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    #3632
    Sigma Force
    Registered Users Posts: 5,132 ✭✭✭Sigma Force


    [Deleted User] wrote: »
    I just thought I would say its 656 days since I last touched alcohol :) It is possible and good luck to you All :)

    Wow, not far off your two year mark! Well done :) my bf will be two years sober next June. Still taking it a day at a time but it's always encouraging to hear others doing so well


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    #3633
    Tinwhistle*
    Registered Users Posts: 224 ✭✭Tinwhistle*


    139 days for me, never going back.

    One day at a time x


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    #3634
    scriba
    Registered Users Posts: 875 ✭✭✭scriba


    80 days and happy. :)


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    #3635
    Bonniedog
    Registered Users Posts: 6,665 ✭✭✭Bonniedog


    scriba wrote: »
    80 days and happy. :)

    Friend of mine is same. He gave up either the day of or after the All Ireland final.

    Myself, himself and a few others used to get the best part of a week out of that before!


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    #3636
    corkonion
    Registered Users Posts: 523 ✭✭✭corkonion


    Day 6 now, which probably seems insignificant to many, but is a huge first step for me.


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    #3637
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    corkonion wrote:
    Day 6 now, which probably seems insignificant to many, but is a huge first step for me.

    Not at all insignificant. Well done mate


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    #3638
    scriba
    Registered Users Posts: 875 ✭✭✭scriba


    Waking up to day 92 here, having been given a much-needed sleep-in. Closing in on 100 days now, think I'm going to restart running today. Hope things are going well for everyone, not every day is easy but the most important day is always today.


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    #3639
    Tinwhistle*
    Registered Users Posts: 224 ✭✭Tinwhistle*


    Hi all, hope we're all sober this evening.

    There will come a time when you won't be counting the days, it will just be a way of life to be sober, having said that, I'm on Day 153 (had to look at my app to see that)

    I'm still listening to 'This Naked Mind' by Annie Grace on audible. It's confirming my reasons for cutting alcohol out of my life.

    Have a happy, sober week

    T*


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    #3640
    kam3qnwvebf4jh
    Closed Accounts Posts: 138 ✭✭kam3qnwvebf4jh


    "This Naked Mind" book really worked for me. I liked the cognitive behavioural approach she took and how you really need to educate the subsconcious mind first if you really want to stay off it. 97 days clear currently.


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    #3641
    Tinwhistle*
    Registered Users Posts: 224 ✭✭Tinwhistle*


    Cecilia Hundreds Pocketknife wrote: »
    "This Naked Mind" book really worked for me. I liked the cognitive behavioural approach she took and how you really need to educate the subsconcious mind first if you really want to stay off it. 97 days clear currently.

    It makes sense! If only I'd have read it years ago.

    T*


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    #3642
    Tinwhistle*
    Registered Users Posts: 224 ✭✭Tinwhistle*


    Hope everyone is well. Who has plans in place for staying sober at Christmas parties/nights out/Christmas dinner etc. Would be good to share ideas.


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    #3643
    justback83
    Registered Users Posts: 359 ✭✭justback83


    Tinwhistle* wrote: »
    Hope everyone is well. Who has plans in place for staying sober at Christmas parties/nights out/Christmas dinner etc. Would be good to share ideas.

    Great idea. Bit of a challenge ahead for me....going on my first dry holiday tomorrow. International flight with free booze, will be weird not indulging but I'm not even considering it.


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    #3644
    Tinwhistle*
    Registered Users Posts: 224 ✭✭Tinwhistle*


    justback83 wrote: »
    Great idea. Bit of a challenge ahead for me....going on my first dry holiday tomorrow. International flight with free booze, will be weird not indulging but I'm not even considering it.

    Good luck with that Justback! How many days are you sober now?


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    #3645
    Bonniedog
    Registered Users Posts: 6,665 ✭✭✭Bonniedog


    Tinwhistle* wrote: »
    Hope everyone is well. Who has plans in place for staying sober at Christmas parties/nights out/Christmas dinner etc. Would be good to share ideas.


