Update (Sep 4, 2010): Due to the overwhelming, and ongoing popularity of this post (over 22,000 comments and counting!), I’ve recently started working on a new tool to make tracking and sharing your progress quitting drinking a whole lot easier and more fun.
It’s called Quitfest. Please feel free to check it out!
There are better things in life than alcohol, but alcohol makes up for not having them.
– Terry Pratchett
My maternal grandparents were both alcoholics. It’s for this reason that I can’t remember my grandpa’s funeral: I was only four. This is also why my grandma has meticulously avoided alcohol for over 20 years. If there’s anything to the rumours about alcoholism being influenced by heredity, I’m probably tagged.
My own consumption patterns change. Sometimes I’ll go through periods of several months having three or four drinks, three to five times a week. Sometimes I’ll restrict my consumption to social occasions. For about five months starting last December, in my quest to master the art of talking to strangers, my social life became two full-time jobs. I was constantly going out to social events, clubs, bars, museum parties, and everything in between. Despite temptation, I rarely drank.
Last month, I quit drinking alcohol again. I’d like to tell you that it was a struggle. I’d like to pretend that it’s almost impossible to stay sober at a social occasion where everyone else is burping bubbles. I’d like to imagine myself as more determined and disciplined than all the rest, and that’s what pulled me through.
But the truth is that I’m ruthlessly normal. And if you want to end your relationship with alcohol, right here, right now, It’s Not That Hard.
I’m guessing that most people who choose to quit drinking are not alcoholics. My intent is to offer here an action plan that anyone can apply, whether you’re nursing an addiction or just want to enjoy the benefits of uninterrupted sobriety.
Why Stop Drinking?
The long-term effects of bad habits are rarely sufficient to motivate people to change their lives. The near-term benefits of giving up alcohol are much more useful and interesting anyway. Here are the changes I experienced:
- Productive socializing. Talking to strangers is a great way to build character, but its benefits are greatly reduced when you’re drunk. The alcohol represses much of the social anxiety, which inhibits lasting change. But the only thing more terrifyingly fun than getting drunk and meeting a bunch of new people is staying sober and meeting a bunch of new people.
- Avoid the McPilgrimage. Clearly, there’s a conspiracy between the fast food industry and the liquor industry. Free will collapses under the weight of insobriety and convenience. With enough alcohol in your system, even the most wretched burger joint becomes an irresistible sanctuary.
- Reclaim lost time. Let’s say you have a few drinks around the house, three times a week, and that light touch of drunkenness costs you three hours of productive thinking each time. Within one year, you’ll have shaved about one full month off your life. That’s a lot of lost CPU time that could have been put towards reading a book, writing a speech, playing a sport, or even starting a business. And this doesn’t even count the time lost waiting for your brain to resolidify the morning after a night on the town.
- Get rich quickly. You don’t have to party that hard to spend $100-$150/week or more on alcohol and related expenses. If you quit drinking today, you could reasonably expect to convert that choice into a bankroll for backpacking around the world in about six months.
- Become an early riser. I’m currently readjusting my sleep schedule to wake up at 5:30 AM, seven days a week. Alcohol, and the lifestyle that often accompanies it, work against this process. Alcohol makes me feel tired when I want to feel energetic and awake. Ironically, it also increases wakefulness during sleep.
You can probably think of other instantly gratifying benefits to life beyond the bottle. The important thing is to actually have a reason that is important enough to you.
Make It Priority Number One
Giving up alcohol is one of the easiest and hardest changes you can make in your life.
It’s easy once you’ve established the right rules, configured your environment to support you, and set up useful boundaries of pain and pleasure to help direct you towards your goal. The hard parts are the social implications and fighting off the One Man Army that is your ego, with its barrage of self-limiting beliefs and drink requests.
Giving up alcohol must be made priority number one in your life. A partial commitment is a commitment to failure. Even if you already don’t drink that often, it will be tempting to break your own rules when your friends call you up and invite you out. You’ve got to be willing to prioritize this decision in every situation where it’s relevant, even when that means Just Saying No to pub night.
