alcohol takes another one: ted koppel's son, Andrew.

What a shame.

Wow Bri. I just read that and thought about posting it here but decided not to. I'm guessing that he vomited while passed out and choked to death.

Another tragic story. 40 with a young baby. :(

Or just shut his respritory system down.

Either way - it's ugly.

Another painful reminder.

day 57.

Yay you!!! Attagurrl!

You're a Sweet Limey! :)

So, today I am working on my 4th step (made a searching and fearless moral inventory) and my 5th (admitted the exact nature of my wrongs).

They must be kidding! I can just see the founders of AA saying, "Look at that! The idiots are actually doing it! (snigger). I wonder what else we could fool them into doing?"

I am exhausted. I never realized so many emotions would surface in the process of doing this - so much anger and guilt. And this is with what I admit to being a shallow and terrified immoral inventory.

Looking back on my life, I am so filled with regret. Why on earth did I do all those stupid things? Why did I ever pick up my very first drink when I knew first hand what alcohol did to my father?

I have been putting off these two steps for a year, and now I know why. If Wolf's outfit wasn't so far away, I think I'd go check in at her place.

The one good thing about this is that I have a terrific sponsor who is very simpatico. The other good thing is that I am going to be finished with it soon.

For any of you 12-steppers out there who have done a 4th and a 5th, my hat is off to you.

Day at time - yep, yep. I now have a year and two months!

congratulations, Sammie.


I know how hard it is.

Proud of all of you making your way through your struggles.

Tomorrow marks my 52nd day of being smoke-free.

I'm proud of myself!

i come from a family of addictions. i struggle myself with nicotine in various forms, myself, and food as well. i feel a little blessed that alcohol is one that hasn't caught me as it has so many in my family but i've been intimately acquainted with the alcoholic process through said family and friends, as well as other forms of substance abuse. for those of you trying to fight your addictions, whatever they may be, please let me offer my heart-felt wishes of support and encouragement. you can do it - remember that. Even if you slip, don't give up. keep fighting your good fight to make your life better - it's worth it. Be strong, be proud, and be yourself. I'm pleased and proud for you all, even if I don't know you personally.

Thread Bump.

How are you doing? No false modesty.

Drinking metric assloads of coffee. Suck ass week but kept it together.:yeldead:

Two weeks tomorrow.
Longest time in a long time, if you see what I mean.

Keep it up SG!
BrianR hows the no smoking going?

poorly poorly.


but today is another day and I'm ok today.

As posted elsewhere. It was almost torture on my daughter's 18th birthday but next day was back to normal.

3 years sober and nicotine-free as of Halloween 2010. :)

Hubby has finally gotten on the wagon this past winter (he's had a few slips) and he's hanging in.

I also started a nutrition plan in September 2010 and I've lost 25 pounds and 4 inches in my waist.

Onward and upward.

..........still rollin' along on the wagon :D.

2722 days...or,

7 years, 5 months, and 12 days....

exactly.

Well played!

YAY, Stormie! I have one year and nine months. Coming up toward my two year mark on May 10!

I'm drinking water!

Well done one and all!

I found a site called CalendarHome.com and put in the dates.

691 days

No great anniversary there but it lists it in hours or minutes (or even seconds) too.

995040 minutes - almost a million!!

Nearly time to celebrate, pass me that..., well, maybe not...

Still sober and smoke free!

Coming up on two years on May 10th. Woo Hoo!

And congrats to Rhianne and Stormierweather!

Good work all!

needed a drink today.

it was great for about five minutes.
I've stopped now.

needed a miracle - every day. :D

Need a fucking drink... I won't, but just fuck you know?

I was just about to bump this thread. Really.
Be strong, Griff.

Don't say 'need', say 'want'.

I bet there are a lot of things you want.

How are we all going? How do we get through the "festive" season?

I'm getting more comfortable with not drinking at social gatherings. My real issue is avoiding booze when I'm stressed out. In an odd flip, my avoidance of religion has made it much easier to remain sober. I don't have some organization's concept of God judging my actions and beliefs. Life is a lot easier when you are not trying to force your mind to believe things which are obvious bullshit left-over from medieval control freaks derived from desert dwelling insanity. ymmv but mine is pretty good.

"Medieval control freaks" is a pretty good description.

I go to AA about once a week. It's all I can handle. If I go too much I just get pissed off and I'm pretty sure that's not the intent of the meetings.

I try to remember that "some are sicker than others" and to shut my ears to some of the nonsense. Just b/c it works for one person doesn't mean it will work for another.

I am taking steps to reduce my time with my mother. For some reason her anxiety triggers my anxiety and she is a Very Anxious Person.

Wow! ding ding ding. We're in the same boat on this one. I'll row over here, you take that side.

Anytime I want a drink, I just remind myself of what the hangovers felt like. So far, so good.

9 years, 2 months, and 19 days.

Still, after a round like I just had with my D16, I think of de-stressing with alcohol. Grrr.

34 days.

Good for you BB... has it helped with the vision at all?

I didn't realise there were so many wagoners here. Hmmmm...

It is remarkable unless its different in the general population than we're assuming.

Yeah maybe. I don't know if it's much of a thing over here though, or maybe not as much as it is in the US and maybe UK.

