Awesome August Abstainers ~ week 4

[dill]

True change isn't willful. It's so fluent and intuitive that we don't even realize it happened.
Garrett Kramer

Welcome to week 4!

[Lavande]

Awesome August Abstainers ~ week 4

Good morning Dill & everyone!

Like that quote Dill, so true

I really need to reset Matilda's alarm clock, she gets me up way too early :H

I had a great day with Ms Lily yesterday - so different from the two funky little boys! I couldn't be more grateful for the opportunity to spend this precious time with the kids. None of this would be happening if I had continued on the AL path.

Hope everyone has a great AF Thursday! Unbelievable we arenearing the end of the month!!!

Lav

[itsmytime]

Awesome August Abstainers ~ week 4

Good morning all,

Very raw emotions the past couple of days. I start to replay things I've said and how it could have been taken the wrong way and then the ruminations start. It's the AV working and my own social anxiety. I am hitting 40 days tomorrow, so it's still really early and I know to expect days like this. I haven't completed a week of Amoryn yet and I read that the anxiety could be worse to start, just like any AD. I just have to push through and it will pass.

Just had to vent, it helps.

thanks,
IMT

[Chillgirl]

Awesome August Abstainers ~ week 4

Hi Guys

IMT - Sorry to hear you are having a hard time. I remember my 1st few months AF were a complete emotional rollercoaster with extreme feelings of highs and lows. They will balance themselves out. For me it was all about getting to know the new sober me and learning to face the world without a glass in my hand. on the good days - enjoy and on the bad ones remember "this too shall pass". :l

Dill - Thanks for the quote, change is about the only certainty we have in life and Im beginning to accept it with grace more and more.

Lav - Its so great that we can still feel the gratitude for our sobriety, I never stop, just today I was wondering how I put up with waking up each day feeling groggy compared to how I feel now, its just fantastic!

Im just loving it down here and when out walking Elle earlier a baby deer crossed our path. I truly love living in the country and havent felt so at home since I left Portugal. I still have lots to do to make life work here and find an income. I have a marketing project to do in September for my friends business at the Happiness Academy which will hopefully earn me some money while I look at possibilities of working in the Nutritional field.

On the love front, despite being thrown together so quickly, me and Mr Suffolk are getting along just fine. :h

[ladybirdheart]

Awesome August Abstainers ~ week 4

Intriguing quote, Dill. My natural inclination is to climb through challenges with my fingernails clinging to the mountain, but there are times when I understand that if I just unbind the knot inside me, I would simply be at the top. Hold fast, IMT. I too get knocked around by my emotions and can work up a big fret all in my head. I replay things incessantly, hold ?court? and argue my case over and over, the chorus can be f-ing deafening. Once the emotions settle down the thoughts are just words floating by, much easier to decline giving them our attention. Just ask Lav. Curious about the new man who has joined your heart and daily life, Chill, what he is like, how you met, the whole romantic sonata, I love romance in all its forms and evolutions:h. Back later. Love, Ladybird.

[Lavande]

Awesome August Abstainers ~ week 4

IMT, we often refer to that incessant head noise as 'monkey mind' for a good reason :H
Don't let it get you down, just tell it to shut the hell up & move on to something else. I think it's just human nature to occasionally beat ourselves up for no good reason. It's a bad habit & we can learn to change mental self abuse

chill, I stood outside with my daughter last evening at dusk & watched 2 deer romp & play in the field just across the road. This nature stuff is nice but it can also get pretty boring too - for me! I think I need a vacation to a city :H
Hope everything settles down nicely for you!

LBH, how are you today?
Have you seen or heard from Shelley?

Well, my DIL just called (looking for dinner) so I guess I'll go figure out what I'm cooking

[dill]

Awesome August Abstainers ~ week 4

LBH, I was looking for a quote that would reflect your sage advice of just continuing to move away from alcohol. I don't think I quite hit the mark. What I was thinking was that maybe change is two-fold. There is the willful change of not drinking. That is definitely a choice, a task, a willful, "fingernails clinging to the mountain" change. But over time we find alcohol and the need/desire for it diminishing and that is the "true change".

Lav, you would miss your little place in the country within the first five minutes of city time!!!:H

Chill, I need more information on Mr. S. Is this the same man you were traveling to see when your car broke down? I'm confused.

IMT, :l Hang in there! Just change your thoughts or find a meditation that works for you to quiet your mind. Do you have any guided meditation CD's?

