AF Daily - Thursday Sept 22

[universal]

Morning abbers!

I was up at 6.30 and not sure why. But for once I feel rested. I started taking B12 and I think it's helping.

Well, lots of activity on yesterdays thread. I do say I have to agree though. DG I remember the other person who was glamorizing AL when I was struggling and it was hard. I hope that I didn't glamorize it when I was struggling, I'm pretty sure I was just asking for a lot of help.

Thankfully I am almost at 4 months now and am feeling strong. In large part to my therapy and everyone here.

Today I have to go to a full day alcohol program called back on track which is part of the requisition I have to go through to get my liscence back. I'm not worried though, in fact it will be a good refresher from treatment so I am excited about it.

IJM - Yes, there will be a very spoiled nephew in the future. And of course, that means I have to spoil my 3 year old neice as well, can't be one sided. Can't wait, so looking forward to that trip!

Have a great day abbers - one thing is for sure over here.........:l

[Doggygirl]

AF Daily - Thursday Sept 22

Good morning fABbies! Uni thanks for kicking us off. Nope - no AL glamming from you. I am so happy you have found recovery! Have fun today.

Zoom zoom - I chair the Thursday morning AA meeting through the end of the year so I'm off to do that and then to school. I am so grateful today that the only major health issue I have ever had to deal with is my addiction to alcohol. There is a solution for that allowing me to live free of the symptoms and consequences of that sickness. Others have a more challenging time than me including some here who also deal with issues such as clinical depression or cancer grief or other serious things. May I stay out of myself today and be as much help and support to others as possible.

And with that - I am sending extra strong and loving vibes out there today to any fABbies who need some extra. :l I love you guys!

One thing is for sure...there will be NO AL for this girl today.

DG

[ItsJustMe]

AF Daily - Thursday Sept 22

Good Mornin Folks!

Hi Uni and DG ? You dudes are up early. I just rolled out of bed and got my youngest off to school. I don?t have to drive carpool on Monday and Thrus and don?t have a set time that I have to be at work so I can sort of drag through the morning. I call it ?waking up casually?.

I had an interesting observation last evening. Mrs. IJM stated that she was going to take our youngest son to the county fair when he got out of school today. This is a yearly announcement and every year I get excited internally thinking that I will have the house to myself all evening and can drink as much as I want without being monitored. That was such a fleeting thought this time that I almost missed it! It came into my head and the new IJM started immediately thinking that I could use that time do some constructive things. I guess my point is that this is another example of AL getting further out of my life. I am totally lovin? it!

I hope everyone to come has a great AF Thursday!

We haven?t had an IJM thought of the day so here is one to ponder? If at first you do not succeed, then skydiving is surely not meant for you.

Later Dudes!
IJM

[Lavande]

AF Daily - Thursday Sept 22

Good morning Abbers!

Good to be up & functioning at 6:30 am huh Uni?

Hello to DG & IJM!

I am looking at a full week of rain in my backyard - seems some stupid weather pattern is stuck here I can't even begin to tell you about the mud problem around here - yuck.
I have some work this morning, babysitting this afternoon then out at 5 pm for a retirement dinner for two former coworkers - both non-drinkers so I feel completely safe

Wishing everyone a great AF Thursday!

Lav

[Marshy]

AF Daily - Thursday Sept 22

Hello abbers!

How do you quote a post from another thread? I wanted to quote IJM from yesterday about going a different route home to avoid the bottle shop (as our friends in Oz would say). I thought it was a great example of the lengths we have to go to sometimes and the effort we put in to stay on track, even when it's inconvenient, annoying, time-consuming etc.

Hello Uni, DG and Lav!

Work to do, back later.

[Treya]

AF Daily - Thursday Sept 22

Hey fabbers,
Going home today after almost 3 weeks. And I feel as though I've safely negotiated the potentially troubled waters of my first trip abroad AF. Though it was partially a working holiday it hasn't been all work. I had plenty opportunities to succumb to the evils of the demon drink (lest anyone think I'm glamming up its properties :H)
I’ve had plenty opportunities to party. And in the past my relationship to Al has been largely social-involving others and fun so it’s been any excuse for a knees up. I am learning that (as far as I can tell) I'm not a lone drinker. I don't drink to avoid pain. I drink to induce pleasure. So it's the parties and social gatherings that I will have to monitor carefully. I do feel a certain amount of social anxiety when meeting new people but I'm learning how to handle that and remembering that I can create my own behavioural states at will. It's fun acting as if I'm really super cool and confident. I guess I should have been an actress. :H
We are all different in our relationship to the bottle but more importantly in where we are dealing with change in general. When we're giving up an addiction we all need to be really clear about where we are in relation to the stages of change. There’s a fantastic theoretical change model that I have worked with as a coach and it applies beautifully to alcohol too. I only remembered about it when I thought about Jenny yesterday. It’s a well-known model in the coaching circuit and in management theory in general. For anyone who might not be aware of it, here’s a link to a website that talks you through it.
Stages of Behavior Change, Lisa S. Larsen, PsyD, Lancaster, CA.


