100 Day Club members/Maintenance Thread

[FallenAngel]

100 Day Club members/Maintenance Thread

Lavande;1471590 wrote:
Forks Over Knives posts recipies on Facebook (from their website). This weekend will be a white bean, kale, red potato stew - yum!!!

That stew sounds delicious... I'm going to check it out on their website. Thanks!

For the past couple of weeks I've been trying new exercise routines & making nutritious smoothies on a daily basis... I'm really starting to feel the rewards of my effort!

Hope everyone is having a good weekend. Kuya, so nice to see you back on the boards...your support & wisdom was missed. I hope things are easing up for you. :l

Byrd- I can so relate to your recent post of saying how you wish you could show someone their future without AL; that all the struggles to keep from having that first drink is worth the effort, no matter how hard it seems right now.
I was fortunate enough when I quit, that I had a great mentor & also the personal experience myself of going through a tough smoking quit. One of the greatest lessons I learned & used when I quit drinking was that no matter how dismal life seemed at the present time... this too shall pass. I plodded through my 3-4 months of sobriety in a very depressed state, but I knew that the only way out, was through. And so I continued on, knowing that if I just stayed sober, that this dark time would pass. There was no alternative... if I drank, I would be miserable & have to start over at square one... and did I have the strength for that, was the big question. If I stayed sober, I would be miserable for a time, but I knew it wouldn't last forever. And so I held on... held on when I wondered "what's the point", held on when all I wanted was a way to escape from myself, held on because that's all I could do if I wanted to have a life worth living.
"Keep on for keepin on" was my mantra in those dark days... that's was the extent of my energy at that time... but thankfully, it was enough.
I broke through the barrier at 6 months... it felt like emerging from a long, dark tunnel into the bright sunlight.
It's the challenging times of our journey that make us cherish & protect our sobriety. I worked hard to get sober, and I continue the vigilance every single day...
because the quality of my life depends on it.

[Mick]

100 Day Club members/Maintenance Thread

Ha..Lav..welcome...but might just surprise you ...I have relatives somewhere in Philadelphia..I dont know too much about them ..know he was in the USMC.....also other half has relatives in California..and they are still in touch....so might end up in yer chicken coop one night!!!

[Lavande]

100 Day Club members/Maintenance Thread

Mick, Stella awaits your arrival :H:H

My 2 year & 4 day old grandaughter is spending the night with me (first time without her Mama here). Daughter & son-in-law were totally beat after moving furniture & boxes all day so I thought they could use a break. Got her to sleep by 9:30 pm, hope she stsy put for a while because Granny is kinda beat too

FA & Cat, if you haven't already be sure to watch the Forks over Knives movie too - really good.
I made that stew tonight & it was delicious

Need to get to sleep soon myself!

[FallenAngel]

100 Day Club members/Maintenance Thread

Lavande;1471809 wrote:
FA & Cat, if you haven't already be sure to watch the Forks over Knives movie too - really good.
I made that stew tonight & it was delicious

I've got that on my iPod.... I need to watch it on my PC, maybe I can do that today.
I looked up the recipe...looks tasty & easy

[Byrdlady]

100 Day Club members/Maintenance Thread

FA, You stated so well what I was trying to say. Thank you for that!! B

[Catbuddy]

100 Day Club members/Maintenance Thread

Lav, I haven't seen "Forks over Knives" and will definitely watch. I'm picking up "Omnivore's Dilemma" again tonight - only got through Chapter 1 last time.

A very dear friend of mine went hiking with me today. She was stunned by my appearance - I've lost 25 lbs off a 150 lb frame since I saw her last (when I was drinking). She immediately asked how I did it. Now she without question has a sugar and AL problem - I've known her for almost 20 years, and we've been best wine drinking buds. Long story short, she's trying the L-glut today. I could tell she's not ready/desirous to hear more, but I'm ready if she's interested.

My dear sister, who was a (negative) inspiration for me to join MWO, has been sober since New Years, and is using the program. MWO is like a gift we can give to those with a hand out.



Cat

[Lavande]

100 Day Club members/Maintenance Thread

Hey Cat!

How wonderful you are inspiring others, that must feel good
No, we certainly can't push & shove anyone onto the sober bus but we can give them a hand up when they are ready!
I wish your sister continued success

Congrats to you on the weight loss - great job!

[Byrdlady]

100 Day Club members/Maintenance Thread

Group....
I'm the kind of girl that likes truths in life. I like things that are black and white...rules to live by, if you will. I look for Absolutes (drinking joke) in this common ailment we share, I think this is key for helping others. The more things we know DON'T work, the more we know what does. If I may ask you as individuals in this group...do you consider yourself to be an alcoholic?

Byrdlady: Yes, unfortunately, I am.

I read around the site like eveyrone else does, and there are people drinking MORE than I ever did, who just consider themselves 'problem drinkers' or 'binge drinkers'. They call it everything except alcoholism. Could I be correct in saying that everyone in this group here considers him/herself an alcoholic? Could THAT be the key to getting sober? Admitting that huge bite of information?