[sdlovespackers]

Awesome August Abstainers ~ week 4

Hi Awesomes!!

Another quick check in....I apologize. The school year is off and running...so far so good. Had to deliver some not so good news to my principal about another staff member....I thought she was very thankful for the info but now I'm not sure how to read her??? I think my best bet is to just ignore what goes on around me and stay clear of her office?!
I just wanted to let you all know that I'm continuing to check in (not quite everyday) to read and catch up with how everyone is doing...I'm just not posting as often as I'd like to...however, I have remained AF...and it's almost been a month since the reunion...man how time flies!!!

Rusty--thanks for the post the other day..about you and your sister/sister-in-law. I'm so glad you and your sister have remained so close through everything!!

I need to get some sleep....BIG HUGS and HELLOS to EVERYONE!!!!:l

SD

[Lavande]

Awesome August Abstainers ~ week 4

Good morning Awesome Ones!

Nice to see you SD - stay well
Busy is a good thing, keeps me out of trouble, Lol

I have lots to do today myself so I'll just get going. Wishing everyone a terrific AF Friday!
Lav

[ladybirdheart]

Awesome August Abstainers ~ week 4

Good Morning! I have been out gardening in the dark and early dawn. It seems that before long I shall need to shift to later in the day; no matter how hard I hold on, summer is slipping through my fingers yet again. Lots of running here and there after exercise in the spirit of Lav this morning, lunch out, and then more hunting and gathering before a reception this evening, it?s a political one (horrors), but the young candidate is an unabashed delight for a change and lots of little money shall be his including mine. Feeling good to be AF, particularly with the emphasis on Free. Love, Ladybird.

[Rusty]

Awesome August Abstainers ~ week 4

Hi Everybody,

Just a quick hello. I have been working and staying in Chicago and have been putting in long hours.

SD-thanks for taking time to read my post.:l

Chill-I'm happy for you that things are working out well for you and Mr. Suffolk.

A shout out to Rustop-where are you? I have missed your posts.

I read the most interesting article that was featured in the Chicago Sun-Times. Justine Fedak is the Senior VP of Marketing for BMO Harris Bank, and she has MS, and because of the medication she's on, she had to give up her nightly glass of red wine. It's a fascinating article because she gets so annoyed with people who cannot accept the fact that she just doesn't drink anymore. I was so intrigued with her story, and since we have on this thread, some true linguists and wordsmiths who appreciate good writing, Here is the link: http:www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/splash/14636607-418

Big hello to everyone else!

[FlyAway]

Awesome August Abstainers ~ week 4

Rusty your link didn't work for me, but I Googled the article. Let's see if this works:

Justine Fedak orders her water straight up, with new realization of what it means to say ‘no thanks’ -

[FlyAway]

Awesome August Abstainers ~ week 4

Thanks for the article Rusty. She says that when she was drinking she never realized the amount of peer pressure on those who didn't drink. She said that she's told more people in the 8 weeks she hasn't drank that she has MS than in the past 10 years because of the pressure. Funny how upset people get when you don't want to drink!

[Lavande]

Awesome August Abstainers ~ week 4

Got my execise in this mornng LBH
Have fun at your AF political event!

Hey Rusty, you are busy hyh? That's a good thing
I'm going to read that article as soon as I can turn my machines off & relax a little. Can't hear myself think at the moment.

Hi Fly Away, how's things with you??

[ladybirdheart]

Awesome August Abstainers ~ week 4

Thank you Rusty for the article, it cuts right to the heart of what it is like to be a ?part of things? where one attempts to be a non drinker at an event where alcohol is de rigor. After repeatedly declining, I was bullied into a glass of champagne a couple of years ago at a very fancy engagement party by my sister-in-law (the mother of the groom) who announced to the room that I was putting some sort of bad luck on the marriage. That drink didn?t send me back into what ailed me when I came here, but the whole scene made me aware of an idiotic level of adult ?peer pressure?. I have had a goofy day. After I received a certain health card in the mail reminding me of how old I really am (whimper), I responded (maturely) by heading at breakneck speed to the nearby Apple Store and coming home with the laptop of my dreams (dreaming is where I best can still view the ?retinal display? and finding actual use for the depth and breadth of its dispassionate brain). It is a fine thing I am really good with money in other areas, a factor blown wide open by simply just not drinking. I can?t believe what I spent on that stuff given that all I had to show for it most of the time was a case of huge, sad raccoon eyes. Now to get this political schmooze over with so I can OPEN THE BOX. Love, Ladybird.