    Depends on how long you have been off it. If it is recent then better off avoiding them. It doesn't worry me any more that I might be tempted back, its just a waste of a day or night really when you could be doing better things.

    So I just give them a miss or stay until it is not too rude to leave. I don't mind other people drinking, but I don't particularly like spending hours with them!


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    #3646
    justback83
    Registered Users Posts: 359 ✭✭justback83


    Tinwhistle* wrote: »
    Good luck with that Justback! How many days are you sober now?

    170 days today!!

    One thing I've really noticed lately is that I'm not nodding off in meetings at all anymore! I've also noticed that a lot of people do nod off!


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    #3647
    Sandor Clegane
    Registered Users Posts: 1,060 ✭✭✭Sandor Clegane


    I wouldn't put myself through a work night out/Christmas party sober.

    Ever since I stopped drinking I've become a self inflicted recluse, drinking was the only thing that made me anyway sociable. Without it I just can't do these events.


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    #3648
    Tinwhistle*
    Registered Users Posts: 224 ✭✭Tinwhistle*


    Sandor Clegane wrote: »
    I wouldn't put myself through a work night out/Christmas party sober.

    Ever since I stopped drinking I've become a self inflicted recluse, drinking was the only thing that made me anyway sociable. Without it I just can't do these events.

    I know what you mean, drunk people look ridiculous and talk nonsense. I'm happy to stay home, warm and cosy with my family and let them get on with it. :D


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    #3649
    Bonniedog
    Registered Users Posts: 6,665 ✭✭✭Bonniedog


    Tinwhistle* wrote: »
    I know what you mean, drunk people look ridiculous and talk nonsense. I'm happy to stay home, warm and cosy with my family and let them get on with it. :D


    I've survived several Christmases without drinking. At first it seemed like an impossibility, but it actually becomes a lot more enjoyable.

    Then again there was a time when I thought that nothing could be enjoyable without drink so used to still go to pub and parties. For me at least it was only postponing a disaster waiting to happen. Giving up is not an end in itself. It is an opportunity to find better things to be doing with yourself.


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    #3650
    realdanbreen
    Registered Users Posts: 8,104 ✭✭✭realdanbreen


    Still I miss getting sick and making a complete tool of myself and talking shyte at the parties!


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    #3651
    Tinwhistle*
    Registered Users Posts: 224 ✭✭Tinwhistle*


    realdanbreen wrote: »
    Still I miss getting sick and making a complete tool of myself and talking shyte at the parties!

    I don’t 😂


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    #3652
    Sandor Clegane
    Registered Users Posts: 1,060 ✭✭✭Sandor Clegane


    Im just home from a quick spin into town, I happened to be stuck in traffic for a bit right outside a local pup I used to drink in, looking in the window really brought back all those memories of old and kind of depressed me, seeing the people at the bar, the pool table etc...it really gave me a longing for the days when I would of just went in and not left till closing.

    It's not the nights out with friends I miss, it's going to the pub on my own on nights like this or drinking at home I miss the most.

    No point dwelling on it, it's over, anyway after the health scares I got Id never go back.


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    #3653
    AmberGold
    Registered Users Posts: 1,284 ✭✭✭AmberGold


    Funny enough I was just driving through my local village this afternoon, it was pissing down, freezing and there was a mental wind. I saw some of the lads walking to the pub, probably to get settled in for the night, come 12.30 they’ll be chucked out into the miserable weather. Tomorrow they’ll be fit for nothing as I was 4 mornings a week out of 7.

    I was on my way home to crank up the heating, make a cup of tea and read the papers or watch something on Netflix with the kids. Like you I used to miss it, not any more.


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    #3654
    Amazingfun
    Registered Users Posts: 3,161 ✭✭✭Amazingfun


    Sandor Clegane wrote: »

    It's not the nights out with friends I miss, it's going to the pub on my own on nights like this or drinking at home I miss the most.

