Staying DRY

[MrsSippie]

This is a continuation of the last thread DRY We are all doing our best to abstain completely from alcohol.

Today is good enough, Tabard!

Hi Tabard
Hope you're having a good night

Thanks rachael, things are good.

Hope you are having a nice evening too

hi all, hope all well, and having a good day.
on my 200th sober day today, feeling positive

to those just starting out stay strong, the benefits of sobriety are huge. no guilt ridden, head hung low, begging forgiveness.
feeling and looking healthy, eating like a horse.
no planning to make sure you have enough drink in, blimey I'd nearly forgotten how much hard work it was when I was drinking
you are all doing fantastically well, from those on day 1 and 2 to those into weeks, months, years.
off to AA later, keeping close to my enemy alcohol, not gonna let the bastard take me down again

200 days, blimey! That's amazing, well done you.

I am dying of the bloody plague (OK, a bad cold and dodgy sinuses) and am off work, which is a terrible temptation to drink, to be honest. I am starting to hear the voice of 'oh, but you're doing so well, you deserve a drink, I bet this time things will be different' in the back of my head. But I'm staying strong, because apart from the illness, I feel really really good.

Just worked out I'm on day 148 .

Having a bit of a blergh day - just work stuff really. Doing that 'Is this it?' thing. I do like my job but it's a constant strain of making sure we have enough funding (charity), keeping on top of staff worries about their jobs and hours, fitting so much into part time hours - we have the equivalent of 2.2 full time staff to run a fairly busy charity and I do the most hours at 30 a week!

However, moaning aside , all ok. I am running tonight - I need to, had such a busy weekend that we were all shattered yesterday evening !

I agree though, it's important to keep the benefits in my head - no guilt, no physical aches, wanting to eat proper food (mostly...!). Still feeling a bit rubbish about the diaries but saw dd yesterday and she was lovely and brilliant and gorgeous and all round wonderful, so I must have done a reasonable job in the end :(.

Have a great start to the week everyone.

Tabard - welcome how are you doing???

Wow I'm glad you are all so utterly sober that is amazing I bet you are so proud of yourselves and so you should be.

I am feeling a bit twitchy, and obviously thinking about having a drink fairly constantly. I have told DH not to buy any if I asked him to / not to pre-empt it and worked at home today so no walking past the offy. Going to have a nice dinner and some posh coffee afterwards and then go straight to bed. (I never drink in bed so once I'm in, the urge will pass I think!).

From past experience I know that my difficulty is that after a day or two without I feel so proud of myself that I reward myself with a drink and also after a day or 2 whatever it was that made me think right I need to stop has magically gone from my memory.

Having been this way for 20 years though, I know how it goes and where I'm at and this time it just needs doing full stop the end.

Thank you all for your lovely support

tabard, sounds like you have the right mind set to stick this out. knowing your weak points and times.
just back from AA meeting and feeling my gratitude pot is back full.
A couple of people back from drinking again, some positive shares. does me good to stay close to alcoholics, keeps me thinking straight.
hopefully we're all going to bed tonight sober, we can't ask for any more than that today, any of us, tomorrows another day

Glad you had a positive meeting. It must be nice to talk to people in the same boat, remember why it is so important to keep at it. There is one around the corner from my work and I think it might be good to do that but it's a big step and I'm not sure. Maybe see how I go and keep it in mind

One day at a time right. Allen Carr to read on the train tomorrow. Bed now

Hi NiceTabard. I think we've all done the reward thing. Glad to hear you are getting through the day ok. Early nights were a lifesaver for me at the start.

That's fantastic on your 200 days sober staying dry. Well done you! You too Sippie. I would have been a mere day behind you if I hadn't of f-ed it up but I've just counted and I'm none too disappointed in 84 days (and 44 days off the smokes too.)

Been thinking a lot about stuff. About when my drinking started getting really heavy rather than just the excessive switch every now and again. About how if you could change that could I go back to drinking to a certain extent again or once that ship has sailed is that it? I think it is but just mulling a lot over in my head. It reminds me of in that Augusten Borroughs book when he says he can't drink ever again as he realises he's crammed a lifetime of moderate drinking into a decade :)

Besides the pondering I'm feeling extremely happy and content, enjoying just living in the moment for a change and spending precious time with the dc.

MrsS, you did so well resisting that call the other day. Your bloody mother. I mean, sorry. Can I say that? I like your change of attitude though - drinking will make her feel like she's won, so no drinking!

Morrigu, I think everybody toys with the idea of being 'fixed' and able to go back to moderation. But I know absolutely nobody who has ever managed it for more than a month or two. Nobody, ever.

Hi guys. Absolutely, Tortoise. Depressing, but true. None of us can go back to being normal drinkers. Ever. Maybe we can kid ourselves by white knuckling it for a few days/weeks, but it always ends the same way….