OK, time to pack. It’s been a blast Italia. Ciao e arrividerci!
Treya

[Kaslo]

AF Daily - Thursday Sept 22

Hi all Fabulo-Abstinecers. Hope everyone has a great day. I looked in the mirror this morning, and I didnt look like death warmed over. I feel great, well rested. AND I am also one of those people who has to tell myself still that moderate drinking is not for me.

Uni, tell us more about Back on Track when you ...get back. DG you are indeed lucky, so am i. I managed to avoid truly dire consequences, I think we all have, and can credit that to the amazing fact that the brain, heart, esophogus, stomach, liver, kidneys can recover and heal. IJM, I know exactly what you mean. Its kind of sweet how when Mr Kaslo was going to be rarely out, I could head straight for the jar store (another name for it), but now its more that I can not worry about supper or cleaning the livingroom, but rather go try to fix something without Mr. Kaslo breathing down my neck, telling me what to do!!! ha ha. And yes, Marshy, good point about avoiding the stores. I have to shop (there are only three grocery stores in this town) and all of them have a liquor store right next, but at least in Canada, its not sold in the grocery stores! And Lav, have a wonderful time with the gk(s?) today.

Cross post with Treya, thank you for posting the link re changing behaviours. This is particularly important for us older AL abusers. I havent read it yet, but I will. What you are doing sounds so glamorous and interesting. And Italy.... Id say Oooh la la in Italian but I dont think there is a translation. You and Det could give lectures on how to avoid problems while traveling alone. I would attend. Enjoy your trip home.

I am so late in my work due to family issues its horrifying. I procrastinate and cant get the writing done that i I need to do. At least I am not getting plastered every night like I used to when these things happened. Sometimes I would use AL to break writers block. Bad news of course, but it did help. I need advice on how to break this now without AL. Because procrastinating is not getting the Recovery of a boreal forest from bla bla bla written.......As a result.... there HAS been a lotta things getting fixed around here! If I could just put aside the anxiety.....Helens memorial is tomorrow, and my daughter is now mostly packed and being taken 600 km away further than where she is now, which is 300 km away, but I know its going to be better for her, even though I will not see her or the children as much. Does anyone else get jealous when the other set of grandparents are closer to the gks than you? At least she is going to get some relief from anger issues, her own addiction, and trying to raise two little ones in a ghetto.

Hi to all the others on here making thier way out of the scratcher this morning...

One thing is for sure...

kas

[Marshy]

AF Daily - Thursday Sept 22

Treya - that looks interesting, I'll have a look later.

Kaslo - does that mean beer isn't sold in grocery stores either? I'm aware of that liquor store distinction from visiting the States but can't remember how it was the one and only time I was in Canada (Montreal for about 24 hours, but long enough for me to hunt down booze somewhere ). It's amazing how licensing laws have changed here over the past 20 years. Booze is even sold in newsagents now. I could go and buy the Sunday paper at 8am and get some alcohol to go with it. Yuk.

I hope your brothers behave themselves tomorrow! I'd like to think the person up front flying the plane is calm and unflappable but I guess not :H

[Kaslo]

AF Daily - Thursday Sept 22

Hey Marshy, no beer in grocery stores in Canada. About the only alcohol you can get is rubbing alcohol. And even that is a stretch. I used to think it was a huge inconvenience and we should just get like the U S of A, on that custom, but now I dont think that at all. We have little offsales convenience booze stores but they are like little liquor stores. The hours are often 24 - 7 in these. It wasnt that long ago in Canada where the liquor stores had a barred window, and a high counter, and you told the clerk what you wanted and they brought it to you.

