Stopping drinking for a while - part 2

[Patbutcherismyhero]

Hi all, a new thread as requested. Hope to see you all here shortly x

@Ihatebreakfast waves flipper madly , so good to know you are still around and that you have found us. . There's ( at the moment ) just us three penguins on here but there are lots of nice people going through the same issues we have had with the drink . I hope you get a chance to read this thread and is predecessor.
How are things with you, , obvs if you don't want to go in to detail I totally understand .
Welcome to the gang.

Ps you may remember me better by my previous name Sam Beckett
( the cider swilller )

Ah sambeckett, now I know who you are! Thank you for remembering me. Well, you all know what I was going through (and thank you all for your support). My DH passed away on 10 May. 4 months today, in fact. I had him at home with me for the last 3 weeks, which, given lockdown, was a blessing. It was tough, that's all I'll say. Some days the grief absolutely floors me. But, I keep going. So far as drinking goes, I haven't touched a drop for 3 months! Physically, I've never felt better. And I know that pouring booze on my head would have totally destroyed me in the circumstances. I actually paid a tonne of money (thousands) to join a 90- day quit drinking challenge and it was the best thing I have ever done. Really intensive, quite deep, but so, so valuable. So, I try to look forward. I hope all the 🐧 are well! You were such a support to me when I really needed it. ❤️❤️🙂🙂🙂xx

@Ihatebreakfast,
i am glad you remembered me now , I can't recall when I NC'ed.but i think it was towards the end of the last penguin thread we were on.

Oh god, I know you were expecting it but it must of been so hard when he died but as you say having him at home must if been a comfort but emotional draining too.
I am really glad you managed to stay AF , it could of been a very bad turning point and a long down hill slide for you if you had been drinking so very well done

You will always miss him but it does get easier , but even in years to come you will still get blindsided by a particular thought , song , phrase, smell. Don't fight the grief, it's part of what made you love him so much.

I did ( as you may remember ) turn to drink when my DH died and it was a struggle to regain control but with the help from some good friends and family irl I got through the practical side of things and could vent to some of them but on here I could really say what i was thinking without worrying who I would offend ( some of my family and so-called friends were shits )

It sounds like the money you spent was well worth it , would you mind sharing the details of the course / program you were on , others on here may find it useful. .

Huge penguiny hugs ❤❤❤

Hi everyone

That's so great that you've found each other off an old thread, welcome! I am so sorry for your loss @Ihatebreakfast, you sound incredibly strong to be coping how you are.

I'm so glad tomorrow is Friday! School has been very very busy and challenging this week. On the plus side Sid is walking nicely on the lead and being a superstar at work.

Hope things are okay @ErinBrockovich - Hi to everyone else, I'm afraid my brain is mush and that's all I can manage for now

@Ihatebreakfast - so so sad to hear of the death of your DH even though we knew that it was going to happen. It must have been so hard for you to finally say goodbye.

@AlCalavicci, that is a lovely post and from the heart I know.

I've lost some close family members over the years and can certainly agree that even though time dulls the memories, they are always with you and sometimes when you least expect it.

Very well done for staying sober.

How's everyone else doing? Felt knackered today after stressful return to work after holiday week but forced myself to go swimming and am now looking forward to evening installment of The Bridge.

It's all change in our house at the moment as DC1 is off to uni so am glad of saving some money on wine to spend on 3 years supply of pants, socks and facemasks - who knew that underwear could be so expensive

Good evening all I hope everyone is well .

You will of now realised that myself @cherrymix & @Ihatebreakfast were on a dry thread together last year along with about 20 other regulars and lots popping on and off , We started in January and I think it ran for around around July .
It was very much like this thread , no judgement, or criticising just been friendly and giving each other advice and support .
we refereed to ourselves as penguins , this is because we would stay in a big huddle and any that were struggling to stay AF would get shoved to the middle of the huddle and kept safe . We could apply for a pass which gave us permission to jump off the iceberg and go for a swim , this meant we were going for a planned drink , anyone that was on the 'berg would extend a flipper to help them back on the Berg when the swimmer was ready to come back.
I was very good through Jan and most of feb , but in May I spent more time swimming than I did on the berg
But I have just looked back at my app and realised I did 148 dry days from Jan to the end of june , which is longer than I realised,
I think I am up to about day 70 now so I have a while to go to beat my record , but to be honest I may well be going for a swim before I am near there .

If anyone would like to be come a penguin just raise you flipper

@Cherrymix ,
I hope work settles back down and you can find your rythm , the house will be quiete with out DC1 but you need to tell DC1 that undies are washable or you will get a pile of whiffy stuff back at the end of each semester

@ErinBrockovich How is your Dd doing ? I hope she is feeling better , do you know when you will receive the test yet ( I know you said it was confirmed it would be posed )

Day 25AF. Hi everyone, thanks for the check ins. The test came and we are just waiting for the results now. Sigh.
I have a night out tomorrow. Not sure yet whether I’ll go or whether I’ll drink. I’d love to and just enjoy a couple of glasses but I have the fear that I still can’t. Plus then I won’t hit my 30 day target.
Still mulling it over.

