AF Daily, Saturday, Dec. 6

[namaste]

AF Daily, Saturday, Dec. 6

sorry..I'm typing on my tiny phone... I said determinator mentioned no longer needing to count the days of his abstinence....And I'm commenting how I relate but that it seems to be important now. )

[namaste]

AF Daily, Saturday, Dec. 6

flu brain here...14 days AF

[momof3]

AF Daily, Saturday, Dec. 6

Good Morning All,

Great discussions starting with Beatle in the wee hours of the morning.

Again, I so appreciate everyone's hard work and thoughtfulness on their AF journies. I am proud to be a part of it!

Lots of discussion today about people recognizing that they cannot mod...it is a bit freeing isn't it? To finally realize that the struggle of trying to drink like a "normal" person is over?

Tom, hang in there. I found that the physical benefits of being AF take a while. I think your body is still ridding itself of toxins and getting used to not relying on the Al.

Also, I wanted to mention that I met up with fellow MWOer "Beck" this past Tuesday. She emailed me a while back and we discovered that we live within 60 miles of one another. So, we met at a coffee shop at a halfway point. We talked nonstop for 2 hours and it was just fabulous. We are planning another meet up right after the holidays. The support I feel here at MWO is so important to my recovery and well, to meet someone face-to-face is just the greatest.

Have to get some work in today. Did an 8 mile training run this morning. It is the most I've run in a long while, but like sobriety, after a while, it's just all mental.

Mo3

[kaponium]

AF Daily, Saturday, Dec. 6

Alcohol had ceased being of any pleasure to me. - that is touche, aath

MAINTENANCE on a daily basis of a healthy sobriety is my primary goal!

WELL! Good morning everyone - up early here and it looks like it is going to be a lovely day.
Cassy - I hope you are feeling lighter of heart and mind - you CAN do it!
Nam, bloody flu is a bugger whether it is man-flu (fatal variety) or chicky flu (apparantly FAR less severe) LOL
Hope all are well -
Beatle - I agreee with you re the modders thing, however, may take on it is I am just grateful that I am not delusioned re my drinking. I have never WANTED to moderate, let alone tried!! It is important for my sobriety today not to get into debate, and it's interesting to see some of the wee battles going on on some of the threads, but I shall refrain from participation! (FAR to new to MWO anyway!)

Blessings one and all

K

[LVT25]

AF Daily, Saturday, Dec. 6

Hi everyone--took quite awhile to catch up this morning! Nothing really to add, except I love this thread too!
Some changes here at MWO will be interesting to see how that works out.
Mom/3 how fun if must have been to meet Beck. Were you nervous?

Gotta get busy, looks like Santa's workshop exploded in my house! Not really into the spirit yet. I guess it's still hard for me. My mom passed away 3 days before Christmas in 2004. I had to come home and take all my decorations/tree down (after my husband finally mentioned it really needed to be done). I had a major meltdown. It gets a little easier every year, but still absolutely HATE putting everything away! Used to involve plenty of beer.:upset:

[AAthlete]

AF Daily, Saturday, Dec. 6

Tom, try not to look at it as "if I am going to feel like this I might as well drink." That is the alcohol talking, looking for a way back in.

Of course you are not going to feel like that forever, you just need a little patience and take it one, simple day at a time. It is when we start getting frustrated that things aren't happening exactly the way that we want them to that we get ourselves in trouble.

[cymru]

AF Daily, Saturday, Dec. 6

Day 6 and feeling positive. 2 big triggers for me today.
Firstly, i was planning a nice family meal and my aunty had come over after having surgery. Then my 8 year old daughter phones and says she is going to watch santa instead with her mum. Now, im not blaming erin, shes 8, but it got me down.
And tnt im being left on my own which would usually be one of the biggest excuses to get plastered. Well not tnt mrs sauv blanc! Dont even want it. Will be happy waking up tmr clear headed and happy.
So im going to catch up on the thread now, and hope everyone has a great day, afternoon or night.

[SAUSAGE]

AF Daily, Saturday, Dec. 6

Hi all
First opportunity i've had to check in today - been trying to write some of my Christmas cards tonight, have just read through the thread.

