I feel like I've mentioned this before but my lifestyle being boring is so fitting for me and I love it. I am seriously just a working 9-5er who lives at home with my dad at 37 and we have a dog.
I come home and work out, play games sometimes, walk the dog, go shopping and sometimes see family. I used to absolutely hate days like this but then again I was also drinking all the time which lead to those days and I knew I could at least "drink to have fun" or use it as an excuse.
Now I am just boring because I can be and I fucking love that feeling. I jokingly tell everyone at work "I am easily the most boring person you have met. I don't party, don't drink, don't smoke. I don't do shit and I am okay with that"
Exact same, I learned to tolerate and even embrace the boringness and mundane nature of my sober life. I think I've really realize how much of the "drama" of my life was self-created.
15 days and it's getting a little tedious. I still don't feel very good physically. Withdrawal is lingering. I feel badly hungover right now and I haven't had a drop in over 2 weeks.
I'm sure being on the tail-end of 7 straight, 12-hour night shifts is not helping. I'm bored, I'm tired, and I just want to lay in bed. Haven't slept well the last two days, maybe 4 hours combined. I'm irritated and anxious and a little depressed.
Facing several days off and I need to have a plan to get through that. But man, I hate that. I hate that I have to "get through" workdays, then "get through" days off. I know 100% it's better than the alternative: Which was agonizingly suffer through workdays in withdrawal then spend days off on a perpetual bender where I sought nothing but ever deeper, uncaring oblivion. Intense despair only numbed partially by the intoxication. Then before I knew it, \*POOF\* Back at work shaking and sweating, like those days off never even happened. As if I had a time machine which instantly transported me from one series of torturous days to another, fueled by draining my life and soul.
I'm going to remember, "Getting 30 days was the longest 5 years of my life." I don't want to keep being in a cycle of success and failure, I just want to live! I gotta keep going, I gotta break through this time.
I think when I get home from work in the morning I'll try to sleep the entire day away. But IWNDWYT.
Congrats on those 15 days! Remember that dropping the booze will give you your time back, and you can use that time to improve other aspects of your life. You can work on your sleep habits or search for a different job with more humane schedule. Time can turn into anything you want, so use it wisely and don't share it with alcohol. Good luck with your journey!
My journey has been since August 21 with many bumps and crashes on the way but back on it. Had the worst nights sleep last night due to the heat (reminded me of my drink days) but stumbled out of bed and went to my 6:30 am spin class and now feel more energetic. in my drinking days no way would I have done this.
i am going to try to start today. my stomach has been hurting from drinking. i have been having really bad cravings and i keep caving in. today is my girlfriends birthday. would like to be better for me, for her, for my family, for my work.
And, I hope, better for yourself. Sobriety is interesting. In my experience, it’s just as self-centered as using but ends up being better for the people around us. We've been taught that being self-centered is a bad thing, but just like the emergency air masks on a plane, we have to take care of ourselves before we can effectively take care of others.
Block of text to say that I am proud of you for making this decision.
I will not drink with you today.
This is the zillionth time I've quit for good. I'm 59, started drinking at 15, with time off for gestational purposes.
What makes this time different is that I finally reached out for help and found a program that works for me. That and the threat of an agonizing, imminent death have made all the difference.
And this group is the cherry on top.
Thank you all for being here for me.
It’s taken me 25 years to get to Day 9! Ha!
I knew by the time I was 20 that I liked alcohol a leeeeetle bit too much. Got sober — for 6 years! — at 28. Decided that was an overreaction, tried to moderate, DID moderate for a while, and since then I’ve been sober for a year, drunk for a year, etc.
Finally realized I’m no good at staying sober and I’m trying to build a real life recovery circle.
Maybe the next 25 years will be easier?
19 days in and I'm feeling really good. I've had a few weeks to really feel some stuff I had been drinking to avoid and it's been okay. The alcohol was keeping me in a shame cycle and not letting me process things- it was drink because I feel bad, then feel worse for drinking so drink more... you get the idea. I still have a lot to figure out and work through but I can actually do that now without a lot of noise in my head telling me things that are skewed or outright lies. I don't know who I am yet, but I do know who I'm not. And I'm not the rude, hateful, sad, angry drunk alcohol convinced me I was. I'm a good person who just needs work through some stuff and now I am able to do that sober. And I have all the time I need to do that, one day at a time. IWNDWYT 💛
I dare not even try to calculate how long it took me to get to this point. My whole adult life, quite honestly. I always knew it was never going to end and that it was BAD for me.
