Call out for the Long Term Folks
I've had a decent 1 week short of 6 months AF this year and now back on track with 13 days under my belt again.
How did I do it?well I just stepped back, put my sobriety first, took things easy and told everyone else to sod off.
How bad?I only ever once had a fit or shakes which was quite a long time ago(about 1 year before I stopped), but I used to get wobbly "jelly legs"after a heavy session where my thighs felt as if they were wobbling and twitching. The drinking affected my skin, made me bloated and I gained a lot of weight. Quite a lot of mornings I would be sick, not able to hold anything down not even water sometimes until mid evening time. I also had painful guts - felt as if they were being ripped out sometimes. Most importantly I was sick to death of it. I felt as if I were dead, or at least living in a virtual hell. I was so frightened of everything, everyday it was unbelievable. Some days I would cry in the shower often knowing I was going to go get a drink that day. I couldn't/didn't work whilst drinking so my business was affected. I was also had problems with drinking associates but that's another story.
I knew for many years I would have alcohol on my mind even the several days a week I didn't drink, often the anticipation kept me going. I never really realised it until a stint in a treatment centre Christmas 2008.
Bumps?I came to several sticking points but managed to work through them. Remembering that a craving doesn't kill you, and that I can deal with ANYTHING so long as I'm sober was a great comfort.
I'll never be free of AL but I do have days when I don't think about it HOWEVER complacency was one factor that led to my relapse. I know I must remind myself each and every day, that I cannot drink alcohol today. FULL STOP.
ItsJustMe;994566 wrote: Hey All ?
There are so many good posts here and lately (last 16 days) I am here most every day trolling through the threads. There is a particular thread that I wish existed and since I haven?t ran across it I thought I?d start one. I?d really like to hear from the folks on this site that are AF free three months or more. Particularly I?d like to know things like:
- How you did it
- How bad were you before you decided to go sober
- Tell us about bumps in the road that you wouldn?t expect
- When did you first notice that you could go an entire day without Al even entering your mind
- When did you feel that you were actually free of the clutches of Al
- What did and did not work for you
- Any other wisdom that you could impart on us newbies.
There is so much knowledge here and so many smart people, I thought it might be nice to have a concentrated thread of pure wisdom from the success stories.
I know that in my weight loss process, I love looking at before and after pictures as well as reading their stories for inspiration. This is sort of the same thing I am looking for.
Hopefully others on the site will like this thread as well.
Take care,
ItsJustMe
AF since 10/16/10
There are so many good posts here and lately (last 16 days) I am here most every day trolling through the threads. There is a particular thread that I wish existed and since I haven?t ran across it I thought I?d start one. I?d really like to hear from the folks on this site that are AF free three months or more. Particularly I?d like to know things like:
- How you did it
- How bad were you before you decided to go sober
- Tell us about bumps in the road that you wouldn?t expect
- When did you first notice that you could go an entire day without Al even entering your mind
- When did you feel that you were actually free of the clutches of Al
- What did and did not work for you
- Any other wisdom that you could impart on us newbies.
There is so much knowledge here and so many smart people, I thought it might be nice to have a concentrated thread of pure wisdom from the success stories.
I know that in my weight loss process, I love looking at before and after pictures as well as reading their stories for inspiration. This is sort of the same thing I am looking for.
Hopefully others on the site will like this thread as well.
Take care,
ItsJustMe
AF since 10/16/10
How did I do it?well I just stepped back, put my sobriety first, took things easy and told everyone else to sod off.
How bad?I only ever once had a fit or shakes which was quite a long time ago(about 1 year before I stopped), but I used to get wobbly "jelly legs"after a heavy session where my thighs felt as if they were wobbling and twitching. The drinking affected my skin, made me bloated and I gained a lot of weight. Quite a lot of mornings I would be sick, not able to hold anything down not even water sometimes until mid evening time. I also had painful guts - felt as if they were being ripped out sometimes. Most importantly I was sick to death of it. I felt as if I were dead, or at least living in a virtual hell. I was so frightened of everything, everyday it was unbelievable. Some days I would cry in the shower often knowing I was going to go get a drink that day. I couldn't/didn't work whilst drinking so my business was affected. I was also had problems with drinking associates but that's another story.
I knew for many years I would have alcohol on my mind even the several days a week I didn't drink, often the anticipation kept me going. I never really realised it until a stint in a treatment centre Christmas 2008.
Bumps?I came to several sticking points but managed to work through them. Remembering that a craving doesn't kill you, and that I can deal with ANYTHING so long as I'm sober was a great comfort.
I'll never be free of AL but I do have days when I don't think about it HOWEVER complacency was one factor that led to my relapse. I know I must remind myself each and every day, that I cannot drink alcohol today. FULL STOP.
Comment