lavande]

Newbies Nest

Hi awsome!

Welcome to MWO & glad you found the Nest
This is a safe place to settle for a while.
I did the same as you, joined MWO while I was decreasing my heavy wine intake then went AF when it felt safe to do so While you are tapering, download the MWO book from the Health store here - it has a lot of good info. Take a look at the Hypno CDs too - loved them!
Also, be sure to look in our https://www.mywayout.org/community/f1...box-27556.html for lots of good ideas to help you put your plan together. Visit often, stay in touch & let us know how you are doing! We have a lot of newbies here finding great success

Lav

[lolab]

Newbies Nest

hi all...trying to get dinner ready - thanks for all the congratulations!

Windy, actually? Day 30 is just another day...I'm not trying to belittle it - am I proud of myself? HELL YEAH!!! I was also proud of myself after day 1 and day 2, you know....But do I feel like "hey, I made it 30 days! I'm CURED! I proved I can do it - I really don't have a problem with alcohol..." nope.,..I don't feel that way. This is another day of being alcohol free for me and I am anticipating an AF holiday season and an AF spring and summer after that. That's my plan.

Welcome to everyone - I've got to run and get ready to feed my family...:-) Have a fantastic evening.

[Lavande]

Newbies Nest

Like it or not ~ there's a party going on lolab

[lolab]

Newbies Nest

:thanks:

[ronnie]

Newbies Nest

Well done lolab on your 30 days....WOW how good that must feel, I cant wait until I get to where you are.
Welcome awsome....this site is great keep reading, without this site I would defo still be drinking.
Well I feel a bit better today I think it was a case of overdoing it engergy wise at the weekend...lol I think Id better put my superwomen outfit back in the cupboard for a bit..:H
I only have 2 more days at my old job and I am getting quite nervous about the new one, but I cant wait for a new challange.
Well done to all of you who beat the cravings of A/L, it is so hard to do but a great joy when you have.
Right I am having a nice cup of tea before the mad rush starts
Hope you all have a great day/night
ronnie :l

[ImHereNow]

Newbies Nest

I have pink pjs with white polka dots. I look like a float in Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!

[Lavande]

Newbies Nest

Are you going to post a picture of your new pink jammies??? :H

I'm happy to see newbies doing whatever they have to do to meet their goals

I'm tired & plan to get up early so I'll wish everyone a safe night in the nest!

Lav

[ImHereNow]

Newbies Nest

Thanks Byrdie - but did you REALLY have to start your Christmas shopping already. Come on! Its not even Halloween!!!! Makes me feel so, inferior (NOT)!!!! (we're going to the UK for Christmas to be with family and that really gets me off the hook for pressies - I'M THE GIFT!!! ha ha). thanks for the great words - now I have to find your old posts!!!)