I need to get to a meeting as haven't for over a week and always start getting twitchy when I leave it that long. Have had issues with my dad and kids and exams (my excuses!), but will sort something today or tomorrow. Always find my head calms down and things fall back into perspective when I do get to a meeting.

2 years and 43 days sober today (says she, checking the app on my phone). Feels bloody good. Have just had to deal with a really tough situation with an old friend who needed to be cut out of my life. Long story - but had just become toxic and not good for our family. Incredibly hard, though, given long history. The whole process has been eating me up for weeks, but I know I wouldn't have been able to even think of it face on if I'd been drinking.

Hope everyone is doing ok on this horrid rainy Day. Tabard, are you feeling ok?

BeristadHi all. Back to day 2 here. But feeling positive as I should be able to get to a meeting tomorrow. Need to think about how to handle weekends. Maybe plug into soberistas or something on my phone. Need this towork now. Had enough. Need a new life.
Thinking about work and if it is good or bad and if there is anything u could change.

Sorry terrible phone typing!

Good morning all. Thanks for the kind words tortoise Please do say bloody mother. I say rather worse on a regular basis .

On a positive note, ran 4 miles without stopping last night (usually, I find myself walking a bit!) very pleased about that.

Not raining here (yet..).

I hope everyone has a good day - will be back later as am at work now :(

morning all.

Have had wibbles this weekend and have not coped as well as Mrs!

Day 3 today. One advantage is that the wibbles reminded me of how deeply I hate drinking. I used minor hiccups in my life to be an excuse for 'just one'. I thought to myself this morning; 'There may always be excuses for drinking, but there will always be reasons not to'.

Re-reading Jason Vale.

Plan to go to bed early.

Oh no, back to day 1 I mean. But 3rd Day in living memory that it will be alcohol-free. :)

It's really bloody hard - and probably always will be, that's why I am so grateful to have found running.

Well - have told my mum, it involved saying the words 'I'm an alcoholic' which was much harder than I thought, have got by before today by saying 'I drink too much'
Feel better for it, as I suspected, she knew. And bless her, said she didn't nag because my stubbornness would have made me dig my heels in! She's being wonderfully supportive.

Nochips - hope you're feeling good today. I've done this before, wobbled, wibbled and had to start again. It's so difficult not to go back to the thing we think has helped in the past. X

Just checking in. Not much to report. It's all pretty quiet here. Just getting on with life and really enjoying it. Started exercising regularly and thinking more about what I eat so I'm feeling pretty healthy.

Day 23. Haven't really had any tricky situations (pub etc) so I haven't faced any real temptation yet. I'm like a hermit. No social life and lots of early nights. More testing times to come in the next couple of months but I'm feeling strong. Not drinking is easy; it's explaining it and not folding under pressure that I'm worried about. Anyway, one day at a time.

Whoever recommended Dry, thank you. Loved reading it. What a great film it would make.

Sending waves of AF solidarity to you all.

Dry is one of the funniest books ever!

My dad, who has been an alcoholic all my life is dying, and so I've been drawn to this thread recently. I've read it and your struggles to stay dry and I guess I just wanted to applaud you all for having the strength, the desire, the will, just the something to want to change, as my dad never did. Its too late for him now and he missed out on so much of my life and never really knew his grandchildren at all. He asks me whether he was a good father, and to comfort him I tell him he was, but we both know that that's not the truth.

As the child of an alcoholic, its easy to be preachy but having been in therapy myself for the last 7 years, I know how hard it is to confront your demons (metaphorically speaking). So I just wanted to add my voice that on the days where you are wavering and its tough, I think that day does matter, you're making the right choice, stick with it and don't let life pass you by.

I hope this helps, maybe it is totally misplaced, I don't know but I can't see my dad die without thinking that I have to find something positive out of it.

Hello there.

Copenhagenmum that was a really nice post and not misplaced at all IMO

Hello everyone else it sounds like everyone is fighting the good fight to me

Day 3 here, which is the first day 3 in about 20 years bar when I've been pregnant. Feeling OK. When I start freaking out by thinking too far ahead (eg more than the next few hours) I back myself down and think no that's not now, now is now and I'm not having a drink, no point in thinking ahead. Managed to walk past the offy, put my walkman on and looked the other way. Got a nice supper and then early night. Am feeling rather short-tempered. Still, so far so good and still feeling determined.

It was a lovely post - I'm sorry about your dad - it must be hard for you, you must feel so angry that you missed that relationship and now it's too late. My own father died in a drunken road accident when I was two and I have always been informed by my mother that he was an alcoholic so it was never a surprise to her that I am too (it gets better with each tale I tell about her eh? ).

You're doing great tabard, the first few days are hard but you will feel better with each day, physically and mentally. I have, in a bonkers fashion, set my alarm for 6 and put my running clothes out... It remains to be seen if I do get out at that silly time but it's yet another goal!

Sleep well everyone x

Checking in everyone! Still sober, still married:) doing well! Thank you so much Copenhagen. Sorry about your dad but you've given me a lot to think about.