Becoming Sober (Page 15)

Right, call the AA office, ask away.  I dont know about your area, but here in Chicago, the central office can even arrange to have someone go with you.  Not kidnap or drag you, because walking in is still your decision, but to accompany you and provide a little support.  Go for it.  If you dont like it you dont have to go back.

Just checking in on you all....hope all is well.

Looking forward to my first 30 mile ride Saturday!

Good, Good, Century Ride for the Tour de Cure is this Sat., and I am trekking the hour to Mellow Johnny's in Austin to see Chrissie Wellington tonight!  All is right with the world...

Awesome dudes...

I've been running everyday at lunch, I have a big book meeting tonight, my first triathlon in June and a 100 mike bike and a sprint in July, then a sprint in August and another in September.  I don't have time to drink!

Here she is!  She was awesome!  

Cool picture!  I'm going for my first OWS of the season on Sunday!!  (In Minnesota here, the water is still pretty cold)..

Wow.  I've been reading through this thread for the last hour.  I applaud your decision to express you have an issue and to seek help.

While I don't have an issue with drinking alcohol, my addiction is very similar to yours.  Mine is in the form of food.  I've learned alcohol, being fermented, is a type of sugar in the system, clearly affecting your mental state.  Alcohol is just the liquid form of sugar, my issue is taking my sugar in solid form with eating too much sugary food (that later ferments and creates an alcoholic state in the system).

I understand based on past counseling (been going on for the last 20 years weeks after changing my diet so rapidly), that the issue is not the food, drink, gambling, shopping, sex, etc.  Addictions tend to have the same dynamic.  Some people use one thing, others another.

What I find difficult with an eating disorder (namely overdoing it with sugar), is sugary foods are very accessible and not against the law to purchase at any age.  I don't have to have cocaine, meth, weed, even liquor.  But, sooner or later, my body does need to have some food in a solid form.

The sugar, when I over do it, takes over my life.  I've stolen food, stolen money to buy food.  It's caused issues with my digestion and teeth.  It leads to other addictions, like mentally bingeing on Hollywood movies that display a false reality and warp my thinking about this life and others.  This sugar addiction has caused me sickness, and missed days of work.

There have been days when I don't give in, eat responsibly, have regular exercise (s/b/r), regular patterns of sleep for several weeks, even months.  Then, "out of nowhere," I decide to "go south," and throw all that "good" down the toilet and buy a bunch of sugary foods and go on a total binge.  I abandon my workouts, don't see anyone, don't go anywhere.  It's just a horrible, horrible place.  Even though I know what the consequences are going to be, and how it will undo all my fitness and hurt my body, I go ahead and go south anyway.  It's still a struggle.

I've found that I have to watch not getting too hungry, but, still have not resolved why I eat more food after my physical hunger has been satisfied.  I still have not learned what is the root of this "on again, off again" roller coaster ride.

Hope you all are doing well!!

Busy is good!

I just got in from a 15 mile bike ride.  I went as hard as I could for most of it. 

It was good to get all the frustration out!

Keep your head up. If you ever need anything, you know where to find us.

I am getting really really tired of "friends" trying to get me to drink or come to the bar.  It just happened tonight, I bickered with them in my kitchen for 15 minutes before they left.  Then I get a text that says "we will stop and pick you up on our way home from dinner" 

Seriously?  You don't get it.  I don't want to drink!

End Rant.

Wow, you're being really strong and I'm proud of you for that! Stick to your guns; you're obviously handling yourself well and your new life seems to agree with you!

And as for the "friends"....well, yeah. Not so much

I was the same way.

Now I have realized it's nice to just relax.

You might have heard you need to get rid of your friends. That isn't exactly true. You can just wait... and after a while you and your friends will figure out you no longer have anything in common... they leave, you get new ones. It all works out.

wow big decision I commend you.  I have on occasion stopped alcohol consumption from Jan 1st through to Easter and whilst it wasn't an issue for me it seemed to be a HUGE issue to some of my friend - can I call them friends if they want to undo something good I'm doing for myself.