People sometimes 'go easy' for a while, meaning they're planning on not drinking too much for a while, or they might give up completely, but I don't think there's as many AA meetings here. Particularly not in Qld.

I dunno. Maybe it's different down south. We're a bit less organised about stuff like that up here maybe. I actually don't think I know a single person IRL who's been to an AA meeting. I know plenty who probably should, or might benefit from it though.

I used to "go easy" on the booze to "prove" it wasn't a problem, but I finally decided to stop. I'm not in AA, I don't think it would be helpful for me as a recovering Catholic. I'm better with taking control rather than giving up control. Being out of control was the issue as I see it.

Yeah, I see what you mean.

Sometimes I wonder if I should give up booze, but I don't drink all the time and I don't use it as a crutch, although there have been times in my life that I have. I guess I just wonder when you know you need to give up, and what's the difference between that and thinking it'd be better for your health (useless calories etc) to do so, and if you do give up then, is there some kind of mind set you need to stop yourself from boozing again, or is it even necessary?

How do you know when it's a problem and when you're mostly just a social drinker?

This thread keeps coming up....today will make two days shy of 20 years. Myself, I'm an AAer. I love the place, saved my life. Good on everyone in the thread, however you are going about it. It can be a hard thing, I know.

Irish heritage?;) I still don't have an answer for that. My social drinking often ended up in binging and vomiting. I just couldn't be happy with a light buzz. My relax at the end of the day scotch just got taller and taller... My little inside voice still says I could learn to drink sensibly and my usual attitude is to find middle way but with booze there is too much to lose. As a Dad, I don't want my girls to see me as a stupid drunk or ending up with a stupid drunk. In part, this is a gift to my descendents. But mostly, I have a good life and don't want to screw it up. Calorie reduction is something I haven't thought about much, maybe I should call it that and not cop to a serious flaw between my ears. :)

Good for you Joe!

Way to go, busterb! And it really does get easier if you can just make it through the first 90 days or so.

I've got about 2 1/2 years now. I go to AA a couple of times a week, but I'm with Bri. I tend to disagree with some of the stuff that gets said there. Plus, my Mom would drive me to drink, too. She has now passed on to a (hopefully) better place. She sure hated THIS life, though, and she made sure everyone around her knew it. Pass the Jim Beam, Mom. :drunk:

congrats regular joe! And busterb!!

Ali - an alcoholic lays awake at night wondering if they're an alcoholic.

Good for you Grif, for making it and for doing it the way that works for YOU.

I go to AA once/twice a week. Otherwise I get too pissed off at them and it gives me an excuse to drink. Not that I need one. I drink because I'm an alcoholic: I need no "excuse" no "reason" no "but I was molested at age 5..." bullshit story. those are all excuses. I need reality checks a lot.

alcohol is pure poison to me. It's no longer any fun at all to drink - it is only a blackout and then - 7-14 days of HELL

Sam = 'about 2 1/2 years'
Me = 2 years, 5 months, 9 days

Am I SamIam?

drinking.

buzzed.

Please take my keys.

Congratulating a drunk like myself for not drinking is like congratulating a cowboy with hemorrhoids for not riding his horse. I understand the sentiment though and commend anyone in my shoes for their efforts.

I disagree with you there, Joe.

Sure, you know that in the big picture you're better off not drinking, but for twenty years you have successfully resisted that sneaky little voice whispering .. go on .. just one ... a little one won't hurt ... etc.

You know that voice is bullshit, but it will sneak in at any moment of weakness. If you have seriously gone twenty years without a slip, you are bloody awesome.

No arguing.

50

Yay, Buster!!! Well done :)

My Mum is an alcoholic and so is my brother.

I know if I want Mum to pick the boys up, I have to call her at lunchtime so she doesnt get stuck into it.

My brother helped me drive up here (16 hours with 2 kids, 2 dogs, a cat and a bird - leaving at 9pm), but he could only drive for a few hours because he *had* to drink.

We fight about it a lot, he works in a job which means he has to be 0.00 alcohol and drugs and is tested regularly. This is for 28 days in a row, he has no issues during this time, but as soon as he is home he is drop down drunk. I dont know why my sister in law puts up with it.

Alcoholism is a strange and frustrating disease.

Especially to those of us that have it.

I do know how maddening we can be - not only am I one myself, I deal with lots of them, too, in various stages of illness/recovery. Sometimes I just want to shake them and tell them to WAKE UP! and I am one of the tribe. I know - soooooooooo frustrating.

sorry to all of you who have to deal with us. My hope is that we do, indeed, WAKE up and resist that seductive voice that Zengum does such a good impression of!

Hmmmm.... this is giving me ideas ....

First day today.
My word I feel grim.

I'm hoping that I'm just working through the worst of the hangover from last night and will soon start feeling better.
And that I will feel better every single day from now on.

No more morning retching which I have to disguise as a cough.
No more worrying about being too close to people in case they can smell drink on me from the night before.
No more worrying in the morning because I can't find the right amount of empty cans in my room so maybe I left one downstairs or in the computer room.

Oh and hoping to feel my gunt shrink, as opposed to feeling it grow a little every week.

Hello to my fellow travellers.
I might come here quite a bit to start with.

If it helps to be heard, have at. For me putting my intention out there helps me stay focused. Feel free to bounce things off us, its all the same price... or we can just shut up and listen.