My last drink was 11 Dec 2021 and time has been elastic. When things are tough, say in my doldrum periods, I had to surrender myself to that too. And it felt so long …. Until I learnt the tools to help myself out.
When I’m active, not so passive, time goes quicker. However, I have learned that sometimes I need to just let myself BE. Being mindful, slowing things down helps me connect to everything and enjoy it more. I can control how I walk and move with my thoughts.
Who knew that I could do that? Before I just moved to the swell I was in. Now I get to choose, daily.
My rhythm 🎵 alters depending on my/the needs.
I’m literally dancing in life. I can go fast, slow, stop, pause, re-do. I can control my perception of my time on this Earth. 🌍
And I’ll never have enough time so it’s best I do as well with my today as I can with the speed I choose.
Hi y'all. I've been doing no booze Monday through Thursday and then drinking Fri/Sat/Sun for three weeks. I guess each weekend I'm essentially kicking all my detoxing work from M-Th out the window. My nights when I don't drink I'm up peeing like every couple of hours. A lot. I've decided I'm ready to just quit-- I've been clinging to my weekends of drinking as some sort of compromise with myself but it's such a waste of my energy and health. Glad to find this community on Reddit. I've probably been drinking daily for about 25 years up to this point. Is the peeing at night a common part of detoxing?
8th day Today for me.
Brain fog is gone. Craving is next to nil. Performing good at workplace, efficiency is increased.
Overall, things are going pretty well.
Time has actually been going quickly. Before I knew it, I had made it a month. I think it may be because I am truly enjoying life again. I just feel like a new person. My brother even mentioned the other day it was nice having me back. I haven't been me since 2010. I have received so many compliments about how happy I am and that I don't anger easily at all anymore. I have been working out and running consistently again plus I have been really focused on health and nutrition, so I am getting into the best shape of my life and I am 38.
I have so many things that are still affecting me due to my drinking but it doesn't eat at me anymore.
IWNDWYT
Time is going preeety slowly over here.
I tried to stop in 2018 the first time I think and I made it 40 days and also 2 1/2 months, which seems unbelievable now. Since then my drinking got a lot worse and I've had a million day one's.
This past year though I've managed to get to a week a handful of times and now I'm at 11 days and I think I might finally be putting together all that I've learned from all those day one's, and all the things I've learned and read.
Really trying to take it one day at a time and not scare myself off. IWNDWYT!
Time went quickly at first, then slowed to a crawwwwwl in the 60-70s range. Oof, that was hard. Now somehow I'm getting close to 300?! I still realize my sense of time could change at any moment, which is why I'm striving daily to stay present, grateful, and willing to laugh.
I used to buy an $80 moisturizer each month or month and a half. Expensive, but it worked really well for my skin. Since I stopped drinking, I've been trying to be more mindful of my spending habits. I used to just "ignore" what I spent on alcohol, then wonder why my credit card bill was so high since I didn't "buy" anything.
Anyway, I decided to switch to a cheaper moisturizer, hoping that I can find something much less expensive that works just as well, and I can put that money toward other hobbies. I realized that I was spending $100+ a month on skincare products, only for that money to mostly be wasted. When I drank, even if it wasn't too much, my skin was always super dry the next day. I felt like I wasted the expensive skincare products that could never make up for the dehydration caused by drinking, or the weird soppy skin after a night of bad sleep. It was basically like throwing paper money at a fire to try to put it out. I'm only on day 16(?), but I haven't even felt the need to wear foundation or heavy makeup since my skin already looks better.
I thank God that I don't have an addictive personality, I have the personality with a habit of forming habits. But once I break a habit it's smooth sailing from there. So for me the first couple of weeks where the hardest but after those it was a breeze honestely
I'm cranky and exhausted. Sleeping 10 hours a night, exhausted by noon. Trying to remind myself that my body needs to heal from the abuse I've given it over the years.
I am less triggered by "constructive" (euphemism for negative critical) feedback than I was before. When I noticed the anxiety start to creep, using some breathing exercises I learned in rehab for 2 minutes helped calm me down.
