DRY 13

[lilybetsy]

This is the thread for all those who are living, or committed to living, life free from alcohol.

I will quote a sober poster "I'm fitter, slimmer, richer, happier & healthier"

Go sober warriors !

Thanks Cooee :)
Lily You already have the new Seedlip! Wow that was fast Hope it tastes better second time round? I'd steer well clear of a re-union!

lily I agree with Lucy. I would give the reunion thing a miss. Why put yourself through it if you don't have to. My Botonique arrived and we tried it yesterday. I am disappointed because it has a strong aniseed flavour. Did you try it yet ? Perhaps Lucy's idea of having it with something like a curry is a good idea.

That 100 days is so close now,

Lucy I think it will be the same blog. I have stopped following now. I feel reassured that you found it hard too. You are always so calm and wise.

cooee I hope you feel better tomorrow. As you say at least you know it's not self inflicted.

This has been such a difficult holiday. Last night party. What else can I say other than I am in bed

Thanks vxa :) Rubbernecking car-crashes is not my thing and that's how reading that blog now feels to me :(
Matron bloody well done - you deserve a sober halo, a star and a sober warrior roar for not only surviving but making progress during this holiday!

Good morning. Off to my sister's today - my whole family will be there which is usually a massive trigger, but not when I am driving there and back. So I'll be ok today.

I can remember when I was little my sister used to worry about my dad drinking at family dinners and driving us all home. She was sure it was too much, he said he was watching it and he was fine. He would never do that now (drink at all and drive) - how times have changed.

Hope you are ok Matron and I hope an early night did you good.

vxa - I won't be trying the Botonique as I don't really like aniseed - good tip.

Morning all . I have been to Pilates this morning, and now having a quick catch up with my threads !

I quite likes the boutonique - and I hate aniseed - this may be because I have a heavy cold and can't taste much !! Hence the disappointment with seedlip 2 - even seedlip 1 didn't do much for me on Thursday ! Slept like the dead Thursday and Friday night so hopefully on the mend soon.

I've never really followed that blog -although I read it several times. I know exactly what you mean. It's very painful and rather too close to what "might have been" to be easy reading. I really hope she can achieve her goal, but I know that I can't help. Without being too specific, I have patients in similar (and worse) predicaments, and whilst I believe it's important that I 'care' what happens to them (- and I do, always have) it's also important to keep professional barriers in place and not get over involved.

I am meeting two women who I got on very well with at school, for tea this afternoon. This is a good compromise. I like them, they are 'gentle', or they were 30 years ago ! And kind. I'm looking forward to seeing them. Tea is safe and two people is much more my thing than a big group. I will give the reunion party a miss. One of the men - he's a horse breeder I think, has put £1000 behind the bar . Shudder . Free booze, lots of people I don't know, some difficult memories - a recipe for disaster !

Had a drinking dream last night , and was so gutted when I thought it was real ...

Safe trip home matron I hope you have some time to reflect on this experience ... You have done brilliantly ! 🎉🎉🎉🍫🍰

howbad take care today - I know what you mean about being " safe" because you are driving - but be careful all the same that you do t get distressed and feel like drinking when you gethome xx

lucy I'll be interested n your thoughts on new seed lip. Do you have anything ofcelebration planned for 1000 days ? That is truly fantastic. You should mark it in some way?

Bit of a ramble post today. Hi to everyone else I haven't name checked . Have a great day xxx

Lily 🌷 X

Lily we have booked a month's holiday in Australia in August with the £10K we have saved from not drinking as our big sober treat but maybe we should invest in a bottle of the new Seedlip for a smaller one at the time. DH hits his 1000 days on the 11th and me on the 16th Can't bloody believe I've almost made it to 1000 days - doesn't seem real and when out running this morning got quite tearful about it all. Happy TSP tears
Afternoon tea with two sounds like the perfect compromise and yes £1k behind the bar shudder indeed!
Howbad hope it goes ok and agree with Lily - line up a sober treat for when you get back

Oops peaking prematurely there - mine is the 17th!!

That's amazing Lucy - 1,000 days! That's amazing, the amount you've saved and well done on treating yourself to a holiday - you've earnt it and I'm sure it will be amazing.

Hi Lily - well done on the Pilates - I missed one day of Yoga camp with my stupid cold, but have powered on and completed day 14 this morning. I'm also on day 19 AF.

Lily - are there current blogs that are worth reading?

good luck with familiy today Howbad

waves to everyone else - Mary - you still with us?

