Friday Night Success

Life in Recovery
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I’m on day 28 today and I met a girlfriend at a restaurant downtown after work to catch up. She had two glasses of wine and I had sparkling water. We had such great conversation and after we paid we both decided to walk a few blocks and look around.

We stopped into a social club to look around because I’ve been considering getting a membership. The people there were lovely and we felt so welcome.

If I had had a drink, I would have had two or three and next thing you know my tab would be $70. I also know I would’ve stopped off and gotten alcohol to sit and drink at home, especially since my kids aren’t home tonight. Subsequently, I would never make it to my Spenga class tomorrow and would beat myself up all day for not honoring my promises to myself and creating a domino effect.

It was such a lovely night. I feel so proud of myself and I’m looking forward to my workout tomorrow.

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:people_hugging::handshake: Way to go! Super proud of you!! You stood strong and didnt fold. Congrats on 28 days (4 weeks or 1 month)
Keep on Keepin’ on :flexed_biceps:

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Chat, do I say it or not?

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Thank you so much!

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I don’t understand?

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Nice on having that willpower! Saturday workouts are the best!

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Working that sober muscle is a great feeling. Knowing you can do the things and not end up on a 4 day bender and actually enjoy things and come away feeling good about it is very powerful.

Nice work :clap:

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Well done but my experience early sobriety can be testing be careful dont get to confident about going to bars wish you we

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I’m with @Ray_M_C_Laren on this one be careful in your early days addiction can be very sneaky and trick us in early sobriety

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That’s awesome! Going out and remembering is one of my favourite things about sobriety. Not everything social needs to revolve around alcohol. I would advise caution about hanging out with people who drink in front of you, especially so early in your sobriety journey.

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Thank you! And I’m headed to the gym now :slight_smile:

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12

That’s exactly it!

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13

That’s honestly probably my fault a little. I’ve told friends I’m fine with it, and I think it’s because I’m so fearful of being left out. What would you say to friends who drink in front of you or who ask if you mind?

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I’ll be #4 on this one, be careful - but good job :right_facing_fist: :left_facing_fist: :saluting_face:

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If you keep going to bars with friends feeling left out, youll feel left out from the actually drinking.

Thus, the same cycle begins.

Go to a sober meeting, go to AA.

Yeah, its scary, yeah it might feel weird, yeah you might not feel the need to.

But, i remember writing a post similar to this 5 years ago.

In my sobriety of a little more than 4.5 years sober of drinking.

I can honestly say, i went to the bar, for non food reasons about 10 times in 4.5 years.

Priority is yes working through the, “i feel left out” but what are we going to do this forever?

No..because eventually you will drink, you will fall at a bar.

After awhile, and sobriety time, i’d say a year. You won’t even want to really step into one.

See if you friends will get coffee with you one morning, or go do literally anything else that you wanted to try.

Sitting around a bar long enough and you will drink.

I know, there could be a rebellion in your mind about all these things im saying. But, from experiance and seeing people do the same thing.

We’ve all fallen to drinking, thinking we could manage our own emotions, and decisions in tight situations.

Im not saying its easy, im just saying there is life past a bar.

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Nothing, early on, i’m not putting myself around to many drinking situations.

Early on, meaning the first year.

Get right with yourself, the problems drinking caused, all of it.

But, if i was around people who drank and they asked if i wanted a beer. I just say.

Not today.

Never had there been a follow up.
If there was, im sober, i dont drink.

As for friends drinking that dont want to quit.

Thats on them, just like the choice is yours.

But, step 1 is a declaration of..

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In the early days, I avoided potentially triggering situations. I treated sobriety like the most precious, number one priority in my life. The fear of missing out is real, but if spending time with drinkers tempts you to join, maybe you could suggest other nonalcoholic activities…? Nowadays, I don’t actually mind if people drink in front of me, my husband will usually have a beer when we eat out. But he never drinks / brings alcohol at home and I still avoid going out in the evenings when everyone and their dog is having a glass of wine.

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