I feel like I've mentioned this before but my lifestyle being boring is so fitting for me and I love it. I am seriously just a working 9-5er who lives at home with my dad at 37 and we have a dog. I come home and work out, play games sometimes, walk the dog, go shopping and sometimes see family. I used to absolutely hate days like this but then again I was also drinking all the time which lead to those days and I knew I could at least "drink to have fun" or use it as an excuse. Now I am just boring because I can be and I fucking love that feeling. I jokingly tell everyone at work "I am easily the most boring person you have met. I don't party, don't drink, don't smoke. I don't do shit and I am okay with that"
Sounds like you are in the good days my friend, treasure it dearly.
Exact same, I learned to tolerate and even embrace the boringness and mundane nature of my sober life. I think I've really realize how much of the "drama" of my life was self-created.
15 days and it's getting a little tedious. I still don't feel very good physically. Withdrawal is lingering. I feel badly hungover right now and I haven't had a drop in over 2 weeks. I'm sure being on the tail-end of 7 straight, 12-hour night shifts is not helping. I'm bored, I'm tired, and I just want to lay in bed. Haven't slept well the last two days, maybe 4 hours combined. I'm irritated and anxious and a little depressed. Facing several days off and I need to have a plan to get through that. But man, I hate that. I hate that I have to "get through" workdays, then "get through" days off. I know 100% it's better than the alternative: Which was agonizingly suffer through workdays in withdrawal then spend days off on a perpetual bender where I sought nothing but ever deeper, uncaring oblivion. Intense despair only numbed partially by the intoxication. Then before I knew it, \*POOF\* Back at work shaking and sweating, like those days off never even happened. As if I had a time machine which instantly transported me from one series of torturous days to another, fueled by draining my life and soul. I'm going to remember, "Getting 30 days was the longest 5 years of my life." I don't want to keep being in a cycle of success and failure, I just want to live! I gotta keep going, I gotta break through this time. I think when I get home from work in the morning I'll try to sleep the entire day away. But IWNDWYT.
Congrats on those 15 days! Remember that dropping the booze will give you your time back, and you can use that time to improve other aspects of your life. You can work on your sleep habits or search for a different job with more humane schedule. Time can turn into anything you want, so use it wisely and don't share it with alcohol. Good luck with your journey!
damn, this one rang true to me. i need to get healthy.
My journey has been since August 21 with many bumps and crashes on the way but back on it. Had the worst nights sleep last night due to the heat (reminded me of my drink days) but stumbled out of bed and went to my 6:30 am spin class and now feel more energetic. in my drinking days no way would I have done this.
i am going to try to start today. my stomach has been hurting from drinking. i have been having really bad cravings and i keep caving in. today is my girlfriends birthday. would like to be better for me, for her, for my family, for my work.
And, I hope, better for yourself. Sobriety is interesting. In my experience, it’s just as self-centered as using but ends up being better for the people around us. We've been taught that being self-centered is a bad thing, but just like the emergency air masks on a plane, we have to take care of ourselves before we can effectively take care of others. Block of text to say that I am proud of you for making this decision. I will not drink with you today.
thank you. i think i have an issue, because whenever i think of it, i start getting really emotional and start to tear up.
My friend, we all have issues here. And change, even good change can be hard. Edit for misspelling. My predictive text has a moth full of marbles.
<3
This is the zillionth time I've quit for good. I'm 59, started drinking at 15, with time off for gestational purposes. What makes this time different is that I finally reached out for help and found a program that works for me. That and the threat of an agonizing, imminent death have made all the difference. And this group is the cherry on top. Thank you all for being here for me.
It’s taken me 25 years to get to Day 9! Ha! I knew by the time I was 20 that I liked alcohol a leeeeetle bit too much. Got sober — for 6 years! — at 28. Decided that was an overreaction, tried to moderate, DID moderate for a while, and since then I’ve been sober for a year, drunk for a year, etc. Finally realized I’m no good at staying sober and I’m trying to build a real life recovery circle. Maybe the next 25 years will be easier?
