Newbies in need May Day 4

[morrison]

Newbies in need May Day 4

Nancy, 5 days is great!! :goodjob: Sounds like your not happy about it. I know what you mean about the mind set of not thinking your missing out. You should never say "you gave up drinking." Giving something up sounds like you are sacrificing something, when in reality you are just removing something that offered you nothing. Actually, it offers less than nothing. That is what I have to remind myself when I'm in situations with others drinking. I'm not giving anything up. Just living a better and healthier life.

[Yucon]

Newbies in need May Day 4

Kitty

hi Kitty

Fresca is my choice. Love the taste and have been drinkig about 6 a day. I at a point in my 3 day AF detox where i have not been eating much. The fresca seems to help.

[Kitty]

Newbies in need May Day 4

Hi Yucon,

Sorry but what is Fresca, I don't know if we have that in the UK.

Kitty

[nancy]

Newbies in need May Day 4

Morrison

I made a mistake!!! it's only Day 4 because i started on May 1.

Yikes!! feels like an eternity.

that means only six days since a binge. i will try to think of it as progress, esp as i got over the hump day of thursday without giving in.

regarding alternative drinks. i think fresca probably doesn't have caffeine right? but a lot of sugar unless diet?

I have been drinking diet gingerale sweetened with splenda, sparkling water with a splash of fruit juice or slice of lime, iced herbal mint tea (very good) and herbal teas, not caffeinated. i allow myself one double espresso per day, which is cutting down for me. fruit juice gives a big rush of sugar into your blood stream. V8 is better as a juice.

i know some people say you shouldn't have to give up everything at once, but from what i have read, you will continue to have these sugar cravings if you keep having sugary things, so you might mistake that craving for alcohol. also, caffeine is bad for sleep.

[nancy]

Newbies in need May Day 4

In response to another thing Morrison said....

Yes I agree that it is better to not feel deprived.

The more I read about alcohol the more I think of how unhealthy it is unless taken at the bare minimum.

It's not that different from a diet, where you might like two pieces of cake, but you don't want to get fat. most of us can resist that right?

[imatree]

Newbies in need May Day 4

Hello fellow newbies (and also the wisest, most beautiful collection of people I've ever had the pleasure of hanging with),

Is it too cheesey to say I'm proud of myself? I haven't been AF this week as I had hoped, but have been moderate compared to usual. And rather than beat myself up about not achieving AF yet, I'm being more sensible and feeling good about what I have accomplished so far.

I come from a long line of alcoholics. Surrounded by them all my childhood. After my abused 16 yo brother killed himself when I was 12, my parents tried to quit drinking and we went to family counseling. The counselor was awesome. The only thing I didn't like was that he told me, when I was 14, that based on my family history, I had a 90% chance of being an alcoholic by the time I was 30. I said HELL NO I WON"T!! I have remembered that every year of my adulthood, and lived in denial for a very long time (i'm 41 now). I couldn't bear thinking of myself as that A word, someone like the adults I knew as a child... abusive, vulgar, in shambles.

For the past year I have come a long way in letting go of the denial (though I still won't refer to myself as the A word). I know that I am addicted to alcohol, and that it is as much or more a physiological issue as a mental or emotional problem. This latter has come mostly since I've been on this website, just over a week. That has been a biggie - to not consider myself a weak loser. To not take the addiction personally, but rather look at it more objectively - as in, this is a health problem and I need to deal with it, for if I don't my health is endangered, my life is much less than fully lived, and my potential to be my all is seriously compromised. That's all. I have this problem, and I am going to deal with it. I am going to heal.

So I'm proud of myself for moderating my drinking this week. And I am immensely grateful that I have had the major shifts in my consciousness I have had since I have joined this community of wondrous souls. I know I will heal.

I'm getting almost teary eyed now, thinking of this. You all really are beautiful. I am forever grateful to RJ for bringing us together and to everyone here for sharing their Selves.

Love and blessings,
Sue
:l

[Gardening Gal]

Newbies in need May Day 4

Hey Sue,
That was beautifully written and you are so in the right frame of mind and thinking to be grateful for the shift that has taken place in your belief system. It is that understanding that will change your life, I'm glad you're here too.

[zincityzen]

Newbies in need May Day 4

Got the CDs and listened before my party tonight. I think I did "accidentally" have a drink, tho' earlier. I have this Chinese tonic drink called Shou Wu Chih and I thought I'd bought the non-alcoholic kind, and it doesn't indicate alcohol content anywhere on the box. The truth is, I usually plop a little sake into whenenver I drink it (it's got lots of great herbs in it-I'll got into detail in Holistic Health). But I didn't do that today. Still, I had that buzzy-drink-on-an-empty stomach feeling for about an hour. So maybe I'm not AF today. I did manage to get through my party with my Club Soda and lime in hand all night. Lots of wine got consumed by almost everyone else. Driving home, I had that funny paranoia stab about being pulled over, but then I remembered that all I had too much of was dessert. A good feeling.