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 !

Lucy wow you inspirational thing, you.

Also to vxa and anyone else who needs them.

Things for the garden make great sober treats. Am in my garden (OK, wearing a jumper. It's an English June) and enjoying my planters.

Have lost count of days but it's 5 1/2 months and definitely starting not to even think about drinking for long stretches now. Also motivational is that my batty neighbour tells me am looking much thinner :) oh, it is the race for life training, I say, ignoring the rest.

Lovely to read everyone's posts. Such a supportive place.

Evening everyone

lucy congratulations! sybil congrats to you also 5 1/2 months is wicked.

I'm struggling bit tonight got a bit overwhelmed thinking about coping with events sober- know I shouldn't panic about the future but it's hard. Need to just sort today!

I have another 10k on Sunday it's a race through the Mersey tunnel which may or may not be fun. For me that and early morning weekend yoga are my sober treats, plus some m & ms might fall into my Tesco shop tonight!

lucy awesome well done on 1000 and thank you SO much for being with us, being the voice of sanity and showing the way. Had works 'do' last night, took my own Becks Blue and the restaurant even chilled it for me !!! Eccentric, moi?!! So brilliant to remember all the conversation and know I didn't make a tit of self this time.

Lucy I have to really echo what Absolute says. The whole 2 plus years I have been on this thread your posts have served to help me immeasurably. I find them calming and anchoring. And I love your blog. :)

Vxa I caught up with your blog too! Really enjoying it also. Love sober blogs. i do not quite have the nerve to do my own, but I have started journalling.

I came across this blog post by unpickled today.

unpickledblog.com/2016/06/17/its-not-your-fault/

It really spoke to me. The bit that really resonated was about how alcohol creeps up on you, and alters your self perception.

Hope everyone is fine today, have a LOVELY weekend. KOKO

Thanks everyone for your support yesterday. I filled my evening by going to the gym and watching Sewing Bee with dd2. Lots of lime and elderflower and a bit of chocolate. NO WINE.

Going out for the day to the Three Counties Show. Last year I had a massive hangover and struggled through the day thinking about when I could have a drink. This year I'm going to enjoy it.

Glad you like my blog slim. I find writing it therapeutic and it's also a good discipline. I would never ever have done that when I was drinking. Journalling is great. It helps to have something to look back at to see how far you've come and to remind yourself that when things are hard you will get through.

Love you all you wonderful ladies xxxx

vxa Happy to hear that last night was a sober success and enjoy the show today :)
Thank you again ladies and it's interesting that you describe my posts as calming and anchoring - must be my counselling training embedding itself but I'm so happy to hear that feedback
Off to my first sober wedding today bracing myself somewhat

Good luck iwth the sober wedding Lucy!

HAve a lovely time VXA

Can I come back? stopped drinking for 6 weeks a while back with support from on here. Felt very low and (bored) and relapsed. In bed with yet another hangover. Been vomiting all day (some blood too). So fed up with this cycle. Want to try again but so scared that I can't do it. I want to try again.

Hello yellowfloss I remember you and welcome back.

Take care of yourself today - it's your shiny, new Day 1 - and you CAN do this.

yellowfloss aw that sounds horrible. Are you okay? Might a drip to the Dr be in order just to check things out? Blood doesn't sound good. You're worth some pampering today and tomorrow, no matter how much you drank last night.

Today is my day 12. I am slightly dumbfounded that I have got this far, though I am still finding it tricky and not had a proper social event or stressful day to deal with as yet. Just trying to keep things as calm and as low key as possible until this beds in. But I am really pleased I have got it together so far.

Still - feeling a bit blue and lethargic and unmotivated. I don't know if that's a PAWS thing, or a general thing, or a psychological thing (I still feel a bit grumpy now and again - like a kid who has had her toys taken away) or a combination of everything, but I am finding that tricky and some work tasks have piled up this week that I will need to do tonight and tomorrow.

Still, it would be worse to feel like this AND be slightly hung over, which less than two weeks ago, I would have been.

Anyone got any self motivation tips?

Hi yellowfloss, welcome back xx!

Self motivation tips? I don't know really, if I'm honest most of my motivation has come from NOT wanting to be drunk / drinking / hungover ...
There is a bit of "I do want to be sober" sometimes, this is mostly related to wanting to be well enough to do something tomorrow ...... Would that help?

Playing the tape forward is the best tip I found here - honestly thinking through what will happen for us people who don't moderate - the reality of the hangover, the wasted day, the problems piling up while you feel rubbish.

yellowfloss and one some for you. Yellow - I did one dry month last October then fell back in bad habits before starting again and in a weird way it's actually been a positive thing because it let me see just how much better af life is. Slips happen, we accept it, we go on.