Thanks finnish :)

Mine is here

alcoholfree2016.wordpress.com

It's very short and quite boring. My favourite is mummywasasecretdrinker and this I was directed too...

Less of the boring Lily. Know that by choosing to share your voice out in the soberverse you are helping someone :) Welcome aboard! Oh and PS you have another comment

Mine is http://sothisissober.com

lucy congrats on 1000 days and what a great way to celebrate!

lily good compromise hope you enjoyed your tea!

I'm getting ready for my 10k in the morning. Really enjoying this sober weekend. Activity with the kids this morning that I really enjoyed without a fuzzy head.

vxa Hoorah! Another sober blogger comes out of hiding Off to read it now

Thanks efc :)
Hope you have a great 10K tomorrow morning!

vxa I just read your blog for 19th May - this is for you and I'm sorry it's not glittery or sticky :)

Thank you Lucy

vxa thanks for the link really enjoying your blog!

lucy thank you!

Hi Lily - thanks for the link - I really liked your train post - makes a lot of sense to me.

Glad to know that the thinking about drinking slows down too - the other day I really really wanted to drink beer on the way to collect my daughter from school - despite the fact that I hate beer, and never drank before 7 pm - but I saw an advert for beer and suddenly really craved it! - crazy shit.

vxa - will read all of your blog later, but like Lucy am sending you virtual stickers!

Last night was my first party sober - was surprisingly nice, I realise that not all of my friends are big drinkers -- half the party was getting totally drunk, the other half sat and had gentle conversations - was nice to sit on the other side and just enjoy myself without alcohol.

day 21 today - three weeks! Woo. Not feeling the urge to start again like I was when I did dry jan - I am finding that the decision to stop drinking has removed a lot of the hassle of 'should I shouldn't I'

KOKO

Morning everyone.

I went to the reunion in the end. I had a nice coffee and cake earlier in the afternoon and then thought , why not ! I felt brave because I had one friend there, and very confident that I wouldn't drink. And it was fine. I'm sort of glad I did it - not so much for the people although it was ice to catch up with some - but because it proved to me that I can trust myself - if I feel ok, and confident, the I will be ok. If not, I don't go ...

Hope everyone else is ok :-)

It's a great feeling to have people look at your blog ! Thank you Lucy and anyone else who popped in.

Lily 🌷

Well done lily on the reunion!

It was nice to see my family yesterday. But a couple of things stuck out to me - having been talking to Matron about how it can sometimes be convenient for some people to have a useful loser around.

I told my family that an old school friend, who my whole family knew well when I was younger, who used to be really quite big and very anti-sport - ran a Marathon. My dad said "oh, that's a big achievement" and my sister sort of sniffed and said "I bet her knees are rickety now." My sister is very diet and weight obsessed, I think she has a form of orthorexia, and I think that this person has stepped out of her usefulness (to my sister) by getting off her arse and running further than my sister can walk - hence the sniffy comments.

at another point I had my phone out and said "would you like to see a picture of [cousin] in [famous beautiful city]?" My parents said "oh, yes please" and my sister did that sort of sniffy thing again and said "not really". My cousin is very slim and beautiful and successful and was on holiday with in a violently expensive city that my sister has never been to and perhaps will never be able to afford to. And she can't even look at a picture of someone else there.

there were a couple of other things, all very boring to recount but I can imagine that if I wasn't there and someone like [cousin] happened to be catching up with my sister one day in the future and said "Oh I saw howbad the other day. She looks fantastic, she doesn't drink, she is so busy with [hobby] and [hobby] and is planning a trip to [expensive exciting place]" I can just see my sister sniffing and finding something snotty to say about that.

Ouch howbad your sister sounds like she has some "Ishoos" ... Does she feel very jealous of others ? Does she have low self esteem ? Is she unhappy ?

Funny what you notice when you are sober !

Well done finnish for your sober party - I agree many people drink responsibly - and just a little , just sometimes. I was never like that, and I could never be ..

efc I hope your run went well - you had a beautiful day for it - hope it wasn't too hot .. :-)

oh yes efc! I'd forgotten about your 10k - hope it went well

howbad - your poor sister - it must be awful to feel you have to measure yourself against everyone, and then either feel great (i'm better) or awful (I'm worse)

I'm not excusing her behaviour, and I know it must be really hard to be on the other side of it, but it sounds like she's in an awful place.

Lily - that's brill that you went to the reunion - and that you kept your options open so that you only went when you felt it was the right thing to do for yourself...