What a chilly morning for Christmas Eve! Woke up bright and early, it’s a nice to get an early start on the day. But it’s been a rocky week. Stumbled a few times. Tidied up a bit, trying to keep myself busy, although not entirely successful.
Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season.
Whatever you can do to keep yourself busy is a success. It doesn’t have to be productive. Keep up the great work… stay warm and enjoy your day🤗. We are here if you need us❣️
So nice to wake up on Saturday not hung over. It’s such a nice day out! Will take the dogs for a walk and enjoy the day. Hope everyone has a beautiful weekend!
How’s your nose?
A beautiful weekend indeed. Hope you are enjoying your day! It nice and sunny here (almost a spring like feeling)… Enjoying the quiet weekend 
Healing up quite nicely! The cut has closed up and there’s no bruising or sensitivity anymore. I might have a small scar but besides that it’s all good. Thank you for asking!
Just had a bit of a revelation. All this time I keep trying to find a way to stay sober but not change my lifestyle nor my social circle, yet both those things are essentially the issue. Yeah the loneliness can be hard and that scares me, having to “isolate” myself in a way but the social life I have now is not healthy. I need to let go of this idea that I can have the best of both worlds: fun party girl and the sober responsible life.
A bit of a ramble here, just trying to get thoughts out. My therapist suggested I write out all the pros and cons of substance use and put things into perspective. I should probably do that, write up a list and remember it.
Went snowboarding today, it was nice to get out even though it was freezing! Happy I did it though. It was nice to spend time with a friend that isn’t all about partying, should probably try to surround myself with more people like her.
It’s only 3pm so I can’t say today was a success because it’s not over yet. But I definitely feel good.
Sounds like a good plan for your sober journey! 
Snowboarding sounds cool too, I bet you had a great time!
Yeah this is a huge key revelation…we do need to change up our routines and social circles in our journey. Especially at first - we have to stay away from triggers. Our new routines and habits will become part of our daily fabric and help us stay sober
Heck yeah…so many amazing things to be done in sobriety 
.
Love that you got out and had fun with your friend 
.
Today was not easy. Not sure what happened but was just like a switch went off and I would have gone out for a glass of wine, even at the grocery store, the bottles were calling my name. Not sure when the last time I went 3 days without having a glass of wine or a beer, even if just casually. Really trying hard to commit dry January because when it rains it pours! And then it snows… for days.
My nose is healing up quite well, the scar will be minimal but there’s no pain. Dog has been the biggest suck in the world trying to make it up to me I guess, I think it’s absolutely adorable.
Welcome!!
Just started too… on day 19.
Wouldn’t be this far without this group!
Here to talk and support ya!
Take it slow through the days and plan some new ideas now for the weekends.
You got this!
Sorry for the hard day. You are doing great by not giving in. No comfort will come from drinking. Make a list and keep it with you in why you aren’t drinking. What drinking does to you and how shitty it makes you feel.
Keep pushing forward my friend… sleep sober tonight to wake up to a new day and one without a hangover. We are here if you need support
Thanks for the kind words @JazzyS and @Onedayatatime2
To make matters worse, I am taking online courses to finish up my diploma, and my marketing course this semester is doing a marketing proposal for a craft beer company… the entire semester is going to be about beer and selling beer… I clocked out a bit early and in bed now, figured if I sleep then I can’t risk my sobriety.
Going to bed early is wise. Sorry about the semester dealing with beer for your marketing class. It is tough but can be done. Know it’s temporary and you don’t need to drink one sip. Sending strength your way.
Just a thought on the marketing course, you could see it as a positive in your journey of sobriety. Really do a deep dive into how alcohol is marketed, and some of the ugly truths that they need to mask. By critiquing and analyzing how alcohol is marketed and why they need to market it in the first place may give you some insight into how you can resist that marketing.
That’s actually a very smart way to look at it. I didn’t think of that in the moment.
I made it thru the night! Very happy about that. Off to work pretty soon, will do something after work to keep myself busy. Thanks all for positive words 
So looking back at my original post, it was posted on Dec 8 yet today marks 6 days sober. Definitely stumbled considerably and wouldn’t say I’m stable by any means, if anything far from it. Last couple days have not been easy, my gosh, much harder than I thought it would be. I always considered alcohol being the gateway to cocaine and not really having an alcohol problem. I am noticing that maybe I relied too much on drinking. The last few days have been a struggle to not have a glass of wine after work, with dinner, just as a relaxing thing on the couch. It’s not so much that I want to get drunk but I’m not one of those people that can have just one. Unfortunately I have excluded most of the people I used to hang out with which means my nights are looonnngg and lonely. I wake up with no texts from anyone no contact, which is a good and bad thing.
To improve my situation I have been looking up work out classes and yoga type activities in my area. Things that I can do after work to keep myself busy and hopefully meet new people. Monday I leave for a business trip, that will be tough also but could be very good at the same time. The hotel I am staying at has an indoor pool that I will most definitely take advantage of!
So happy to have you here 
When I first got sober, I was a daily user/drinker and after 10 years I tried some drinking again only to find I was in a binge spot and this continued for some time before I got sober again…thankfully and with the support of a lot of beautiful people here
I know my doc is not necessarily the same, but some thinfs I share that helped me when getting sober especially getting through that first bit. The anxiety I found around the binge aspect was different because even if I was sober a few days and felt okay or good, it could just creep or slam in. Its a different patterns to break but can be done, and I think many people on here know the challenges of breaking that cycle…in the beginning I:
This is just what I did in the beginning and one god damn day at a time I added a bunch together and now I no ponger crave or have that desire to reach for alcohol (again my doc and I know all are different). I am wishing you luck my friend and hope you find your path through this and find all that will work for you. Work for it, fight for it and give it all you got. You are so worth it xo
Thanks for sharing your tips and tricks! Even if our DOC is different, in the end it’s all the same, we are all here because we want to do better for ourselves! Thanks for your words of encouragement. In bed now sleeping shortly and wake up tomorrow to a full week sober which isn’t something I’ve said in a long long time!