11 weeks sober today!

[TJ]

Does it get easier? Well I figure it would be harder if I drank again. Eleven weeks today, not much luck finding a good AA group. I did 4 weeks at a rehab center in the mountains of Colorado. About lost my wife and kids because of my selfish attitude. Thought I'd find something new and searched the web and found this site. Love the threads, feels very positive. I wish all the best of luck, glad to be here.

"I will not drink today"

Tj:new:

[one2many]

11 weeks sober today!

Hi there TJ and a big welcome to you.

11 weeks is a great achievement...keep reading, keep posting and let us know how you are getting on.

A good idea is to join a thread and post daily..it gives you accountability and also you get to know people and can join in on thier daily triumhs and struggles and also share your own.

A few good threads off the top of my head are

Newbies Nest
Army Thread
The Journey Starts Here
ODAT thread.


Feel free to join in.

Welcome again.

[TJ]

11 weeks sober today!

My own creation

Thanks for the open door. Hmmm, my story? So similar to so many I'm sure but why not, here we go. I'm 42 and have been a pretty consistant drinker since I was 14. Military grunt in the Army only introduced me to more mind altering stuff. being a ski bum and going to Alaska in the summers for four years didn't help my organs any either. I met my wife when she picked me up hitch hiking at the resort I worked at.........we are still together, 20 years this november. how she ever put up with me i will never understand and I was told to give up on trying and just be grateful that she must really love me. i won't get into what I used and when or how long, we called those WAR stories in rehab and I agree, it's not a competition. I quit once to save my job using an out-patient program but i only had one foot in the batters box because in the back of my mind I knew I would drink again. I made the mistake of saying I would quit for a year, and that I did. It' didn't take long for me to get right back to where I was with drinking (my drug of choice). I lost 6 people that were important to me in my life and didn't know how to deal with it, oh I did, I drank and I never stopped. That rehab was in 07, a week after Mothers Day. That was all pre-07. 2008 I was hiding my drinking, throwing emptie bottles in the attic of the garage, under the shed, stopping by the car wash to dump the empties. Oh I had my excuses, my back hurt, I was having four disks fused, actually vertebre because there were no disc's left. Drinking took all the pain away. Had the fusion, started exercising, played hockey 6 months after surgery and shocked everyone. Winter of 09, hockey's going great but I drank everyday and I would shake every morning. It was ok though because my doc had me on XANAX and it would get me through the day. Oh, I loved prescription pills to. November of 09 my father fell ill so I moved him back home from Kansas into an assisted living. He knew and I knew it was going to be his last Christmas to spend with my sisters and the grandkids. he had COPD, Liver failure amongst other things I still can't spell. March Dad takes a turn for the worse with his health as I had taken a turn for the worse with my drinking since Christmas. I was drinking and driving, I made sure I had something in my jeep for the ride home and if not the first place I went was the liquor store. Lost my father March 28th.......three days after his birthday. I just drank, fought with my sisters and drank more. now I was drinking before work. Ironically enough, the week following Mothers Day was my worst, couldn't pick the kids up from school, kicked off the hockey team and for that last week I just hid in the basement and drank everything from wine, beer to booze.

I had a phone call from my wife that she sent me an email I should read. I opened it and it was a list of rehab centers that you check into, not the out-patient stuff and a little note at the end of the list:

I love you and I always will but if you do not do something about the alcohol, I will take the girls and myself out of your life. You are scaring me and the kids.

That was enough for me! I cried for the rest of the day but didn't stop drinking. I knew if I stopped right away I could have a seizure so for two days I tappered down, and yse when I say tapper down I mean to just a 12 pack for my last day of drinking. That was on a Thursday and on Friday my wife dropped the kids off at school and followed me to the rehab center. When she left I felt the most empty feeling I ever have in my life.

I will add my experience during rehab at some other time.

I'm really happy to have found this site.

Tj

[tlrgs]

11 weeks sober today!

aesome job and thankx for sharing .. keep up the great work it does get so much easier

[Tabbers (a.k.a. KTAB)]

11 weeks sober today!

Hello TJ and welcome, I am glad you found us, this place is amazing. Well done on you 11 weeks thats great. Do look around, read the threads and post where ever you feel comfortable. I am sure you will be welcomed. Do you have a plan of action in place to keep sober?
Keep safe
KTAB

[TJ]

11 weeks sober today!

Thanks KTAB,

I'm really inspired by reading the posts and surfing the threads. Plan of action is still a work in progress but this has been a great comfort to know that I can log on anytime. I have a temp sponsor but have yet to find my AA group that fits what I'm looking for. I'm lucky in the fact that the program I went to offers Aftercare 3 times a week for life as long as I'm sober and the ten dollar Prime Rib dinners they offer on Saturday nights (again for life), is well worth the 2 Hr drive.

I am taking a different approach this time with telling myself that I will never get past the first step. I start the day telling myself that "I am powerless over it and my life had had become unmanagable." Without that.....my day just would not be complete.

Tj

[Guitarista]

11 weeks sober today!

Great going Tj, and welcome!

The 'Toolbox' thread in 'monthly abstinence' section is a very useful read, with lot's of tip's/info/strategies to help us stay off the sauce.

Best wishes, G.

[Tabbers (a.k.a. KTAB)]

11 weeks sober today!

Powerless but not hopeless. One of the beauties of MWO is the fact that there are members from all over the world so always someone here 24/7. Maybe consider downloading the book. There is some good stuff in there. The point is we take from it what works for us, read lots of posts and modify as we go along till we get it right.

[Doggygirl]

11 weeks sober today!

Hi TJ. So glad that you took the steps you did to stop the insanity before losing your wife and kids. Congratulations on 11 weeks sober! That rocks.

This is a great site. I started my journey to sobriety here, and daily check ins here are still an important part of my plan. I started going to AA as well about 8 months into my sobriety. I encountered some others here who also were going to AA, and they had something I wanted. I personally like the combination of 24X7 support here (and of course I adore the friends I have made!) and also the face to face support and spiritual healing I have found in AA. I can relate to your comments about finding a group that is a good fit though. I have been fortunate in that regard.

I think the important thing is to be willing to do whatever it takes to get and stay sober. Sounds like you are there. Those $10 steaks sound good.

There is a weekly AA thread (you don't have to be actively going to AA or even know about AA to post there!) and also a Daily AF thread in the Monthly Abstinence section of the forum. Might want to see if either / both of those are a fit for you.

:welcome:

DG