It’s Not a Big Deal
Ever notice how some people act as though the end of their relationship is the end of the world? It’s as if there’s no point in living if they can’t be with that person any longer. Yet other people come along and date that person who left them, eventually break up with them, and see it as hardly more than a blip on the radar.
You may feel that it’s pretty easy to give up drinking. Or you may feel that it’s an addiction with a stranglehold on your life. Either way, there is no inherent magnitude to this task. It’s as big or as small as you make it.
No matter how much you want to tell yourself how hard it is, nobody’s ever going to claim that learned helplessness was the secret to their success. The most effective way forward is to not only make quitting drinking a top priority, but to think, talk, and act like it can be done.
Become the Impartial Spectator
Whether you view it as a spiritual separation, or merely conceptual, we all have more than one self. There’s the “Mmmmm…beeeer…” self, and the impartial spectator that can detach from and observe this desire.
Let the latter voice be your authority. You’re allowed to want a drink as much as you’re allowed to choose not to have one. There’s tremendous power in observing your thoughts as a third party. The impartial spectator can feel the heat without getting burned.
When in doubt, let it be there. No matter how bad the storm seems, it will pass.
Commit to 30 Days
If you’ve never done it before, it can be hard to think of giving up drinking forever. It’s discouraging to commit to permanent change, only to back out a few days or weeks into it. Some people will face social friction and lifestyle changes for which they’re unprepared.
But life is a laboratory. It’s an adventure that takes shape through hypothesis and experimentation, and most decisions can be reverted. When it comes to making big changes like this, live before you leap. Promise yourself that you will commit to this 100%, but only for 30 days, and see how it goes.
This is exactly what I did last month. I promised myself that November would be alcohol-free, and it was. Truth be told, I had a few drinks on day 31. But I broke the negative pattern that was creeping up on me and gained back the energy to spend on more important activities. And I’ve repeatedly proven to myself that I can give up alcohol whenever I feel like, whenever it seems like the right thing to do.
Dump Your Existing Stash
Any goal that’s important to you is important enough to start on right now. My 30-day challenge to give up alcohol started at about 3:00 AM on a Saturday morning. I had just gotten back from a post-nightclub McPilgrimage with some friends. I had a great time. I met lots of people. I even ended up dating a girl I met that night.
But I was really annoyed by how much I’d poured into me that night, at succumbing to the resulting Big Mac temptation, and at how much I was going to regret the hangover. As soon as I got home, the challenge was on. I had one last beer in my fridge, which I ceremoniously poured down the kitchen sink.
If you’re serious about doing this, get rid of your alcohol. If you’ve got $300 worth of spirits in your cabinet and you’re not yet sure if you want to empty it all down the drain, only to change your mind in 30 days, then store it at a friend’s place during your probation period. Preferably a friend that doesn’t drink.
Advertise Your Decision
I told most of my friends about what I was doing. Not only only does this add accountability to your goal, it also drops the hint that if your friends are planning on going out and getting wasted, you’re probably not interested.
Of course, you don’t have to avoid social situations where you’ll be the only one not drinking. I’ve gone out stone sober many times–even on my own–and met loads of people. Once you get used to social skydiving, you no longer need alcohol’s permission to talk to strangers and have a good time. You can get to that place by either getting hammered out of your face, or by learning to just not care what other people think. Frankly, the latter is way more fun.
Fire Your Drinking Buddies
Alcohol may be so tightly integrated into your social life that it seems almost impossible to go an entire weekend without drinking. If the only thing you have in common with your friends is that you like the same lagers, you might want to consider finding new friends.
I’ve let go of people in my social circle before and I know it’s not easy–but that doesn’t make it unnecessary. This might be the hardest thing you do in choosing a life without alcohol. The key is to remember that friends are an abundant resource. Having a strong social circle is purely a function of the effort you invest into it. That includes choosing to associate only with people who are aligned with your purpose, while avoiding the energy vampires.
