Its almost lunchtime here on a delightful AF sober Friday ? sunny blue sky from my window. As you can see I am in a chirpybird mood ? as I should be after a year?s sobriety. Thanks guys for your lovely wishes and for all your support. Thanks also to the much-missed Kuya who was a rock for me in the early days ? and also a fellow down-underite.
Mick- I shared my year?s AF with my daughter and partner and hugs were forthcoming! I also told a few friends but its not something I feel like swinging from the chandeliers over.
It looks like there are lots of others here who are also adding up the AF days. Bear ? great that you are getting into the 20s (I meant AF days ? not your age!:H) and SF ? you are well on the way to your first year. Good advice Bear from Mick about management ? of course we also have to work within the rules that our different workplaces have.
Pauly ?oh your words were so sweet. I hope I can help you over your year ahead. Did you eat any of that toxic chicken? I do hope not.
AFM ? sending you lots of warm vibes :h and I really really hope that the scan delivers better news than what you mentioned.
Gidday Chrysa ? welcome to our thread. It may take a while to get used to our ?cosmopolitan? ways :H? Sam with his farm manure, Lav with her chicken poop, Mick with his bunny droppings ? now you get the picture?
PPQP and Cinders ? any 'you' time for the weekend planned? Apart from chores that is?
Yah ? ignore Mick and his asides about swinging. Us sophisticated people here know what you mean! Wow ? what a family soap ? sad, that its real. Thanks for your support (and from others) about my daughter. I won?t go into the details of our high school system here for Lav ? but basically it means that internal and external assessment count over 3 years for the kind of certificate you end up with on leaving school. My girl is doing art as one of her subjects and the whole year?s assessment is based on a portfolio ? due next Monday. Then in 2 weeks time she faces a week of external exams for her other subjects. Today she has the day off and is spending the day in town with her close girlfriends. I have to say ? I love seeing the warm side to the close friendship of teenage girls.
Bear ? you asked how life feels one year after quitting the poison. To be honest ? in my case, its not been a radical shift ? as I was very productive, think I was a loving Mum and partner, tried to be kind to others, and had several achievements and good things going on before I quit. But AL was draining me away - and it was doing my health in. I spent around 7 months in 2012 building up for the quit ? and that was f__king exhausting. I hated it. I kept stopping and starting - saying, 'when i do this or read this -I will stop'. I am sooo glad to now not have to see drs, counsellors, support groups, try AA, read self help books, take supplements, have liver scans ? and to not have to face the ?witching hour? ? and dread an evening without AL. I have much much more time, I sleep better, my liver functions are normal, I have lost weight ? I feel as if I have added decades to my life (but who knows ? the proverbial bus might hit me). I no longer take a SSRI anti-depressant. But I have also had a very demanding year at work and as you all know a challenging partner and I get worried about my teenage girl. Sadness and anxiety are still part of my life ? and I will probably always be neurotic, a bit over-controlling in some areas ? and those damned wrinkles just won?t go away. I can't wear skirts above my knees as my legs just look - old. Life goes on ? and quitting AL is not a mind-blasting revelation for me ? I was not expecting that. I am still a work in progress - and part of that progress for me is thinking through about life, mortality and our humanity.
Well you asked and I can be loquacious!
Gidday also to Det, Blondie - bet I missed someone today but if I did so I will catch up soon enough. You have a great Friday when it hits you
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