Yes, Marshy and IJM and anyone else following the story of my two retired airline (Air Canada) pilot brothers and poor Helens memorial. My dad was a Spitfire pilot in WWII for any of you plane junkies. He despised my eldest brother, but got him a job in the airlines anyway, and the other one had to actually have talent and work for the priveledge. Some of my earliest memories was of the sound of fists stricking flesh and bodies hitting walls in my parents house from those two. Everyone in my fam flies except me, and you all know I do spend a lot of time in helicopters and small fixed wing bush planes in the North. So I fervently hope the eldest brother has not got wind of this service and is not flying into the town in his little Aerostar twin engine, whilst the other is driving, fuming and muttering, in his big expensive truck he uses to transport aircraft now, because HIS plane is grounded and waiting for parts. They absolutely loathe each other. And its not about fricking THEM as I tell the one I know Helen would have wanted to attend. All these lovely old women are going to want to ooh and ahh over Ogre and most don't even know about Troll, so I hope it all works out. I for one am going for Helen, and what she so selflessly gave of herself to me, and what I learned. As for Ogre, (I call them Ogre (grounded) and Troll (currently not grounded), its because there is an old Squadron beer stein on one of Helens shelves, I am ashamed to say, that he is after. And once he gets that, there will a thin smile, and a rapid dissapeerance.

Must work, they seem to want me to work. Thanks for remembering Marshy. Come again to Canada! Lovely country. We get quite misty eyed about our connection to Great Britain. Well some of us do. Pas les Canadien Francais, c'est pour certain. Bit divisive here. My family is just a microcosm of the whole fecking country. Quant ? moi, je s?parerais!

Here is Nancy Green Lake. I will drive past this on the way to Helens service.



Kas

[Bean]

AF Daily - Thursday Sept 22

Hey everyone

RACING through as I should be at work right now. I'm Day 3 AF. Just sayin....

Back later
Bean

[Kaslo]

AF Daily - Thursday Sept 22

Congrats Bean! YAY Bean! (even).

[Treya]

AF Daily - Thursday Sept 22

What was that you said?
Day 3 Bean??
Awesome
:goodjob::goodjob::goodjob:

[sunshine_gg]

AF Daily - Thursday Sept 22

*sneaking in*

Can I come hang with you guys? AF Daily is exactly what I need
Bean - Well done on day three! I'm right there with you on day five... wanna stick together for a while? 4training wheels are better than two, or something like that

[Doggygirl]

AF Daily - Thursday Sept 22

Welcome Sunshine!!! You don't have to sneak. AF Daily is what I need too!

Bean!!! :yougo:CONGRATULATIONS ON DAY 3!!!:yougo:

Treya, I love that link you provided!!! "Assessing change readiness" will be an upcoming topic in one of my classes. There was a point made in a film we watched that in the "olden days" of treatment (i.e., the ideas in the 70's/80's) it was felt that someone had to be at a "rock bottom" before any treatment would have impact. The teacher said that has really changed. It is now believed that 1) there are better and better techniques to help people see the need for change before the worst of the consequenses occur and 2) exposing people to treatment earlier rather than later may not work the first time, but might bring someone back before the "rock bottom" just having exposure. Makes sense to me as I think many of us here are in those categories somewhere.

Kas, hope the work is going smoothly and getting caught up. Will be thinking of you tomorrow.
(and sending some virtual :b&d: to your brothers!)

Marshy, I too like what IJM said about changing routes. There are all kinds of inconvenient things that for me, were well worth doing to get AL out of my life. We saw a video today that included brain scan images of "triggers." OMG they happen fast. The brain area that is basically the "go button" lit up before the frontal lobe where the "stop button" lives would even know a thought had occurred. No wonder "trigger management" is so important to relapse prevention planning. A guy in the video considered his entire neighborhood a trigger so he moved. Any lengths!

Lav, I got shivers just imagining that mud. Ugh. Hope you get some well deserved sunshine soon!

IJM, wow I can relate to what you described about that "oh goody I can spend today drinking as much as I want" thinking. I used to be that way too. Good job squelching that thought before it had a chance to get going!

Hey Ho to all other fabbies.

Oh - some BIG drama brewing with dog trainer's soon to be ex-wife's BF. FBI raid. I guess the indictment is over 50 pages long. Something to do with providing guns to a gang. Yikes! And trainer's daughter is currently still living there. I bet that changes soon...

I got the highest score in my class on the midterm.

No time to let grass grow - the final for this class is in 3 weeks. :egad: His tests are hard too.

So definitely no AL for me today, that one thing is for SURE!

DG

[greeneyes]

AF Daily - Thursday Sept 22

Hi fabbies!

GO BEAN GO!!!

Sunnybutt it would be wonderful to have you here!!!

I'm a flash in the pan again for the moment, but I'm reading all about you guys - just so you know. I'm kickin' arse at the hole. Since it's rainy and cooler and FH is out of town, I'm putting old files from previous years into the attic and stuff like that. This is NOT a result of my dysfunctional time at the black hole. :H I already paid those dues It is FH's dysfunctional time at the black hole. No wait. I'm not cleaning up his mess, I'm just doing the sort of normal stuff I didn't do when I didn't have a key. and besides I get paid