This is another benefit of a 30-day commitment. Instead of permanently downsizing your social life, you can choose to be busy only for the next few weeks. Observe how it affects you when you stop spending time with your beer buddies. Join a local user group for something you’re interested in to bring yourself into contact with people with whom you share more than just a bar tab.
Bribe Yourself
I haven’t used this specific technique for giving up alcohol, but I have used it with much success in bulldozing my way through a wall of social anxiety.
Associate massive pain to backing out. To create that pain, visit your nearest bank machine. Withdraw an amount of money that you’d feel uncomfortable losing. Give it to a friend you trust. Tell them that you get your money back if, and only if, you don’t have a drop of alcohol until your 30 days are up. You’ll be surprised at how even the most difficult tasks become doable when you associate massive pain to breaking your own rules. Money can be a great way to make it hurt. If you can think of an even better form of self-bribery, go for it.
The stronger you feel that alcohol is a part of your life, the more of these techniques you may want to apply. My most recent alcohol-free challenge didn’t require bribery or letting go of any friends. But I did find it extremely useful to limit the challenge to 30 days, to give myself permission to live the lifestyle before leaping to a permanent decision.
I also think that making this a top priority is key, no matter what your current consumption habits. It’s so easy to let yourself slip for just one night, and then feel guilty about breaching your own contract later on.
Key: The vicious cycle is a classic. Alcohol promises to soothe and it does so for a few hours. But then the bad feelings, that we were trying to escape, come back with a vengeance. My problems were more stress-related, and alcohol only made me less able to cope with stress in the long run.
You make an interesting point. I do not think that slips should just be forgiven. Yes, it is human to err, but ultimately slips should be fought with everything we have got. It is a battle, no doubt about it, but it is so important to get out the dependence of this terrible substance. And it can be done.
JohnA
Sometimes I wonder, of all of the possibilities that were offered to us, of all of the outcomes, why did we as humans’ create our world the way we did? I know this is silly, but why didn’t we create a “Disney World” kind of existance? Surely that was an option? Maybe our ansesters had it right…. respecting the land, helping each other, passing wisdom to the young, revering the elders. I know this is an inane thought, but I just think we are paying for the greed of the elete. I wonder if I were wealthy if I would be a different person? Would I be happier? I know these are “childlike” questions, but I have been asking them all of my life and I still haven’t gotten an answer. Don’t even try to respond to this, because it is an insignificant thought. I am searching for something… but I don’t know what it is. When I was a little girl I used to think that when I died, God would open the gate and let me sit beside him and I could ask Him all of the questions I wanted, and he would answer them. I had an actual picture in my mind of me sitting in a little chair beside him asking questions. Oh for such innocence today. I am expressing thoughts I would NEVER admit to in any other forum.
Peace and Acceptance to All,
Dusty
I want to share something with souls that are have a hard time with the 30 day journey of sobriety or sticking to a commitment if so chosen, of carrying on sobriety after the 30 day journey. It states as follows:
Make It Priority Number One
“Giving up alcohol is one of the easiest and hardest changes you can make in your life.
It’s easy once you’ve established the right rules, configured your environment to support you, and set up useful boundaries of pain and pleasure to help direct you towards your goal. The hard parts are the social implications and fighting off the One Man Army that is your ego, with its barrage of self-limiting beliefs and drink requests.
Giving up alcohol must be made priority number one in your life. A partial commitment is a commitment to failure. Even if you already don’t drink that often, it will be tempting to break your own rules when your friends call you up and invite you out. You’ve got to be willing to prioritize this decision in every situation where it’s relevant, even when that means Just Saying No to pub night.”
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This is a statement that is not located to far from this written post. It is stated above by Brad Bollenbach the author of How to Quit Drinking Alcohol. The key to quit drinking the poison, is to really, really make it TOP priority in your life. I believe, if “one” honesty, deep down wants to stop drinking alcohol “one” can make it happen, “if” one comments to making it number on their list.
This is only my opinion, one can take it or leave it.