My best motivation has to be how much better I feel both mentally and physically. It didn't happen at once but the big pluses are more even mood, coping better with stresses and better sleep. Sober mummy's blog is brilliant for describing this - honest, insightful and funny. Would recommend that to help.

happy Saturday to all the sober warriors :)

Oh arse, I thought I'd posted yesterday to wish Lucy a very happy 1000 days, but it must have failed to post

Anyway, it went something like:

CONGRATULATIONS LUCY - 1000 DAYS!!!

Thank you so much for showing us all what is possible, here and on your wonderful blog. You should feel so proud - enjoy!!

Love to all sober warriors tonight xx

Evening everyone!

Drinking tea here. Spent most of the day at a local farm- the type that has been made into an activity centre for kids. First time I'd been without a hangover and I enjoyed it so much. Stayed for hours with no rush to leave for wine o'clock. I have definitely been a much better mum these last few weeks.

Welcome to everyone joining us- it's tough but so worth it! I'm finding lots of strength from The Bubble Hour podcasts.

Welcome yellow hope you're tucked up in bed at the end of day 1 :)
Well just had to post after besting another couple of sober firsts. First sober wedding with sober dancing!! Was really socially anxious at the beginning particularly when I saw that post ceremony the plan was prosecco and pints for the next 90 mins ... It was really cold so took the opportunity to drive home (only 10 mins away) pick up coats for everyone and have a cup of tea and piece of chocolate before driving back. By then most of that time had gone and we were soon sitting down to eat. After that the rest went smoothly including throwing sober shapes and watching others get increasingly worse for wear. Drank tea and ate cake and then took my DD home and DH and DS stayed on. Lovely day and feel very TSP Thank you Fuzzy too :)

Sober dancing Lucy wow! That's one thing I always struggled with, sober or not! Great to hear that sober firsts are still coming, and still satisfying. Sleep well (I bet you will!!) x

Hi yellow welcome! I remeber you. :) I hope you had a very good sleep. You might feel wobbly and low today. Just take it really easy and rest and don't beat yourself up.

Lucy the wedding sounds great! The 90 minute pause would have been Hell. On. Earth. for me, so glad you could pop home and chill a bit. That sounds lovely!

lily huge huge congratulations on 100 days. A real inspiration. Not only sober but wise, compassionate, witty and incredibly strong. Enjoy today Lily.

XXXX

Morning all, hope you are feeling better today yellow (perhaps a visit to the doctors would be a good idea as onewhitepillow suggested). Onwards and upwards today though eh!

Just been for morning swim and weighed myself after - I'm now 7lbs down on my weight at xmas. That has to be down to the lack of wine as I'm still eating everything in sight! Happy, sober Sunday everyone

Oooooh Lily 100 days!!

🎉🎈🌷WELL DONE YOU🌷🎈🎉

🍹Here is a lovely non-alcoholic mojito for later, and a dancing girl 💃🏻 in case you get inspired by Lucy! Enjoy the day

Congrats on 100 days Lily :)

Thank you so much everyone for being so lovely and welcoming (back!) feel a bit low today but was fab to wake up hangover free and had a lovely sleep. day not too bad. only a couple of moments of ' who really cares anyway' type thoughts but stuck to tea. why does the idea of stopping scare me so much? especially when i had moments of I LOVE BEING SOBER! when i chucked it a while back.still, day 2 under my belt which feels an achievement as I have been really sinking into myself. Tidied house, changed beds. feel on top of things for the first time in a while. hope everyone is having a peaceful sunday xxx

Hi all, back to confess I drank last week :( Now back on being sober again but have realized I need more help so finally booked some counselling. Stuff has been unbearable for the last 7 months and I need some outside help with it all. I have also been so very busy with work, so I dropped the level of self care and stopped getting enough sleep :(
So when the latest high stress event happened with the family member last week, I went back to my old destructive behaviour :(

You are so lovely - thank you :-) you have raised a smile - perhaps the first today! On a bit of a blue spell at the moment - kind of wondering if it will get better than this.

At the heart of my low mood is the relationship with my partner. I am seriously questioning what I get out of it ? And at this moment I really struggle to think. This is not new. We have been together almost 6 years and there have been 'issues' for at least 4 years. I know I buried a lot it my emotions in alcohol. And a lot of my 'worthlessness' - belief that I'm not worth anything better. This could be a rocky ride - I fear that this relationship may be the casualty of my sobriety . I know, no big decisions right now ...

Lucy - well done ! A text book example of how to manage sober !!!

glad - you sound very sad. I'm holding your hand in cyberspace - it will be ok - be kind to yourself and invest in getting the help you need xxxx

lily 100 days

"no big decisions" ...

Some for yellow and glad everyone else who needs a boost.

PAWS is very sneaky and grim - reading your posts made me wonder if that could be part of feeling low?

As well as playing the tape forward also learned from this thread to focus on one day at a time. Let tomorrow/that big birthday bash/holiday/whatever take care of itself. I'm not drinking today and that's the only decision that matters - and like yellow I LOVE BEING SOBER!