saturday 1 september

[bear73]

Hello everyone - I had 1 beer on Thursday, not the end of the world but still. I am feeling very very anxious at the moment. I have stopped smoking, day 5 of that for me.
I intend to do a month AF as I remember I didn't feel so anxious, jittery as time went on.
In fact I felt much calmer and more positive.

Work is mental at the moment, had to cancel 2 days off (well postpone them but the way I feel I REALLY could do with Monday off). I have started booking in ten minute sessions to meditate daily, nothing complicated just focusing on my breath for now, and doing affirmations each morning on the way to work.

That combined with going back to the gym and running again should calm me - may buy some valerian just in case!
Anyway a calm AF weekend all, I'm off to the gym and then I'm going for a sauna and then recycling old clothes - do like a bit of decluttering too!

[Doggygirl]

saturday 1 september

Hi bear. Enjoy the gym and decluttering! I too have been enjoying some decluttering (well, sort of enjoying it - not as much as I would enjoy a day at the beach though). It feels good to take another garbage bag of old junk out of the office, or another bag of clothes to the Salvation Army. Congrats on 5 days smoke free. That was a hard one for me. I know I'll never smoke again because I REFUSE to go through the sheer hell that was Month 1 of quitting that.

It's Day 53 AF here. It got nice and cool last night and is projected to be about 80 and sunny today - should be a gorgeous day for dog training. I'm armed with Lipton Iced Green Tea and a couple other no alcohol options to get me through the afterglow.

Hello to all who will be along later. I'm quite interested in a Tadpole Update.

DG

[rustop61]

saturday 1 september

Hi everyone, Day 1 for me and feeling optimistic. Took my allone this am and my supplements. I listened to one of the clearing cd's but may have to leave the cd's til next week when the kids are in school and the animals are outside! This morning it was the animals who made a nuisance of themselves. I tried listening to them at night last year but always fell asleep so I dont know if they were then of any benefit? It's hard to find an hour and a half during the day when somebody isn't looking for something, the joys of being a Mom, hence the plan to do it during the day when nobodys home.

Plan to take the dogs for a walk this afternoon so that's the exercise taken care of. Having a BBQ tonight and might rent a DVD so hopefully that will keep me busy, evening/night time will be the hardest as I never drank during the day. Am looking forward to going into drink tracker tomorrow and putting the first of what will hopefully be many 0's in.

[YoungAtHeart]

saturday 1 september

Well done to Janet, who survived her Friday night with courage, if not finesse!! :goodjob: Janet!! Why not try to get out and see a movie tonight?

Welcome, Rustop, it's good to see you here on Day 1. It sounds like you have a good plan in place, and yes, both pets and children can make doing the CD's difficult. My cat thinks that the little cords to the headset make charming cat toys!

Decluttering is a good thing, Doggy. I hope you have a great weekend, and training day is a breeze for you! Enjoy the great weather! It's going to be a beauty here, too!

Hey Bear, it sounds like you are right back on track after your "mini slip". I'm really impressed that you are stopping drinking and smoking at the same time. It's too bad that you had to cancel your days off. I hope that you get to take them soon. Take care.


Anyway I'm off to start my day. It should be a nice one. I'm still down that my sister is leaving next weekend, but I'm coping. I am looking at this as the start of another phase in my life, and I can make it a good one if I choose.

Hugs,:l
Kathy

[barry]

saturday 1 september

Hey Ablanders: Looks like a beautiful weekend. Had some excitement last night. A bat somehow got into our bedroom and was flying around for a half hour before I could get it to fly out the french doors. It was so cool, our bedroom is huge so it had a lot of room to fly around and it was absolutly, incredibly silent flying around at high speed, really amazing. I'm glad I was able to get it back outside without hurting it.

Have a great day.

[meditation mama]

saturday 1 september

Hi All!

Smoke has clear and it rained last night.. thanks for the rain dance everyone!!!! They have the fire "contained", meaining it is surrounded. It is still about 40,000 acres, but now it will just burn itself out. That will take about a month, or so. Probably until it snows. But at least they dont have to backburn, that is where all the horrible smoke came from. But life is feeling clamer.

Funny, I feel like my life and this fire sort of coinsided..I quit drinking the same time it flared up... The fire roared, my emotions roared.. it was smokey and unclear, I was definately smokey and unclear (except I quit smoking).. it is clearing, my mind is clearing.. life is amazing. Nothing happens by chance......

Last night was rough... I had a LOT of temptations, starting right after work. Girlfriends going to the winebar, no child, husband bored and wanting to do something (he is a support, though), just a tough nigh. But I QUICKLY went and got a few DVD's, some makings for healthy deli sandwiches and we plopped in front of two movies. Before I knew it, it was 10pm, and I was off to bed.. whew and Friday was OUTA HERE! I know it won't always be this hard, and the days are getting easier (some are no problem), but I am willing to battle the one's that are any way I need to!

