Day 1 or 1000 all welcome on the tulips and snowdrops thread 🌷

[AFmammaG]

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/alcohol_support/4930949-tulips-snowdrops-and-another-day-1?page=40&reply=134961706

Ladies I’m making this new thread as we’ve gone up to 993 posts on the other thread and I need to link it before we fill up!

Will post a proper into later.

I’m in! Day 1 for me

Yes @Pippa246 thats the spirt! Hopefully we will have some company soon enough!

Hi! I'm currently on day 2. I have lurked on previous threads and managed to string together over 100 days AF last year. Then came Christmas and a few drinks to celebrate. Followed by a lot of stress and upset in the early months of the year and i quickly found myself back drinking a bottle of wine a day. So clearly moderation will never be an option for me. Anyway, i'm going to start off with an alcohol free May and see where i go from there. Reading these threads really helped me before, maybe joining in will be even better.

Thanks @AFmammaG
Checking in from previous April thread.
Day 39 here

Thank you @AFmammaG I’m still floating along, it’s good to keep the threads going. Day 93 for me. I couldn’t have done it without reading everyones stories. Keep up the good work everyone and good luck for May x

Checking in from the other thread also, thanks @AFmammaG 😊.

Day 128 for me. I'm going to a wedding on Saturday but at this point I feel ok about it.

Thank you @AFmammaG.

Marking my place.

Welcome to newcomers x

@mumsy2015@Manchestermummax3 & @Housebythesea1 welcome to the thread! I’m sure some of the oldies from the previous thread will be along soon.

I’m on day 32. Like a lot of others I joined the original thread when my drinking felt pretty bad, back in Aug 23. I wasn’t every day drinking but say 4 nights out of 7. So the frequency was a problem but I also found I was struggling to drink a normal amount. A bottle of wine never felt…. satisfying. I always wanted more, even if I managed to stop after a bottle I always wanted more. Sometimes I wouldn’t stop after a bottle, despite promising myself I would. I made rules that I broke. I set targets I failed to meet. It’s been a big learning curve.

I’ve made some really positive changes but there’s still work to be done. I managed a dry April, which was a huge achievement for me. I toyed with the idea of trying to moderate in May but as someone pointed out to me on here, I was so much happier in April and I’ve tired moderation so many times before without much success. So I’m here again for May. I have a few tricky social events in the diary but I’ve realised I need to be a bit selfish and put my sobriety first if I stand any chance of success.

Honestly, I wish us all so much luck. We can do it!!!

@TeeNoG & @SpringNotSprung welcome my friends, it’s nice to see you again.

@TeeNoG are you planning on staying dry at the wedding? Designated driver? 😉

It's been a tough week. My mother had a serious heart procedure to replace a faulty valve on Tuesday. It's all rather miraculous because they insert it through an artery in the groin. She was only in for one night but it was logistically difficult because they had to come up to London for it and step only drives locally nowadays so much driving and settling him into an hotel was involved. I got them settled at home at 5.30 last night and made them dinner. I am checked into a local hotel.

I have done a total of 24 hours over three days in step's company and have to bite my tongue at the racism and misogyny at every turn. If only every news item wasn't about Rwanda.

Needless to say, I am in bed at my hotel with a glass of Shiraz on the bedside table. Nobody was going to give me a gold medal!

Mother's fine. Looks better already as she was slipping into heart failure.

I am meeting my bestie from school for coffee in the morning, making them lunch, reminding them that I am 63 and not 6, and then I'll go home. Expecting the drive to be 2.5 to 3 hours as it's a Bank Holiday Friday.

Also have a couple of complex things going on at work so having an hotel nearby has been so helpful. The interjections over working while on annual leave and grumbles over the mess of my laptop and papers would have been maddening.

Happy Friday for tomorrow everyone.

In the circumstances above I make no apology for a one glass blip. I've got my nightie on and make-up off so no chance of slinking down to the bar for another one.

Checking in, was on previous thread. Day 241 for me. Hello all - new to the thread plus the old timers.

. 😞

I've been on the other thread.

It's actually day 365 for me today.

Having a glass of water to celebrate!

Whoop @GreatTheCat - that’s amazing! A big Ovaltine cheers from me!

@Bringonthesunforthewashing are you ok? Place marking, or feeling sad? Feel free to share, as you can read above, we are all at different stages here.

@SpringNotSprung you have done amazingly well and given that week I’m not surprised you are having a glass. In a way that’s what success looks like, isn’t it? Being able to have one glass, enjoy it and stop. I don’t know if I’ll ever get there so honestly, don’t let that glass make you feel bad. I hope your Mum continues to improve.

@GreatTheCat 🥳 well done! I can’t imagine how freeing that must feel. Congratulations on hitting that milestone.