KeithB
KeithB, I have been thinking about your brother and trying to think of something to say. I can’t think of anything appropriate, except to say I’m sorry for your loss. Losing my brother left an empty place in my life, like the chair he always sat in at the dinner table…my mother still lives in the same house we grew up in, and the chair is still there, and it will always be empty. It never occured to me that he would pass before my mother. Let alone that he would take his own life. So I do know what that shock/numbness feels like when you first are told. It’s not real for awhile…kind of like a dream. I didn’t really feel anything for about two weeks. He didn’t feel “gone” yet. I had some very strange things happen after he passed, like my disconnected phone that was under my bed kept on ringing and I would pick it up anyway and say hello and noone would answer, but it felt like my brother was trying to contact me. I only had a cell phone by that time, but it was a landline phone under my bed that was not even plugged in. I hope you share you story some day about your brother, but think about if it is something you really want to share.
Be gentle to yourself,
Dusty
Hello everyone, hello to key, Johan, D, Hippiechick and others.
Last night I went to a funny play. It was one I had seen before and always used to think was hilarious. I didn’t laugh more than once, went home and cried and cried. The thing is, I don’t know what it is I am crying about anymore – I don’t want that relationship or that guy in my life. But still I grieve and the feelings don’t go away?
Today was hard too, I worked but my mind just kept worrying at the issue. I am sure all the people I talk to are sick of hearing about this. I just can’t either figure out what I could have done differently or the reason why I’m still so upset.
Every day I try to change my ticket back and every day it’s too expensive. I’m not even sure that going back to my college town will make me feel any better at all.
Thank you all for being supportive of me. I don’t really know where else to turn at this point.
Day 28 (counting backwards)
KeithB. Yep. On page one on this site there is a guy (blake) who stated it very simply: “You either want to quit or you don’t. That simple.” He had been sober for two years at the time.
Key: WELCOME BACK! You have been missed. As for the slips, go back to the posted quotation from St. Frances of Sales (I posted a year ago or more and someone else also subsequently posted — so maybe someone posted even before us….): “Be patient with everyone, but above all with yourself…..I am glad you make a fresh beginning daily….” It is a great quote (longer than excerpt) – very hopeful. Also check out the lyrics of the song a gal from Africa translated into English and which I posted in part earlier: “…and if you try, and in trying you fail, He will understand and He will say ‘Well done.’” My point is that you are always welcome here because your mere posting is a will to change — a “try” — so “well done!”.
I get that things don’t always go as planned — just keep practicing until you get it right. (Isn’t that what we were each taught as children? Didn’t we make stuff come true because that was simply the way things were before we knew differently?? Before we appreciated our limitations? [Being personally aware is a serious impediment to genius. My opinion.] We are back where we started — unlearn your supposed limitations and “Make it so!” — no, not a fan of that show, just of the expression.)
Everyone: Glad to hear from all and will be checking on progress [vice-versa, of course].
Swords: Hang in there. My thoughts are with you and I know how difficult your situation can be.
Carol and MJ: Thanks again for your tremendous staying power. Most inspirational.
PEACE-OUT, HC
Swords: Don’t know what you’ve employed (as resources) — but here are two very powerful ones….
Immediate response so you can keep emotions in check and remain professional: talk to someone and get some meds. This may not be for you — don’t know — cannot appreciate the gravity of your loss here on the site. My point is that you shouldn’t be afraid to get some short-term help until you can better assess your needs, etc.
SECOND: I recommend trying VERY hard core workouts. My experience, if you exhaust your body enough, it won’t care what your mind is thinking…..
Hang in there!
Day 1 – Hello again to everyone.
I want to first apologize to those who previously supported me – JohnB, Carol, Johan, Allout, Scout, NJ, Peppermint, JoeRunner, Keith B, and all others from back in June.
I want to share with everyone a bit from my first post of May 31, 2010 at 12:28 pm
“Day 1 – Hello everyone. I have been a very heavy drinker for almost 20 years, and it has never been a problem until recently. I have managed to keep the same job for 18 years, the same wife for 15 years and have two teenagers. I was never what would be referred to as a bad drunk – until recently. I have black outs that last hours, yet manage to stay upright and keep drinking.