I think a lot of these so called friends are probably jealous of your will power and the decision you have made.  They see a weakness in themselves and they want you to be a part of that.

I have a HIM in a week and a half, this weekend I am going to a dinner party and I don't want to get roaring drunk but my friend says it's a boozy night and she won't take no for an answer, training or no training.  It's going to be tough - I don't have a problem having a couple of glasses of wine with my dinner - I think the way around this without offending my friend is just to drink slowly and keep up the water intake.  My husband is way stronger, he just won't drink and he's not training, they just now know him as a non-drinker but they mock him for it all the time.

Anyway - I digress - good luck on this path, it will be rocky at times but good friends will hold your hand and support you to the end.

 You worded that perfectly.

Ever run into the old gang when they're all lit up and you're sober? That'll really drive powerman's statement home.

It always bugged me how people can make fun of others for making the decision not to drink.  Social pressure is how it all started for me, then it just went downhill from there.  I wouldn't make fun of anyone who gets roaring drunk if that's their choice, so I guess I would want the same amount of respect in return.  

Maybe it's because their inhibitions are lower and they say and do things they don't want others to remember, so if your just as drunk you won't remember seeing it.  I don't know, I just dislike the amount of pressure.  

I have heard from those I used to drink with, that I am no longer "living life to the fullest".  Ummm I think I am living it a lot more now, because I have a life and it doesn't revolve around drinking.  It is my kids, my husband, and my training.  My life is a lot fuller than laying on a rug in the middle of the floor with the room spinning for hours, or waking up feeling like dung and having to go back to bed.  

I had a buddy that likes to push buttons, he kept the conversation about me just cutting back and switching to a different liquor.  Time after time I said, no, I can't drink anything anymore, I know where it would lead.  He persisted at the gatherings, giving me a dig here and there.  I finally said, "If you had lung cancer, would you just switch to Light cigarettes"?   I think he got the point...  And my circle of friends is slowly changing.   

With that said, I'm very happy how my long-time friends have treated me.  They just don't invite me out when they are going to anything that involves drinking.  They do invite me to other things, and one of them asked me how I would like them to handle drinking when I'm around.  

Everything is awesome right now...  

I think for a lot of "friends" who see a buddy quit drinking, they feel like they're loosing a friend and they don't know how to deal with it. So they resort to humor, jabs, sarcasm, or simply being mean about it. 

For me, it's kind of like when a girlfriend gets engaged or announces she's pregnant. Mentally, I mourn the loss of a friend because I know their priorities are changing - I've been through it many a-time and it's always the same (no fault to them at all). Things NEVER go back to the way they were, the relationship is never the same, and usually falls under the radar. Different life stages.

Same type of deal with any life change, I think, including becoming sober.
  

Drunks aren't nearly as funny and clever as they think they are. Except when I was. Of course I was a clever and funny drunk

That works for normal people....  I didn't associate with "normal" people. All my friends were just like me, drunks. Why in the world would I hang out with anyone else that is going to continually tell me I'm all screwed up? So what happens is, when sombody takes a look at what they are doing ... then it forces the others to do the same... they don't want to. So if they get you back in the fold, they can get back to oblivion and not have to worry about it because... "everyone else does it".

We surround ourselves with the things that will support our life style. If that is drinking, then when we no longer want to drink... we still have all the things surrounding us that supported it... friends, family, significant others, activities, hobbies. Is it any different if Church is your thing, or sports, or outdoors? So if your life revolved around hanging out and getting loaded... then you have a lot of work to do to build another one. But it is soooo worth it.

Even when I drank, I could not stand to be around anyone that was drinking if I wasn't. And yes... I knew I was just obnoxious as they were. Someone said back then I could be designated driver then... WTF would I vollunteer for that!!!