When I see people slipping...and rationalizing it....my hair hurt, or the sun was too bright...I want to say you CHOSE to drink. That's not a slip. That is an action you chose to do. You are also an ALK. For us, one drink is too many. It is not a slip, it is a choice to continue the disease. We, here, choose NOT to feed the disease because we know we have it.

Working in the Newbie's Nest makes me think. A lot. What can I do to help folks get from point A to point B without killing themselves in the process? As much as Dr. Phil gives me a headache, I heard him say one time, 'you have to name it to claim it'. By this, my take on it is how can you fix something you won't acknowledge? So I'm wondering if we all finally gave way to the notion that we are ALK, and moved forward from there? Your thoughts? Byrdie

[porqoui]

100 Day Club members/Maintenance Thread

Morning Byrdie....

The hand goes up in the "YES" column for me. I consider myself an alocoholic, now. Took me a long time to get to that point and finally admit it. I couldn't move on till I did.

I think it was K9 that said "When drinking became harder than not drinking, it was time to quit." That's where I was at. I used AL to numb out everything in my life instead of dealing with things.

When I did sober up I was in a panic. Didn't know what to do with myself. I had no other life so to speak. That's when MWO came into my life. The early days helped me to see that there really is a life worth living out there.

Being able to post here and know that you guys "get it" is huge. Although I have people in my life now that support me, they just don't really understand. As Hippster says...it takes and alcoholic to help an alcoholic.

I agree, my slip at my first 45 days AF was a consious decision. I was angry and frustrated and the thought was "F**K IT". It was hard to own up to that and share it here but I wouldn't be where I am today without doing that....PPQP

[kuya]

100 Day Club members/Maintenance Thread

I didn't realise I was an alcoholic until I quit for the 9 weeks for the first time back in 2011, then drank and could not stop again for eight months.

THAT was scary and made me really wake up to being an alcoholic. The fact that one night drinking sent me straight back to daily drinking was terrifying, but it keeps me sober.

Like you Byrdie, I think this acceptance is THE cornerstone of a grateful, happy quit......KNOWING that we cannot undo what has been done.

[caysea]

100 Day Club members/Maintenance Thread

Hi All
Yes I am an alkie. The day I came to terms with this moving from a problem drinker to an alkie in my mind is the day my recovery started. I was looking for AA meetings on the Internet that day and happened upon this site.
I then went at solving this problem with my best all out effort. From that day on I new that I could never have another drink.

Stay Healthy and Keep Fighting
AF. 5-16-08

[Byrdlady]

100 Day Club members/Maintenance Thread

Interesting!!!

[Pinecone]

100 Day Club members/Maintenance Thread

Yes, I am.

At my rock bottom, I had what I think is called a "moment of clarity." It was a tremendously powerful experience that I couldn't fully describe if I tried. I sat down and wrote a letter to myself, the last line which is underlined is: "I am an alcoholic." I read it from time to time. I think I knew this earlier, but I didn't fully accept it for what it was: a necessary turning point in my life.

I agree that accepting it is an important piece in the puzzle. AFTER you accept it, you really only have 2 choices. You can let it kill you, or you can fight for your life.

[kuya]

100 Day Club members/Maintenance Thread

I can never decide if it is harder or easier to face up to these facts as a single person or in a couple.
I had no one except my children to answer to, my ex was a heavy drinker and enabled me so he could go on drinking as I was supporting him.

I think if he had stayed I would have continued drinking AT him cos I felt so used by him financially.

When he left I had to look hard at myself and was acutely aware that my daughter relied on me totally. It still took me 3 years to take action though.

My daughter only became aware of the alcohol as a problem 18 months ago when she started high school, that was a huge factor in my wake up call as it was upsetting her.

The pain and, more importantly,fear it would cause her if I drank now plays a significant part in my sobriety. She can't stop me but causing her anxiety would be so hard to bear.

[blondie]

100 Day Club members/Maintenance Thread

mollyka;1473270 wrote: Even years ago - before I would consider that I drank alcoholically - at all really, I would have often turned down the offers of 'a quick drink before dinner/lunch/cinema' whatever - because I could never see the point of that. I knew loads of people who quite happily had one or two and then went on with their normal day/night without anymore -- even back then I couldn't see the point so I wouldn't bother.
Now if a 'thought' of that rose coloured beer garden/blazing fire 'couple' of drinks were to enter my mind - I truly know where that goes - and if I did manage to limit it to one or two for a while - it would be just such a pointless struggle to do that -- it's not what I want - it's like craving a lovely big juicy steak and being offered a slice of dry bread really.
Nah - like Pinecone says - there are now two choices --- as my husband very poetically puts it 'none, and f*&k all' :-)

So true for me too about only having one or two. And in those instances where I turmed the drink down, it gave me a little out that perhaps I wasn't so bad

I need to stay here because of those rose-coloured drinking thoughts, particularly when I see how much control and will power I have exercised this last af year - surely I could maintain that control? Not a chance in hell. I am an alcoholic pure and simple. And I am happy to admit that. I'm in a great club here!