This past weekend I embarrassed both my children in front of their friends, embarrassed my wife in front of her sister, and at one point went into a drunken rage. My family was scared, and have assured me that it stops now or I risk losing them. So here I am on Day 1, and I don’t know what to expect.’
I lasted 26 days. I have come to realize they were in fact the happiest 26 days I can remember. I want that feeling back. Oddly enough my wife encouraged me to drink again, stating “I’m sad that you can’t drink, and it is effecting our social life.”
I am once again depressed and out of control, no longer exercising, nor taking care of my appearance in any way. Mentally I am sluggish, and of course moody.
I am not sure how to explain to my wife that I have to do this, and it will impact our marriage in a way that she may not like – but this I must do.
My best to everyone.
Hi Dean, Glad to see you here. I have been unsteady myself. The 25 days I did not drink in June were great and then in July I fell off track and have not strung more than 10 days together since. But, I WILL say that those 25 days showed me that I can do it, it feels great, and alcohol is just a substance-it does not own me. Since I have been having drinks here and there, I have no right to preach, but I hope you draw on the strength of those 26 days to grab that beast around the neck and throttle it back away! I know what you are saying feeling out of control, mentally sluggish. I wrote a few days ago that I was amazed at how quickly the negative aspects come back (scattered thinking, loss of patience, for me). On the positive side, I must say that my view of alcohol has changed–it’s not the great relaxer or party sauce I ALWAYS thought it was (even after a blackout episode). So please draw on what you learned and how great you felt to get going again. As for your wife, you gotta do this for you, and I think it can be hard to not clash with your partner in some way. I either get a little high on my horse when doing well, or I shut him out a bit since i’m working so hard on NOT drinking. But i try to temper that as well as possible. I hope you have a good sober weekend. :)
Also, Dean, it seems you’re getting mixed messages from your wife. You found us here after being told you were in danger of losing your family if you continued drinking. But then your wife said your working at sobriety was bringing down your social life. She may not realize the conflicts there, but it must be confusing to you. Who knows — your wife might not even realize how mixed those messages/desires are. She might be like “us” in those regards — how quickly we forget the consequences when we just want to go along as we’ve always been. Anyway, I just wanted to point that out as you turn this stuff over in your mind. Best.
Thanks NJ. I am very glad to see that you are still connected to this island. I hope all is well with you.
Hello all,
Day 12 for me. Went out with friends last night and had 3 bottles of Perrier with lemon. They drank wine ,cosmopolitans and mrtinis. One guy had a scotch on the rocks. They each had at least 3 drinks and then were contemplating their 4th – when I left. No one really noticed that I wasn’t drinking, just said that I was really quiet a couple of times. It made me feel kind of sad, like I was a bore and I kind of was bored at points. But, the real point is that I managed without the booze and I am proud of that. The benefits have far outweighed the minor implications of awkwardness here and there. And, I know soon it will be a non issue. Thanks all for your support.
Swords~ how much is your ticket back?
Love, Peace, Strength and Wisdom!
Make today count for this world and for yourself.
Denise
“The other day we should not worry about is tomorrow, with its possible adversities, its burdens, its large promise, and perhaps its poor performance. Tomorrow is also beyond our immediate control. Tomorrow’s sun will rise, either in splendor or behind a mask of clouds, but it will rise. Until it does, we have no stake in tomorrow, for it is as yet unborn.”
~Unknown
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Welcome back, Dean. Don’t let the wife’s comments affect your resolve to quit. Remember, you are quitting for yourself above all else. My wife does not drink, but smokes a few butts in the yard each night. Last night she asked me why I couldn’t just have like 3 beers and 3 butts. I told her that’s not the way I roll. I am only satisfied when the beers and butts are all gone :). This illustrates perfectly the difference between a normal drinker and a problem drinker. To me 3 beers is just a tease. Its a waste of time and money. This is why I must abstain.