    No point dwelling on it, it's over.


    Any ex-problem drinker who gets that, the hard- to- digest truth that "it's OVER", has a really good chance of staying sober for good imo.

    Like you and many others here, I loved drinking alone too, and part of my awakening to my alcoholism was just that--realizing for the first time that I seemed to love alcohol even more than the people in my life. A kind of cringe moment, but has served me well to see it and accept it.

    This will be my 16th sober Christmas in a row, and I am as grateful now as I was for the first. Having money for presents, showing up when I say I will, not letting loved ones down or have them spend the holidays wracked with worry over where I am , etc, all of this continues to bring me a real sense of joy.

    Blessed and I know it, because I am aware there will be a lot of unhappy households this Christmas due to alcoholism and the insane antics that go along with it.

    I am not saying anyone else here is "alcoholic", just acknowledging that I am. I am a member of AA, and encourage anyone else new, or not so new and maybe struggling, to avail of the many free AA meetings around the country--and online.

    https://www.alcoholicsanonymous.ie/aa-meetings/find-a-meeting.299.html

    Wishing you all a beautiful Christmas season :)


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    #3655
    kam3qnwvebf4jh
    Closed Accounts Posts: 138 ✭✭kam3qnwvebf4jh


    I've managed to keep my social life somewhat intact by continuing to go out, but choosing to drink alcohol free beers and stayinging outside of rounds. It works for me at the moment but I guess I would have considered myself more of a binge drinker before than a chronic alcoholic, although I felt like I was certainly heading that way.


    To pick up on something that AmazingFun said in terms of "joy". I do find more joy in the everyday now that I'm sober. Life can still be sad, boring, happy or exciting but it's now a joy to always be able to appreciate life for what it really is, here in the now, without the alcohol wrapping a wet blanket around you and preventing you from experiencing life on its own terms.

    Stay strong and beautiful. Happy Xmas to you all !


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    #3656
    JupiterKid
    Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 12,571 Mod ✭✭✭✭JupiterKid


    I’ve managed to detach the once incredibly powerful association between Christmas and alcohol.

    How many family Christmas dinners or Christmas days have been ruined by excessive drinking? Being around some family members you can barely stand anyway and when the booze starts flowing, lips get loose, tempers fray and rows and fights ensue. Not nice at all. :( Especially when children witness such things.

    Since getting sober, I have regained my career (slowly, but getting there) and I have rediscovered a love of painting and creative writing.

    None of which was possible when I was sitting in my house, putting away a bottle of vodka a day.

    Happy Sober Christmas everyone! :)


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    #3657
    Tinwhistle*
    Registered Users Posts: 224 ✭✭Tinwhistle*


    JupiterKid wrote: »
    I’ve managed to detach the once incredibly powerful association between Christmas and alcohol.

    How many family Christmas dinners or Christmas days have been ruined by excessive drinking? Being around some family members you can barely stand anyway and when the booze starts flowing, lips get loose, tempers fray and rows and fights ensue. Not nice at all. :( Especially when children witness such things.

    Since getting sober, I have regained my career (slowly, but getting there) and I have rediscovered a love of painting and creative writing.

    None of which was possible when I was sitting in my house, putting away a bottle of vodka a day.

    Happy Sober Christmas everyone! :)

    For us Christmas isn't about getting drunk anymore...great feeling! I was out with a couple of friends last night, we had dinner and chatted. It's strange seeing others gradually slurr their words and sway as they walk. One of my friends was driving so didn't drink, the other looked spaced out by the end of the evening, interesting....


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    #3658
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Been watching this thread from the sidelines for a bit. Very encouraging thread and its always a feel good thread the way people post their stories and help others when they fall off the wagon.

    I myself wouldn't be an everyday drinker and could go weeks without drinking but when i would drink i would hit it hard for 1 or 2 days and just be filled with guilt and regret. But lately it was more, it was the feeling really down for about a week after. I also wouldn't exercise for a week after. i have gone months before without booze and even went nearly a year but always thought i was missing out on something.

