That's just your anxiety talking.

Read Escape by Dr. Jay Faber.

It's a free book and as a result of reading it I'm 3 months sober.

Cheers brah, will check it out.

I highly recommend checking out and attending some meetings; they can be helpful and it is a good place to meet potential friends/support group who is also in recovery. I really believe that successful recovery really relies on having a support network. It's not a definitive requirement, but is immensely helpful.Hell yes it is!


And for my own check-in: still feeling like I'm fighting off some sort of cold. It's ****ing really pissing me off, but I am glad that I am not more sick than I am feeling. If my math is correct, today is my 45th day clean which is the longest period of time I've been clean since 20-21 years old. My UA color was called today, so I went down and did that. And then I had a mental health counseling session this afternoon.

I'm sorry to hear that man.

It's Friday and you're rolling into the weekend. Do what you need to do for a day or two. Get pissfaced, degen, etc. But it stops on Monday. You got a huge blow - process it the degen way, like many of us do, but come Sunday night you're having a good meal with loads of protein, sodium, potassium, etc (go to chipotle and get a bowl with double beans, double meat, double veg, cheese and guac) and go to bed. Wake up Monday ready to attack the day sober. Now is legit the best time in decades to be on the job hunt. You'll probably get a job paying more than you made at the last one.

Good luck and keep your head up.

damn, one of my best friends from high school isnt doing too well. ever since we were teens we were about that degen life. drugs, alcohol, whores. but he would always push it to the absolute limit. went to multiple rehabs, multiple psych wards. now we're in our late 30's and I somehow managed to get my life together but not him. he comes from a rich family and his parents always threw money at him, he never had a job. seems like his only job was not to do drugs but he failed. now for the past few years hes been having major health problems, everything caught up to him finally I think. he has some sort of prostate infection that is fukking him up. not to mention mental stuff. went to his place yesterday (baller bachelor pad) and the place is a mess, looks like a hoarders apartment, trash everywhere, boxes of medicine (looks like a pharmacy), used syringes, clogged toilet, he looks like he has one foot in the grave.

Fook. It must be horrible to see someone on self destruct modeI hope he manages to get some kind of help.

Jesus. I'm really sorry to hear that. A scary warning of the future - at least for me - if I don't keep recovery #1. Is he open to receiving help?

How can you ****ing say that?

Redraider can you please tell him that's simply not allowed?

Lol @ telling someone that "Just start tomorrow". That has no place in a sobriety thread...negged.

he'd have been asked to leave the meeting in aa

I'm making a video about it later. I asked my girlfriend and she also doesn't understand those people who live a sober weekday to indulge in the weekend wars.

And to drive the point home, if weekdays and weekends had equal value to everyone, it's like saying "get phucked up for two more days bro. You can start then."

Literally telling someone to procrastinate on self-improvement is not it.

My heart is with you folks that are struggling to stay sober, or haven't taken the first step in doing so.

NosyJossie coming in strong supporting everyone.

he's open and hes been receiving it his whole adult life basically so not sure what can be done. he always thinks he knows better and he can somehow start controlling it. a few years ago he went so hard he almost died and had a mental breakdown and ended up is a psychiatric hospital. after that for a couple years he thought he was somehow enlightened by that experience, was telling everybody hes zeus. then his prostate got infected and he basically locked himself at home for a few years. he cant get it to heal because his health is shiz. drinking, drugs, testosterone and other types of pharmaceuticals (like I said he has huge boxes of different medicines all over his apartment, its crazy). his kitchen looks like a pharmacy where a bomb exploded, I was scared to go in there. like half a year ago he discovered day trading, his dad gave him 250 k and he blew it all in a few months.

it has to be caused by the way he was brought up. my bro theory is that he was molested (his younger brother came out as a tranny a couple years ago), something weird going on in that family. he said its because he had hardcore helicopter parents, I guess thats true in a way but on the other hand he always did what he wanted so not sure how that could be the cause.

I dont really see a happy ending to his situation anymore.

I've had friends in those situations that ended up dying and taking their own life (srs).

Unfortunately the only thing you can do is palliative care and be there for emotional support.