Peace,
Lee
I think it’s very confusing for partners of people who drink – to figure out how to incorporate a sober lifestyle into their lives – which is not to say that they stop drinking but now they have thrust on them the mission to a) accept that their partner is now sober – forever and b) to figure out how to do social things with a sober partner.
While this may seem trivial to us – it’s not to them. At least from my experience at home here – it’s not been. And it can be extremely subtle and can be really hard to talk about. They don’t want to complain – because after all, we’ve taken the brunt of this change on ourselves and what we’re doing (not drinking) seems way more difficult. So what do they do with their own confusion, disappointment, loss – which is what our new found sobriety can present to them…?
Of course it seems counterintuitive that our not drinking is a loss (when isn’t that what they wanted in the FIRST PLACE??!) but, even to a non-problem drinker (and I can’t speak to this from the point of view of a couple who both have problems with alcohol), there is a really big shift when one partner stops drinking. So much so, that sometimes, because they don’t understand the enormity of the challenge we face in quitting – they give us all kinds of messages that it’s ok to pick it up again.
it’s pretty confusing stuff – and is hard, very hard, to resolve. But it’s smart not to underestimate the change that happens in the whole couple dynamic regardless of a) how much they might want us to quit and b) how little they drink.
Again, it’s even more complicated when one person in the dynamic remains a problem drinker – I have loads of sympathy for that dynamic, I just can’t speak from that experience.
We just need to keep the lines of communication way open, not judge — and promote not judging — and keep listening — and promote kind-hearted and loving listen —- even if it hasn’t been part of the dynamic before or if this level of open and honest dialogue has never ever been around drinking before. (I imagine, if we were really honest, most of our previous discussions about drinking have been with our own selves in our own heads! – and we are not practiced, nor sturdy emotionally, with talking about it out loud….)
with love and likely lots of typos…
Scout
Hi, i’ve been reading this post for about 10 days now,its really helped. I can identify with most of you about alcohol. the denial, the “its ok” I don’t drink every day but when I do especialy lately its always to much. I made 10 days then yesterday, I was in a foul mood and decided that a couple would be fine. Wrong, I hit my self in the eye with a garden hose, now I get to go to work with a black eye. I drink because of anxiety and stress then I go out and create more. A vicious cycle.
I guess its day 1 again. give me strength and insight to stay on path
thanks for listening
Dusty – I would like very much to share, but I would have to include a few chapters of my “life” book and his for things to make any since for one to really understand. I do think that you of all people would truly understand, just from you sharing about your brother and other “things” you have shared. I have thought about writing small bits and pieces here and there, but would be too hard to put it all together. I do feel the story needs to be told though (maybe just for me to tell someone on the ‘outside’?), anyhow need to figure out a way of doing it besides writing a small book, if you know what I mean. Sharing a little: I am the oldest of six children, four males and two females; the youngest is 16 years younger than me. Raised in a big house in a small town in eastern NE by my mother and an alcoholic father. Right now as I type this message, I have alcohol related concerns about brother ten years younger than I……I have to get back to work, but felt I needed to reply to ya on this issue Dusty…….
Have a good one
Later,
Keith
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Hola everyone!
Going good here! Day 33 no booze, and just started day 4 no nicotine.
Ill tell you what, Nicotine is harder than alcohol for me to quit.
But, doing it nonetheless.
Have a great day islanders!
Dean-You didn’t let me down…hang in there! I’m pulling for you! I know it’s tough!
Joe
rcska – I hear ya about quiting the nicotine. Quitting alcohol was toys. I quit the nicotine first, was really hard on onself having a drink with out nicotine…….the things we humans do to ourselves!!!???
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Deano!!!! Good to hear from you man! Let us down?? Come on bud, you know better than that :)
I had a 3 beer relapse about 3 weeks ago, in fact, without that slip, today would have been day 100. I could choose to look at it as a failure but really, I have changed my life and lifestyle…how about you?? I have seen rewards from not drinking that I wouldn’t have otherwise…how about you?? I have been given a sense and the gift of community here with these great people…how about you???