Am still not 100% - this cold is really hanging on - 10 days on I still have a cough and sore throat. Hope to swim tomorrow - first exercise in ages.

Interesting reading about what alcohol you keep in the house - our house is full of alcohol - as some of you will recall i've mentioned before my husband is a serious wine drinker and collector and we have 200+ bottles in the garage and a couple of wine racks in the house. White wine was my "poison" of choice so i've just had to learn to live with it and be strong as my husband has no intentions of getting rid of it. We also have a cupboard of spirts, gin, whiskey vodka etc but i've never had any desire to touch these - can't stand spirits - and there are one or two beers around. i've never been a beer drinker but since quitting AL i have taken to having a zero % alcohol free Cobra beer on occasions. Until my hysterectomy earlier I was a red wine drinker also but interesingly since my surgery I cannot stand red wine now!?!?! It was also the drink I went off first whenever I was pregnant - could there be a hormonal link?

Am still anxious about Christmas - experienced strong alcohol cravings tonight when my husband was sipping a glass of white wine before dinner, but I stuck it out and interestingly once I'd eaten my main course and on to desert I had no desire to drink at all. Weird how cravings for some people just hit at a particular time isn't it - for most of the day I never even think about alcohol, it only hits me for about 1 hr a day, when it's tough. Anyone got any theories on why this is?

Also, someone remarked to Tom earlier on the thread that they reckon it takes a while to get rid of the toxins and see the true benefit of being AF. How many days / weeks totally AF do you reckon you need to really see the benefits?

Have a good AF day everyone.

[cymru]

AF Daily, Saturday, Dec. 6

make that 3 reasons. I have spilt tea on my laptop and broken my second laptop in 2 months. At least last time I could use alc as some sort of excuse!!

[chileco]

AF Daily, Saturday, Dec. 6

here in chile it?s saturday, and yes, i also miss my other half (who left me because of succesive falls back to drinking...) a litttle, but I promised and was told at rehab hat I had to leave it forever.

[retteacher]

AF Daily, Saturday, Dec. 6

Regarding when the cravings hit: There's a acronym in AA...HALT - Don't get too Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired. That's (they claim) when the cravings hit. I have found eating a definite way to have those urges evaporate. Mary

[Determinator]

AF Daily, Saturday, Dec. 6

Chileco, big welcome to you!

Namaste, sorry if I misled you...I still do count days (I keep it logged on my calendar and find it remarkable how many days seem to fly by). what I meant before was that my decision to be AF is not directly relative to time as a concept, or dates as goals. I no longer have goals for AF time. I just love to be AF and that works for me. I had goals of certain numbers of days in the past but it ended up being a 'countdown to doom'. just really freaked me out. The concept of 'forever' can also be freaky. so in summary I bypassed the whole time concept and I just like being AF. Didn't get much coffee today...hope that makes some sense.

[Determinator]

AF Daily, Saturday, Dec. 6

Mary, the HALT idea is very good. I like it.

[namaste]

AF Daily, Saturday, Dec. 6

Hi Determinator, oh no problem, and thanks for the clarity and I think got it before...I'm with you on that as well, I'm not going for a goal myself, as in 30 days, or whatever...It just made me stop and think how important it was to appreciate what I am doing because I for one can quickly forget and this time I think I need to take extra care because I really don't want to start over again.
Thanks again, I think you rock!
Di

[Doggygirl]

AF Daily, Saturday, Dec. 6

FWIW on day counting... and if there is one thing for sure, it's that we are all different!

Especially in the early days I was a counter big time. Each day AF was an achievement to be celebrated. I also viewed those days as something I would lose if I returned to drinking. That was MY way of playing the mental game - I know an AF day is still an AF day. It was just an extra motivator for me during the rough spots to think of that counter going back to zero - didn't want to go there and that way of viewing it saved me more than once.

It was somewhere not too long after 100 days where I started losing count of the days and forgetting to think about it every morning. So I just let things take their natural course in that regard. My quit date May 22, 2008 is firmly in my head as are my monthly anniversaries!

"Whatever works!"
Beatle

DG