Checking in from the April thread

Day 40 💪

High five 🖐️ @VanLife33your posts helped me to keep going last month, so happy to have you here.

Congratulations 🎉 👏 @GreatTheCat !

What are the biggest changes you've noticed? X

Hey thanks all.

My panic disorder has completely disappeared. Yes, totally gone... and the weight has totally fallen off me.

How are you all doing?

Morning all. Checking in, thanks @AFmammaG

Nice to see you again @Oopsdiditagain.

Day 33 and it’s Friday. Starting this thread came at just the right time for me. It’s funny how quickly those horrible hangovers become a distant memory, even after a relatively short dry period. The difference for me this time I think is that I can feel some real benefits.

@GreatTheCat that’s brilliant news about your panic disorder and weight loss. I haven’t lost any weight but my body shape is changing. At night, after a bottle of wine I could feel my heart racing. It scared me. That’s nearly gone completely and if I do feel it, it’s much less intense.

On the sober awkward podcast one of the ladies says she can remember feeling disappointed that there wasn’t anything found on her health check up because she felt she needed that push to quit. That really resonated with me because I remember thinking at times ‘just what is it going to take for me to stop’. There couldn’t have been any more reasons….

Best of luck today to everyone, I know how difficult Friday’s can be. Distraction has worked well for me, going for a walk, watching a film and putting down my phone or painting my nails. Failing all of that, cleaning teeth and early to bed! Whatever works!!!

Hi all, day 123 here. I had to look at my app and complete weeks of dry days to find out what number I am, so that is a good sign, I guess.
Well done @GreatTheCat on your year. Is that you dry for good, do you think?
Having completed 2 holidays/trips abroad without alcohol, I have the biggest challenge of sobriety so far coming up in the next couple of weeks… dry EUROVISION 😱

@PissPotPourri i'm so impressed you've got through 2 trips abroad sober. The last dry streak i managed i broke because it was Christmas. I never managed to get through any kind of 'celebration' without drinking. I think that's what i need to challenge myself to do. Only on day 3 so still white knuckling it at the moment. Well done to all of you with the big numbers of dry days. And good luck to everyone still at the start with me.

Thanks @AFmammaG for sorting the new thread!
CONNECTION IS THE OPPOSITE OF ADDICTION.

Some of you guys have got some really good stretches there so kudos to you, I am envious but also hopeful to get to triple figures myself. 1 year, @GreatTheCat, congratulations! Sounds like a great place to be.

Sorry to hear what you're going through @SpringNotSprung.

Joining in definitely helps @mumsy2015 . Well done on your 100 days previously, moderation absolutely gets me every single time too. I am terrified about holidays and christmas already. But, ODAAT! (One day at at time). Day 6 here so we can buddy up, all us early doors gang. What were the highlights from your 100 days?

Enjoy the wedding @TeeNoG .

Everything okay, @Bringonthesunforthewashing ?

I'm on Day 6 and feeling okay about the weekend. Especially after how terrible last weekend was... I was feeling quite happy in my decision yesterday and listened to 2 mega podcasts with 2 ladies whom I admire: Ruth Jones, and Unmumsy Mum, both talking (separately) about their sobriety. I felt good about my choice, strong, wanting to shout it from the rooftops!
This morning, after a bad dream, I feel angry and worried so badly about going away on holiday later this year. I know that I just need to keep to ODAAT and I'm trying to. It was such a vivid dream and I'm already worried about the holiday because one of his family members is coming and they treated us horribly last year. My OH is over it but I'm not & feel like I've been railroaded into this trip. Last night I dreamt that they were drinking buddies and I was Mary Frigging Poppins, getting the littler kids to bed, and if it is one thing I cannot deal with, it is REJECTION. Anyway, I know I need to not think about it but it will be a humongous trigger for me. See how my mind works, worrying about something that's months away. I WISH I knew how to live in the present and be calm and zen. I meditate, I try, just have such a noisy worried head.

Aloha! Thanks for the new thread @AFmammaG!

I am all about the drama today, or at least my dramatic failure as a woman to pump car tyres without getting a flat at the same time (I feel like a man would not have done this). Am off to the hospital for a v short op, which I mostly view as an opportunity for a lovely nap, then off away for the weekend.

I am on day 12 of this streak but with nearly 260 dry days overall since last August when we first kicked off. On the whole I am so much calmer, happier, more motivated and healthier. I have had lots of adventures since I started that yes, I might have done otherwise but with nowhere near the same level of enthusiasm and clarity. Work is less stressful too. Life is a lot quieter but actually, the preceding 5 years were awful so this is A Good Thing.

I love seeing lots of faces old and new and everyone at different stages has a lot to offer everyone else, so wishing you all lots of sober enthusiasm and encouragement where it’s needed (plus I’ll need it too!).