Checking in daily to maintain focus #60

Day 139. Lousy sleep but I feel better today. Will work 8_5 then relax. Have a sober day folks. I had a real sense of just trying to stay calm and focused when my dad was ill last week. I think this week it has kind of sunk in how lucky we were

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Day 1879 :walking_woman:
There is a man here daily outside my shop. He has a big AA sign tattooed at his hand. Heā€™s not doing ok mentally. Sometimes he is just standing and staring, sometimes heā€™s walking up and down the road talking to himself. I heared from another store heā€™s France, he says heā€™s here for a holiday.
I see him eating and drinking. I do not know if he buys it ore people donate it. Yesterday he came in my store and stood for a while just staring. He gave me the creeps and made me sad as well. I was busy helping a customer otherwise I would have tried to talk to him (my French doesnā€™t come further then yes ore no in it).
Why I want to share this here? Because life is a bunch of choises good ore bad. Itā€™s also what lifeā€™s gives you on your plate and your capability in how to deal with this. Where you where born, what kind of parents you had and who you choose to be your friends if you have any. In some things we can choose, but in many we canā€™t. But all together that makes a person.
It makes me not different then this French guy and still we areā€¦


Have a good day all! :raising_hand_woman:

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Checking in Day 21)

So another day arrives and another day marks the longest itā€™s been since Iā€™ve had a drink in over 2 years. I had a good nights sleep last night (thank fuck), itā€™s been a while since I slept so deeply without a solid blackout amount of alcohol. Itā€™s taking much less time to get out of bed as well, at one point Iā€™d lay there for an hour just preparing myself to face the day.

Iā€™m going to head out for a coffee again this morning and read some of the big book and write another chapter of the book Iā€™m writing - Itā€™s all very therapeutic and that!

Dad messaged me yesterday and said ā€œIā€™m really pleased you seem to be turning a corner xā€ which properly got me in the feels. Heā€™s not a very emotional man; very direct, dry sense of humour but compassionate in his own way. Heā€™s been trying to tell me for years that alcoholism is a disease and I am very sick and need help but in the thick of it, did I listen? Did I fuck. I didnā€™t believe it last time I got sober either, sober has always meant ā€œNot drinkingā€ to me - (I might have read that in the big book but applied it to myself but itā€™s definitely true). We have a good relationship but he hated my drinking with a passion. I mean, his anger at my drinking was measurable on the Richter scale - Iā€™m sure thereā€™s a few fellows on here who can relate to that.

Did anyone find that when they stopped drinking, the actual issues they had resurfaced? Iā€™m finding my issues arenā€™t really that big - most of them are temporary and easily fixable and my drinking seems to be simply because Iā€™m an alcoholic. I feel pretty lucky that that is the case; almost as if itā€™s just a chemical I donā€™t agree with.

I think my posts have all been a bit serious the last few times but donā€™t worry normal service, the odd bit of humour and the occasional ā€œfuck/shit/bollocks/wankā€ will resume shortly :slight_smile:

Iā€™ve been procrastinating about the step work and wondering ā€œHow long is this going to take?ā€ (naturally me being a problem solver, I donā€™t want it to take years despite knowing that you canā€™t rush them). My sponsor told me ā€œWe donā€™t get better to work the steps; we work the steps to get betterā€ and feels itā€™s important for me to get to work on them immediately and not hang about. I like his attitude! And he reminds me of Paul Hollywood which just makes me think he bakes a mean Stollen loaf.

Hugs not Drugs

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Miss you friend. Glad to see you. :people_hugging::heartpulse::people_hugging:

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Even if there are no other issues behind your alcoholism, thereā€™s still a life to build without drinking. And to do that good and right and successfully and meaningful I feel doing the steps can be very helpful.

One thing addicts donā€™t understand is that living a good life takes work. Lots of it and for the rest of our lives. I think doing the steps helps with doing that work.

And this is coming from someone who didnā€™t do the steps, has some serious issues behind my addictions and works on those in therapy. Works for me because I do the work. And keep doing it.

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Oh man. I hope the doctor can help you figure that out. No benefit outweighs not getting to sleep!! Yes TGIF & good on you advocating for yourself here xo

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I think of it like cleaning my house.

I dont get to just do it once and its done forever. There fixed! I gotta maintain it, clean it in some ways daily, bigger cleans weekly & then you know those spring & fall cleans and spending time sorting through everuthing we store in the basement :slight_smile: Its never ending cause we live here, and its not even like i clean so that its ā€œcleanā€ (2 kids hi) i clean so it isnt disgusting! Lol.

Anyway, not sure if this helps but I totally get the ā€œlets get on with itā€ business. I got through the steps my first time when i was 21 and i didnt understand people who said go round and round them.

I will say this: i have never heard anyone regret or say their sorry they threw themselves in the steps. Step 4 really catches people up, its a lot, but you wont be sorry you did it. And if AA & the steps arent for some, theres all kinds of others ways we can work on ours (the daily maintaining, the deep cleans and you know the emergency bucket mop situation when the sump pump starts acting up).

Xo.

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60 daysā€¦I couldnā€™t hold it together for 60 minutes
Itā€™s crazy im actually sober

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Day 56
Tired, kind of sad, injured armā€¦but no alcohol. :+1:

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Congrats on 60 days! Crazy youā€™re still sober? But wonderful, no?

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Congratulations on your 60 days Barber
Thatā€™s huge!!
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:pray:t2::heart:

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Sorry about your arm, but you are racking up those days anyway! Thatā€™s huge!:heart:

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Iā€™m checking in on day 120.

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11 month today no cigarette for me here :blush:
Although it wasnā€™t a DOC really but just a but habit Iā€™m glad I left it behind me for good :blush:

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Hey all, checking in on day 1244. I hope everybody has a good one!

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Thatā€™s so freaking awesome! Well done!
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Miss you, friend. Hope youā€™re hanging in there and finding moments to yourself to just breathe. Even 30 seconds at a time help. Use those bathroom breaks wisely :sweat_smile: Sending hugs. :heartpulse:

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Day 99,

Just checking in.

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I was wondering how often you workout at night? It could be part of why youā€™re having trouble sleeping. Iā€™ve found I canā€™t workout after 7pm if I want to make it to bed by a reasonable hour. Just a thought :bulb:

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