I did wonder what the penguin references were. Wondered if it was a famous historic thread!
Raising a flipper!

Just to clarify if we don’t get the result tomorrow, I won’t go (we are isolating as a household and DH only went out to post the test. Other then that none of us has left the house since Monday).

@Ihatebreakfast really sorry for your loss can’t imagine how hard things must have been for you.

Welcome @Ihatebreakfast, so sorry for your loss, hope this thread is helpful, lovely to have you join.

Fingers crossed for fast, negative results @ErinBrockovich. Hope you find decision that sits best with you.

Glad Sid is well @fluckityfluckfluck.

Thanks for explaining @AlCalavicci! Lovely analogy :)

@ErinBrockovich , >> flings a sardine over

Thanks for the encouragement all.
And for the Penguin backstory
Hanging on..29 days AF.
Heavier than ever, but that's life.
At least I have mastered the AF and added daily exercise.
Will tackle food issue next.

@ErinBrockovich you are so close to 30 days. Have a good weekend all

Morning all - happy weekend.

For the first time in a long time I was seriously tempted to have a bottle of wine last night. Work has been very stressful and yesterday I made a mistake that absolutely stressed me out. I could almost taste the wine driving home. But I didn't. I had enough dominos to feed a family and a couple of af beers walked Sid and went to bed with a hot water bottle. I then had a very real dream that was I drinking 

@ErinBrockovich did you get the rest result and manage to go out?

@NeedAUserNameAllTaken thank you! Your days must be racking up, where are you up to now?

@BooksMusicSnacks @cherrybakewellll @patbutcherismyhero how are you all doing?

Hi @fluckityfluckfluck! Well done not giving in! Sorry work is stressful, we all make mistakes hun hope next week is a calmer one. I has a dream I was drinking too last night. Am on day 60 now! Longest ever bar pregnancy, finding it's becoming normal now which is cool, drinking a lot of tea and pretty settled in it now.

How's everyone else? Hope everyone has a lovely weekend x

And thanks for checking in @fluckityfluckfluck, hope you have a lovely weekend x

Checking in. I’m back to day 1.
The results still aren’t back. We have the whole weekend indoors. All plans cancelled. Looks like my DC won’t be back in school Monday either.
I didn’t go out but I did have some wine. I’ll tell you what, I was suffering this morning. The hangover was so disproportionate! Felt awful.
I am going to try for the 30 day stint again. The 3 weeks I didn’t drink have been ups and downs but on the whole more positive.
Everyone else sounds like they are doing really well. Nice to hear.

Hi everyone sorry have had a crazy few days and haven't been online much. 3 days AF this week but have had a few drinks tonight. Next week I'm aiming for less. I'm very tired. As I've cut back I've noticed a few changes....before I was able to sleep better after a few drinks but lately my sleep is noticeably better on AF days.

Hope you're all well. Well done on sticking to your guns @fluckityfluckfluck and I hope things pick up for you next week @ErinBrockovich sounds like you've had a rough week. Try not to judge yourself too much on days complete, more on your altering mindset.

Hiya all, sorry for some reason this thread doesn’t appear on my app even if I search for it, so I’ve had to log on to the website old school stylee to find it!
I’m doing ok, managing to have more AF days than not, weeknight drinking doesn’t really happen although Fridays I have had some but definitely a lot less than previously.
Kids are back at school, husband back at the office and I am on the last 6 weeks of maternity leave before I go back. I work as admin in a very posh care home so weirdly looking forward to going back but obviously worried about Covid still.

Morning all ,
@fluckityfluckfluck ,
I hope the mistake at work was easily resolved well done for not giving in to the craving .
@ErinBrockovich ,
I was really hoping you had got the results back by now , lets hope you get them today. hopefully they will be negative and it will set you up for a good week .
@Patbutcherismyhero
I am glad you sleep is getting better , its hard not to think fuck it in the evening when you are tired because of the previous nights bad sleep .
@Cherrybakewellll
I have problems finding this thread sometimes too , I think MNHQ have got shares in gin and are worried if we all stay on here they will lose money
Just in case anyone else is having the same issues I will tag a few and see if that helps so are you out there . . . . .
@BoxAndKnife
@Cherrymix
@Ihatebreakfast
@Railingsohno
@BooksMusicSnacks
@Darcysshirt

I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm so fucking cranky I'm annoying myself. Feel like I'm hungover/dying for a drink. Day 89 or something - what the actual fuck is going on