Big hugs man, it’s a new day, we are all just trying not to drink today…just like you :)
Thank you to everyone for all the positive energy.
Lee – I am the exact same way as you (and I would bet alot of us here); that being, I cannot stop until everything in the house is gone. No middle ground for me.
Scout – Great insight into relationships/drinking/attempted sobriety. Even today my wife said “Are you really going to try and quit again?” in a tone that said here we go again! I have turned my wife off drinking, but when she does have the occassional drink, she does not want to drink alone. I need to sort this out in order to be successful.
JohnB – I am so very happy that you are still connected to ‘the island’, not only for your sobriety, but you are a source of inspiration to me – Thank you. I have seen the many great rewards of not drinking, and hope feel them again soon. I do miss the great people here in this community. Thanks again.
JoeRunner – Your ongoing support is so very valuable. Thank you.
‘It is only failure if I fail to try again’
My very best to everyone today.
It might be beneficial for some couples therapy on that one… it’s really tough – I am quite respectful of how complex an issue it is.
Scout
Hi Dean ! I am so happy to see you back ! I was wondering where you were. Keep on keepin’ on. I would love to see you back at that happy place you were when you were at 28 days (I think?)You really were happy and proud of yourself.
To all of the Islanders – I am really busy for the next 10 days so I am still around but I just don’t have a lot of time to be on line. I’ll try to pop in here and there. I didn’t want you all to think I had gone AWOL :)
It is great to see so many of you doing so well and so many really nice new people. I am up and down these days – I am such a summer person and I find it hard to say no in social situations. I am not messy when I drink, and I never drive – actually I am quite happy – I just don’t stop at 2 – yikes !
Anyway – I am keeping my fingers crossed that September will bring total abstinance – I always feel like the Tuesday after the long weekend is like a “New Year”. Anyway – these are just my stupid thoughts. Sorry for being kind of negative. I’m in kind of a bad mood today.
Love to all
Sunny
Hey everyone,
Just checking in 33 for me too rcska but for whatever reason is tough right now. I think I will go for a bike ride.
Swords, thinking of you and hoping you have a good evening. thought of you on the treadmill when I heard Clapton’s song Further Up On the Road. (or something like that)
Dean, I am with you when you say they were the happiest 26 days. I look at June on the calendar when I was drinking and then not for several days and then drinking again. All that did was make me think about drinking all the time even when I wasn’t!
Hi to Carol (who is camping but I miss her strength), Johan
(still traveling?)
Have a good night everyone!
Dean ! I am so happy to see you back ! I was wondering where you were. Keep on keepin’ on. I would love to see you back at that happy place you were when you were at 28 days (I think?)You really were happy and proud of yourself.
To all of the Islanders – I am really busy for the next 10 days so I am still around but I just don’t have a lot of time to be on line. I’ll try to pop in here and there. I didn’t want you all to think I had gone AWOL :)
It is great to see so many of you doing so well and so many really nice new people. I am up and down these days – I am such a summer person and I find it hard to say no in social situations. I am not messy when I drink, and I never drive – actually I am quite happy – I just don’t stop at 2 – yikes !
Anyway – I am keeping my fingers crossed that September will bring total abstinance – I always feel like the Tuesday after the long weekend is like a “New Year”. Anyway – these are just my stupid thoughts. Sorry for being kind of negative. I’m in kind of a bad mood today.
Love to all
Sunny
Oh No ! It’s the dreaded repeat post. SORRY !!The bog Police said that I had “already said that” but IO knew i hadn’t so I pressed again and then again. Yikes ! SO SORRY ! Ignore me !
I am laughing now because I just looked at the spelling errors in that last post “Blog” not “bog” and “I” not “IO” and “i” not “I”. (I was typing furiously. I am dead sober – honest !! I haven’t had a drink but it sure looks like I have. Sorry again. I’ll go now – last post – whew !
Sunny
Sunny, You are in a bad mood??!!!! What’s up with that? :)