Having reached the wondrous 30 day mark being AF, I reckon I might be able to offer some little tidbits of advice to the really new newbies. Of course, I'm still a newbie too.....30 days ain't nothing in the big scheme of things: I'll only consider myself a non-newbie when I get as many AF days under my belt as I did drinking....so it looks like I've got another 12775 days to go (if I live that long!!) :H
1) Never forget. No matter whether you're at Day 1 or Day 15 or whatever Day you're at, never forget what alcohol did to you. Never forget the morning after the night before, when you woke up full of shame and regret. Never forget the feeling of being out of control of your life. Just keep remembering the whole damned mess it was. You don't have to share those truths with anybody else, but be honest with yourself. Every time you feel yourself craving a drink, or getting all wistful and nostalgic for the 'good old days', just don't forget what it was really like.
2) We've all got stress in our lives. Every single human on this planet suffers the same sort of shit: stupid, toxic family issues, crazy work problems (or unemployment), relationships with our partners...the list goes on, and we make them our reasons for drinking. You know how it goes: "OMG, I'm under sooooo much stress at the moment, I deserve a drink to get me through the tough times". The tough times don't go away, they are there forever. It's part of being human. Suck it up.
If we're here on this board, then we've learned to associate drinking with pretty much every emotional aspect of our lives. So yeah, stressful time = have a drink. Get a promotion at work = have a drink. Good times with family = have a drink. The cat AND the car dies on the same day = have a drink. Having a really ordinary day, nothing much happening, house is tidy, kids are behaving = ahhhh, let's have a drink shall we? Let's face it, we don't really need an excuse, and lying to ourselves about our motivation to drink is just, well, bullshit.
There's my snippets of *wisdom*. Take them for what they're worth which may not be much, but they've helped me get to this point.
And I'd love for others to add their own mental tools to get them through as well!
Cheers
kambob
1) Never forget. No matter whether you're at Day 1 or Day 15 or whatever Day you're at, never forget what alcohol did to you. Never forget the morning after the night before, when you woke up full of shame and regret. Never forget the feeling of being out of control of your life. Just keep remembering the whole damned mess it was. You don't have to share those truths with anybody else, but be honest with yourself. Every time you feel yourself craving a drink, or getting all wistful and nostalgic for the 'good old days', just don't forget what it was really like.
2) We've all got stress in our lives. Every single human on this planet suffers the same sort of shit: stupid, toxic family issues, crazy work problems (or unemployment), relationships with our partners...the list goes on, and we make them our reasons for drinking. You know how it goes: "OMG, I'm under sooooo much stress at the moment, I deserve a drink to get me through the tough times". The tough times don't go away, they are there forever. It's part of being human. Suck it up.
If we're here on this board, then we've learned to associate drinking with pretty much every emotional aspect of our lives. So yeah, stressful time = have a drink. Get a promotion at work = have a drink. Good times with family = have a drink. The cat AND the car dies on the same day = have a drink. Having a really ordinary day, nothing much happening, house is tidy, kids are behaving = ahhhh, let's have a drink shall we? Let's face it, we don't really need an excuse, and lying to ourselves about our motivation to drink is just, well, bullshit.
There's my snippets of *wisdom*. Take them for what they're worth which may not be much, but they've helped me get to this point.
And I'd love for others to add their own mental tools to get them through as well!
Cheers
kambob
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