One thing I did noticed at one point last night was that I was giving too much attention to my thoughts around not drinking. I was batteling my own mind. As soon as I brought atttention to that, the energy shifted. I don't have to keep thinking about the fact that I am craving, or that it is hard. OK, it is, but move on from the thought.. Anyway, I don't know if that makes sense.. but it was an littel AH-HA moment and it made all the differnce in the world - I relaxed.

Well off to meditate.. I said that a while ago, but I better now before hubby gets up...


Have a wonderful Saturday!!

MM

[Breez]

saturday 1 september

Morning All-

bear-enjoy the gym. Maybe you should try quitting one addiction at a time. I couldn't see myself tackling 2 addictions at once. Of course I would choose quiting the alcohol first. I give you credit. When I smoked many yrs ago-cigs & drinking came hand in hand. When I stopped drinking for a period of time (1 mo) - I quit smoking. Then I tried tackling my alcohol addiction. Unfortunately I was able to quit smoking a lot faster since I was a smoker that would smoke for 3 months, then quit, then start up again. That was not the case with alcohol. I somehow found smoking more detrimental to my health.

Hi DG-enjoy your day. Congrats on 53! That's awesome! We're also going to have beautiful weather here in the Northeast-dry, bright & sunny.
Tadpole update: his back legs are getting bigger which is scaring me. Now when I lift the lid & scoop the poop with a turkey baster it freaks out (which I can't blame it). He's using his back legs now & I can only imagine when it fully grows. Still hasn't started to ingest his tail. It looks like a weird alien.

Welcome Rust! I usually used my cd's a little bit before I went to bed. Like you I fell asleep. But I think that my subconscience was still listening since I woke up shortly after the cd ended. I like to think they worked because I only used them when I knew apparent triggers (my phoney-in-laws parties/get togethers) were around the corner. And I can proudly say that I survived them this year when in the past I failed.

Hi Ho Kath! Good to see your changing that attitude that it's not the end of the world but a new start. I always view change as good. You have to. Makes life more interesting and even challenging. Hey, you still have us and we're not going anywhere. I'm sure by comparison not the same as your sister but we're your second family nonetheless.

We're going to take advantage of this beautiful day & go to an agricultural fair today. It's almost down by the shore so maybe we'll have some dinner near the beaches. LOL to myself-fried crap all afternoon & delicious succulent seafood for dinner. My kind of diet slacking day! But that phony-in-law family reunion is in 2 weeks & I NEED to lose those extra pounds I put on from quiting my booze.

Anyway- May you all have a lovely, AF day!
:rays:
"We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about."
? Charles Kingsley

[Breez]

saturday 1 september

Gee-if I wasn't so long winded....

Hi barry! I think bats are so cute. We have them flying around our backyard. They do come so low at times.



Hi MM-good for you. Eventually your brain will get trained to not stink think. :applaud:to a job well done.

[Java]

saturday 1 september

Morning all!!! Hope everyone is having a wonderful Saturday!

[zincityzen]

saturday 1 september

Good morning fellow abbers, I am joining you again for September and possibly beyond ... Bear73 - Congrats on 5 smoke-free days, decluttering is a great way to free up your anxiety.
Doggygirl - Wow 53 AF days!
Rustop61 - You and me on Day 1 together, my doggy eventually got used to my listening to the CDs, and gave up bothering me, but I only have one dog and no kids. Sometimes I do the CDs right before bed.
YoungatHeart - Enjoy the time left with your sis! I had lunch with my big sis last week when she was in town, and it was SO nice!
Barry - We see a lot of bats at night, but never had one in the house! I have no idea where they live.
MedMAma - Congrats in facing temptation, I agree that thinking about non-drinking can get obsessive. Good that you observed that and even better that your observation took the power out of the thought.
Breez - Hope youre having fun, fun at the ag fair today - and the BEACH! I'm jealous.
Java - Morning!

Well, I've been up and down with the drinking in August. I'd intended to be AF last month ... but oh well. Drinktracker showed that I had many more AF days than I had had in July ... but the simplest b-line to health, energy, and clarity is to stop it. I know this, and I'm looking at the 5 empty bottles of wine in recycling bin, accumulating there since 8/22 ... so that's a half bottle a day consumed by all by my charming self.

So with DH still at Burning Man and me and the dog alone in the house for a few days, I'm just gonna get some habits started. But my priority is sobriety.

[Breez]

saturday 1 september

Hi Zin-

Did you know Deter's there at Burning Man too!

Glad you're back.