You can't help someone that doesn't want to be helped brah.



Enough of this sappy chit though. How's everyone doing today? About to go embrace the suck with kettlebells. See you in an hour.

So I thought about this, but I don't think it's appropriate for me really to "moderate" this thread in the way you're suggesting - although I know why you are suggesting it!Everyone can approach recovery in their own way. I know what works for me, and if people want suggestions, I'll offer it from the perspective of what I did. Otherwise I'm just gonna stay in my lane.

And my lane = 2 years sobriety tomorrowFUNFETTI CAKE TIME!!!!!Thank you dear. You rock. Please contribute <3I'm so sorry to hear this. I have witnessed miracles, and people experiencing multiple psychological breakdowns who somehow get it figured out. I'll keep you and your friend in my prayers. Thanks for explaining a little more.

Nice job on tomorrow being two years hot damn. I had my 45 days yesterday, which is the longest I’ve been clean since I was 20-21 years old. And yes, miracles can happen. I literally lost touch of reality for a while, but was able to come back. There are unfortunately others who aren’t so blessed though.

Duly noted...also you calling me a nut job?

Negged for singling me out, srs.













(not srs)

UPDATE:

Sat - drank a whole bottle of vodka... 16.5 units (26 oz)
Sun - drank 10 units vodka (15 oz)
Mon - drank 8 units vodka (12 oz)
Tue - drank 8 units or 12 oz vodka
Wed - drank 7 units or just under 1.5 bottles of wine
Thu - drank 6 units or 9 oz vodka
Fri - drank 10 units or 15 oz rum
Sat - drank 5 units or 7.5 oz vodka

Slipped up on Fri unfortunately. I was dumb and thought I'd switch up the taper with a little rum since the weather has been nice. I realize I'm not drinking for enjoyment, but instead to taper down so I don't hurt myself... Basically like medicine... but I stupidly caved in. Ugh.

Good news is tonight I only had 5 drinks which is the lowest in months. Gonna use tonight as a springboard and cut down heavy over the next few days down to zero.

Been at this for a full week and a little bummed it's taking this long. I should have been more aggressive with my taper, but as long as I don't slip again I think I'll be fine. Planning on 4 drinks tomorrow, 3 drinks on Monday, and 2 drinks on Tue. Sobriety on Wed with hopefully no or minimal withdrawals!

Hope everyone else is doing well and making progress!

Big titty sober mommy says love and tolerance are our code. ChillEveryone is welcome ITT, regardless of if they're sober, sober curious, or think we're massive *******s. For me, this is a good chance to practice being kind to those still sick and suffering, just like me

Hey good morning everyone! Hopefully everyone’s weekend has been going well and filled with sobriety!Yeah I agree with this sentiment. There’s gonna be people in different stages of change like pre-contemplative. This is for everyone that has a curiosity and interest in sobriety.

Are you guys ready for the upcoming week? Any accomplishments over the weekend and/or any challenges?

I had a good day today after having feeling physically run down all week. Stayed clean throughout even though I have had a lot of cravings for kratom this week. Finally made another video too; I'm finding the blogging and vlogging to be a helpful way to essentially journal.

UPDATE:

Sat - drank a whole bottle of vodka... 16.5 units (26 oz)
Sun - drank 10 units vodka (15 oz)
Mon - drank 8 units vodka (12 oz)
Tue - drank 8 units or 12 oz vodka
Wed - drank 7 units or just under 1.5 bottles of wine
Thu - drank 6 units or 9 oz vodka
Fri - drank 10 units or 15 oz rum
Sat - drank 5 units or 7.5 oz vodka
Sun - drank 4 units or 6 oz vodka

I usually start drinking anywhere between 6-8 PM.
Yesterday, late afternoon, I was definitely feeling it a little dropping down to 5 units from my slip up of 10 units the day prior.

Started around 2:30/3pm with anxiety, fuzzy head, lack of motivation, etc. Sure enough, after a couple drinks around 6pm I felt fine.

Going to finish this taper up over the next few days.

Also, today I started focusing on an overall healthy lifestyle. I feel like I am low enough in my drinking right now to begin working out, tracking cals/macros, and working on improving well being (meditation, exercise, daily Devotionals, reading, etc).