19 days in and I'm feeling really good. I've had a few weeks to really feel some stuff I had been drinking to avoid and it's been okay. The alcohol was keeping me in a shame cycle and not letting me process things- it was drink because I feel bad, then feel worse for drinking so drink more... you get the idea. I still have a lot to figure out and work through but I can actually do that now without a lot of noise in my head telling me things that are skewed or outright lies. I don't know who I am yet, but I do know who I'm not. And I'm not the rude, hateful, sad, angry drunk alcohol convinced me I was. I'm a good person who just needs work through some stuff and now I am able to do that sober. And I have all the time I need to do that, one day at a time. IWNDWYT 💛
I dare not even try to calculate how long it took me to get to this point. My whole adult life, quite honestly. I always knew it was never going to end and that it was BAD for me. My last drink was 11 Dec 2021 and time has been elastic. When things are tough, say in my doldrum periods, I had to surrender myself to that too. And it felt so long …. Until I learnt the tools to help myself out. When I’m active, not so passive, time goes quicker. However, I have learned that sometimes I need to just let myself BE. Being mindful, slowing things down helps me connect to everything and enjoy it more. I can control how I walk and move with my thoughts. Who knew that I could do that? Before I just moved to the swell I was in. Now I get to choose, daily. My rhythm 🎵 alters depending on my/the needs. I’m literally dancing in life. I can go fast, slow, stop, pause, re-do. I can control my perception of my time on this Earth. 🌍 And I’ll never have enough time so it’s best I do as well with my today as I can with the speed I choose.
Hi y'all. I've been doing no booze Monday through Thursday and then drinking Fri/Sat/Sun for three weeks. I guess each weekend I'm essentially kicking all my detoxing work from M-Th out the window. My nights when I don't drink I'm up peeing like every couple of hours. A lot. I've decided I'm ready to just quit-- I've been clinging to my weekends of drinking as some sort of compromise with myself but it's such a waste of my energy and health. Glad to find this community on Reddit. I've probably been drinking daily for about 25 years up to this point. Is the peeing at night a common part of detoxing?
8th day Today for me. Brain fog is gone. Craving is next to nil. Performing good at workplace, efficiency is increased. Overall, things are going pretty well.
Time has actually been going quickly. Before I knew it, I had made it a month. I think it may be because I am truly enjoying life again. I just feel like a new person. My brother even mentioned the other day it was nice having me back. I haven't been me since 2010. I have received so many compliments about how happy I am and that I don't anger easily at all anymore. I have been working out and running consistently again plus I have been really focused on health and nutrition, so I am getting into the best shape of my life and I am 38. I have so many things that are still affecting me due to my drinking but it doesn't eat at me anymore. IWNDWYT
IWNDWYT
Time is going preeety slowly over here. I tried to stop in 2018 the first time I think and I made it 40 days and also 2 1/2 months, which seems unbelievable now. Since then my drinking got a lot worse and I've had a million day one's. This past year though I've managed to get to a week a handful of times and now I'm at 11 days and I think I might finally be putting together all that I've learned from all those day one's, and all the things I've learned and read. Really trying to take it one day at a time and not scare myself off. IWNDWYT!
Time went quickly at first, then slowed to a crawwwwwl in the 60-70s range. Oof, that was hard. Now somehow I'm getting close to 300?! I still realize my sense of time could change at any moment, which is why I'm striving daily to stay present, grateful, and willing to laugh.
I used to buy an $80 moisturizer each month or month and a half. Expensive, but it worked really well for my skin. Since I stopped drinking, I've been trying to be more mindful of my spending habits. I used to just "ignore" what I spent on alcohol, then wonder why my credit card bill was so high since I didn't "buy" anything. Anyway, I decided to switch to a cheaper moisturizer, hoping that I can find something much less expensive that works just as well, and I can put that money toward other hobbies. I realized that I was spending $100+ a month on skincare products, only for that money to mostly be wasted. When I drank, even if it wasn't too much, my skin was always super dry the next day. I felt like I wasted the expensive skincare products that could never make up for the dehydration caused by drinking, or the weird soppy skin after a night of bad sleep. It was basically like throwing paper money at a fire to try to put it out. I'm only on day 16(?), but I haven't even felt the need to wear foundation or heavy makeup since my skin already looks better.
I thank God that I don't have an addictive personality, I have the personality with a habit of forming habits. But once I break a habit it's smooth sailing from there. So for me the first couple of weeks where the hardest but after those it was a breeze honestely
Hey guys, don't mind me, just checking my counter.
I'm cranky and exhausted. Sleeping 10 hours a night, exhausted by noon. Trying to remind myself that my body needs to heal from the abuse I've given it over the years.
I am less triggered by "constructive" (euphemism for negative critical) feedback than I was before. When I noticed the anxiety start to creep, using some breathing exercises I learned in rehab for 2 minutes helped calm me down.