    Decided back in September that there was actually no benefits to drinking, the new drink drive laws were coming and it seemed everything was starting to stack up against alcohol. i decided to take up running and get off the booze. I read Allen Carr and 'this naked mind' for motivation and just to turn me off booze. Whilst those books i found generally targeted the heavy boozer and not the binger i still found them decent and they do make you think a lot more about the brain washing we have been blitzed with from an early age. i realised a lot of the 'casual' and 'i can take or leave it' drinkers actually have a far worse addiction than they realise and are just lying to themselves.

    I used the experiment with a few friends, told them i am running and not letting alcohol affect it. Told them i liked a beer watching a football match so i got heineken zeros at home. I told them in general it was having the beer i enjoyed. They came back with the whole i can take it or leave it and they like the taste of beer. That convinced me they are addicted to the alcohol because anyone who has had heineken zero (nice and cold) will know if it was given in a pint glass you actually wouldn't taste the difference. i also threw out there that when i would have 2 beers in the past watching a game on a Sunday it limited me as i couldn't drive so having an alcohol free drink meant i could still enjoy the beer and hop in the car and do what i needed to do, still they came back with the ' i enjoy the Sunday session'.

    Its also made me realise and question why i wanted to go to the pub. i was sitting down talking crap with people who considered themselves not addicted but could think nothing better to do on a Sunday than to drink the whole day in the pub. I decided i did not want to turn out like one of these so called casual drinkers, the ones who drank cause they enjoyed the taste or wanted to be social, which after 5 pints turned into a moan fest and telling people what they reallly thought. Dont get me wrong, there are some great characters in pubs, but i do wonder are they the same bubbly person at home. Most of them are going to the pub to escape the home life they probably despise.

    I also used work in a bar for years and i have taken note of the amount of people that have died prematurely, its scary, people in their 30s, 40s and 50s. I have noticed the ones that make 60 normally live on till their 70s.

    The great thing about Ireland today is the move away from alcohol, yes i know its still huge. But there is a shift and when i run on a Sunday morning, there are loads of runners, cyclists and walkers out at the crack of dawn. Its inspiring to say the least.

    In the past i have gone off booze with great intentions, but this time i am over 3 months and i have developed a type of hatred towards it. Its a feeling that i have absolutely no desire to drink. I get maybe 6 heinekens zeros for the month and i am satisfied with it. I dont feel i am substituting, i am merely enjoying the beer i always did without the lethal side effects. Even as time is moving on, the desire even for the beer is wanning.

    Books i would recommend are

    Allen Carrs 'Easy Way to give up Alcohol'
    Annie Grace 'This Naked Mind'

    Non alcohol related - Ekhart Tolle, all of his books.

    Would love to hear other peoples book recommendations.

    Just actually did a count and i am actually on day 100


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    #3659
    Ardillaun
    Registered Users Posts: 2,535 ✭✭✭Ardillaun


    Nice piece in the Sindo by Declan Lynch:
    Indeed, if you are thinking of embarking on such a process of change, the one thing that I can almost guarantee, is that you won’t regret it. If you decide to stop drinking today, and you stay stopped for six months, or maybe longer, you will have all sorts of feelings about the way that it’s going, but I can say with some certainty that regret will not be one of these — though you may regret that you didn’t do it a long time ago.


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    #3660
    kevohmsford
    Registered Users Posts: 3,316 ✭✭✭kevohmsford


    1932 days.

    Never going back.


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    #3661
    drydub
    Registered Users Posts: 111 ✭✭drydub


    10 months and 22 days today.
    Cruising.
    But life has come at me hard. My dad has a terminal diagnosis and it's a case of when :(
    I'm heart broken and all I want to do is go for a pint with him. We talk about it and he would love it and he's hospital bound and we are trying to work on him getting out of hospital so he can get some air and experience life for one last time. I suppose my head is battling all the emotions that are going on and aside from the pint id love to share with my dad i just want to escape from my head. End rant.


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