Aye Davanita said:

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I know this is peanuts, but about to go to bed on day 41. And 40 days of exercising somehow. I'm putting a project together I'll share January 1 2023.

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Today was hard. Long day at work. I'm not seeing the results in weight loss I'm expecting. I wasn't tempted to drink but just sad I couldn't do so. Is this common?

100% normal. I felt sad recently because "forever" feels daunting. When I feel down I focus on why I decided to stop. I'm proud of my streak. I also know I would drink and feel unfulfilled so I just crack open a Waterloo and turn on The Office.

Stay strong and focus on your WHY. Good luck and gig em!

Hang in there! It's all worth it. 85 days today and I feel great.

I rarely pat my self on my back, but both Pink Dog and I have reached the 6 month mark this past week.

My name is Jim and I'm an alcoholic. Through the grace of a loving God, the fellowship of the program, good sponsorship, and to the utter amazement of any number of wonderful people who have gone to the Big Meeting in the Sky, I have 31 years today.

Thank you and congratulations to you!!!!

Congratulations! That is truly amazing.

Aye Davanita said:

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Aye Davanita said:

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I know this is peanuts, but about to go to bed on day 41. And 40 days of exercising somehow. I'm putting a project together I'll share January 1 2023.

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Today was hard. Long day at work. I'm not seeing the results in weight loss I'm expecting. I wasn't tempted to drink but just sad I couldn't do so. Is this common?

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Aye, there are always going to be good days and bad days. It's called life on life's terms. Life happens regardless of whether you are drinking or not, good or bad. Work, relationships, weight loss, whatever.

I know I am a thousand percent better at handling the ups and downs of life when I am not using alcohol. And if I take it one day at a time, I find that I usually can't remember most of the petty little things I let bother me yesterday.

So, one day at a time.

Somebody hit 90 days yesterday! We are on a roll up in here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just a heavy heart this week. A few days ago, a young lady in my local group died in an alcohol related accident. This disease can kill suddenly or slowly. She will be sorely missed. If anyone needs help, I urge them to get it, whether it's AA or something else. I don't think we are meant to go through this alone.

Pink, my condolences on the loss of your friend. In AA, you're going to go to lots of funerals. Sometimes to say goodbye to an old timer, or someone that helped you, or you helped along the road of happy destiny, and sometimes for situations like this. In virtually every meeting, someone says "Remember we deal with alcohol, cunning, baffling, and powerful. Without help, it is too much for us." If that's true, and I know it is, alcohol is going to win its share. Keep coming back, it works if you work it.

Not going to lie, I haven't even thought about it in awhile, but I THINK I'm at 9 months today.

NWE said:

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I agree completely. My wife says she feels like she's tempting me and she really isn't. I want her to have a drink. I just wish I could "blend in" more at restaurants like I do at home with my NA beers.

I tell them to put the club soda in a cocktail glass especially when I'm at work happy hours etc

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Have you ever asked yourself why you might feel the need to "blend in" at restaurants?

Acknowledging that sobriety isnt unique but all our paths are individual so I am sympathetic that your situation could be different than mine but in my 6.5 years of sobriety I havent once had a waiter ask me why I wasnt drinking nor have I ever had a rude or off-putting response when a friend / colleague asked me why I wasnt drinking. I was really nervous about that early on in my path then as time went on this became a positive affirmation for me that I was actually more normal now than I was when I was finishing drinks quicker than the waiter / bar tender could bring them...

Either way, good luck on your path and I hope you can find some comfort in your own skin no matter your choice.

-Rick

NWE said:

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Sorry I'm not being clear. It's fun to drink with my wife. I don't care at all what others think of my choices. But when I go out to "have a drink" with my wife (or friends), it feels more natural to have a club soda in a cocktail glass, as an example, than a big gulp cup. Same reason she seems to drink a Truly while we cook more often when I'm drinking a NA beer. I could drink a big glass of water but it's nice to have the NA choices.

Maybe it doesn't make sense. To me, it's like saying when my wife eats a steak I'm not going to bring a ketchup sandwich. I'd like something that matches the nature of the event. A glass of water with a bendy straw doesn't have the same pizzazz as a club soda in a cocktail glass with a lime.

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Some thing that helped me out was pre planning for an event. If I was going to a restaurant I would look at the menu online and decide what I was going to order before I arrived.

I am much more paranoid about what drinks I order from a restaurant. I have had an alcoholic drink served to me by mistake. I realized what happened immediately and had my adult daughter test it to confirm. That is the stuff nightmares are made of.

I carried a lot of shame early in the process and many people didn't know that I quit drinking. I tried to blend in, but it made it more awkward. It is still strange at company parties. None of my coworkers know that I quit.

Now I show up to an event ( like a football party at someone's house) with my drink in hand and embrace the difference. My friends have really been supportive, which I wasn't anticipating.

Day 100 today.

I'm not going to lie. This weekend was odd. It wasn't depression or craving, but because I was bored af. My wife was out of town, my kids not home, and it would give me something to do.

Glad I didn't.

I'm at 6 months and some change. This last weekend, I had to fly down to the San Antonio area for a funeral, knowing full well that this particular friend group was going to tie one on afterwards. I had a 6 pack of Heineken 0.0. As expected from this group, a few folks walked up and gave me comments like "what happened? Did your dick fall off?"

I told them straight up "nope, I just decided to stop, and I haven't had anything other than non-alcoholic beers for over 6 months." In every instance, the tone immediately changed; I got a lot of "man, I should do that, you must feel amazing, my wife tried those when she was pregnant and they're actually really good, etc."

I deal with some pretty strong anxiety from time to time, so to see the tone immediately change from **** talking to really interested and supportive when I led with the truth was pretty dang refreshing.

Great job! Almost 5 months here.
Been my experience too around others.

It is my opinion that anyone giving you crap about not drinking is personally feeling attacked/forced to look inwards of "hey I might be in the same camp".

Source: used to be that guy that found it outlandish people didnt drink.

Day 1.

Starting with the 5 day challenge from One Year No Beer and going to take it from there. Can't remember the last day I went without drinking and it's gotten progressively worse over time in terms of quantity/frequency and it's effect on my mental and physical health. Too damn young to get stuck in this cycle forever so trying to do something about it now. So glad I stumbled upon this thread and plan to frequent it going forward! Thank you all for sharing your experiences here so far as I've read the entire thread in the past 3 hours. Hope to attend a couple of the Texags meetings this week!

We'll be here Thursday and Sunday at 7pm central time.

Go back a couple of pages for the link.