Hope everyone has a good week and continues with positive progress.

One day at a time.

Hell yeah sounds like you're making progress and you have clear goals.

Repping ppl ITT for battling one of the hardest things in their life, being sober in such a society that has such an emphasis of getting Yucky wit the boys. Is damn hard.

Nice! I can't watch the video now but I will laterI am just loving this thread, so much positivity and people helping others. We're all gonna make it

You know, I'm not really tempted anymore and I work more towards emotional sobriety. That said, I've got a cycling event tonight where there will be mucho, mucho free alcohol and flower floating around, neither of which I need to be a part of. Instead I'm going to focus on cheering on my friends and being helpful wherever I can.

Was far more nervous about a work trip next week that involved multiple client dinners and happy hours but that was cancelled, phew.

Mirin bro. Also mirin that you recognized that you caved in and aren't drinking for enjoyment anymore. "There are none so blind than those whowill notsee".

You're well on your way bro, keep it up! And, for me at least, focusing on an overall healthy lifestyle definitely helps. It fills the void. Think of smokers who end up eating a ton trying to quit, or people who vape tying to quit. For most people, just quitting something cold turkey without some kind of replacement creates a void, and that void is all you think about. When you fill that void with something productive, that becomes what you focus on.

Outstanding so far, stay the course!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsTLkZ71ANA

Here is Allen Carr's Easy Way Method to Stop Drinking.

Good luck everyone.

Hey everyone! I hope everyone has been having a great day filled with victories. The weather is ****ing beautiful here, I am about to go crush a workout.Yeah I agree, the positivity has been awesome. It has been very helpful for my recovery so far. And I like that term; emotional sobriety. Makes sense considering we either hid from or tried to alter our emotions with drinking and substance use.I concur with focusing on a healthy lifestyle. My belief and experience with recovery is that it's not just as simple as stop drinking and/or using drugs. That void needs to be filled or you likely will not be successful.I think it was Nikki Glaser on Joe Rogan who recommended this book. I need to check it out, I've heard good things about it.

Thank you for the kind and encouraging words. Repped.

I totally get where you're coming from with the smoking analogy. I've seen a lot of people kick booze and replace it with smoking or food... or quit smoking and replace it with food, vaping, chew, etc..

I want my experience with getting sober to be the opposite. I want getting sober to be a springboard to improving a lot of areas of my life that gone downhill over the last 5 years of alcoholism.... decline in physical, mental, emotional, spiritual health with a overall sense of laziness and lack of motivation. Looking to turn that all around!

UPDATE:

Sat - drank a whole bottle of vodka... 16.5 units (26 oz)
Sun - drank 10 units vodka (15 oz)
Mon - drank 8 units vodka (12 oz)
Tue - drank 8 units or 12 oz vodka
Wed - drank 7 units or just under 1.5 bottles of wine
Thu - drank 6 units or 9 oz vodka
Fri - drank 10 units or 15 oz rum
Sat - drank 5 units or 7.5 oz vodka
Sun - drank 4 units or 6 oz vodka
Mon - drank 3 units or 4.5 oz vodka

Feeling pretty good. Think I'm going to switch to light beer the next couple days to finish this off. Pour out any remaining hard liquor in the house.

Got In a good workout today... first time lifting in a few months due to a back injury.

The main issue right now (and this happens every time I get sober so I'm used to it) is that I can't fall asleep. Every night I'm not falling asleep until 3 or 4 am. Going to try to take some benadryl around 12 tonight so I can hopefully get to sleep earlier.

Yes! Trying really hard not to be a "dry drunk" or "dry user." The Grapevine (are you familiar with it?) has a book called Emotional Sobriety that my women's meeting is reading together. It's basically a collection of vignettes from The Grapevine published over the years that are directly tied to emotional sobriety, feeling your feelings, turning your attention towards others, etc.I've heard people say no one ever died from lack of sleep. Now I don't know how true that actually is, but it's probably gonna suck for a while until your body adjusts. You're absolutely crushing this - it's an absolute joy seeing your updates every day. Keep it up!