|
Post by quitat54 on Feb 14, 2017 18:58:19 GMT -5
Hi everyone
I have not been posting for 2 months... I just logged in and noticed that neither has anyone else. Except for Jenn, who keeps this site going. I would understand that some of our American friends are in troughs of deep depression because of recent Presidential election... or they are too busy rejoicing... Either reasons are good excuse for me. But what about the Aussies and everyone else? Where are all the writers that kept this site alive with their wisdom and helpful advice? Maybe they ran out of writing juice or think that there is no one reading anymore. How about that Gramps? I know that this site has not been the same since we got shot down by about.com. I remember those days... with anxiety and with a form of nostalgia. Not for the way I was then, but for the lively participation and help I got by reading other people and their helpful experience-sharing.
I have been sober for 18 months now. I am still vigilant but not fearful anymore. I embraced my sober life and think with dread about the way I lived. Just watched my second Superball without drinking beer and it was great. I deeply believe that for people like I, the only way is the sober way and I never even think about 1 drink. For me there is no such thing. To repeat the quote used by others... "One is too many, 10 is not enough" I believe that. Anyway I hope that everyone is doing as well as I am with regards to this horrible poison we call alcohol. Just stopping by to say hi.
May The Sobriety Be With You.
J
|
|
|
Post by gwampa69 on Feb 14, 2017 21:43:51 GMT -5
Hey J Congratulations on 18 months! You sorta shamed me out of semi retirement I guess. I still check in here everyday but as you said, kinda figured if no one is reading, why write anything?
For a long time I wrote for my own therapy. It served me well. At some point I realized that I might be helping others with my rambling and that thought sustained me for a while. Eventually I started to feel like I was sharing and baring for all the world to see and not getting much in return. That was pretty selfish thinking I guess but it's the truth. Then I kind of felt like I was done with the purging of my feelings. Turns out that was a mistake because feelings are always abound as long as you pay attention. That's something I stopped doing of late. Paying attention to how I was feeling. Anyway I guess my point is that the business of sobriety requires attention everyday. And if I'm going to continue (and I most definitely intend to) it would be best if I remember that. Thanks for the reminder.
|
|
|
Post by angelina1512 on Feb 15, 2017 6:10:40 GMT -5
Hello J and Sparrow (Brett) i too am guilty of just reading and looking in and not writing so I thought I would drop in and tell you all that I am doing just great. Next month will be 3 years for me. How time flies. I don't even think about it now, it just isn't in my life and isn't important any more. It's really a wonderful feeling. its also 18 months since I gave up smoking, now that has been such a roller coaster ride. Each trigger that comes along tries to re stimulate me to want to smoke, my junky thinking that only one, and we know how that thinking is just BS. penguin and I are both very happy in Tasmania, I am still working and on my days off I am painting. I'm also painting now using alcohol ink, yes don't laugh, it's alcohol ink. I use it on tiles and then light it with a flame and it burns off the alcohol and leaves a very vibrant colour. I love using it. I will try and include a photo at the end. i have made some wonderful friends here, it's good to have a laugh over dinner with a glass of coke:-)) penguin still flies lies all over Australia so I have free nights to get together with some girl friends. I have a new neighbor and she has a 5 year old daughter who just loves Mary (my dog) so at night they have a play out side together and if I'm feeling fit I go out and join them. since I gave up smoking I put on six kilos but I'm proud to say I have lost them all since before Christmas. so maybe we could get some of the others to write and catch up and fill us in on what's happening. it's so sad that this sight just died really. Maybe there are no alcoholics left, they are all cured lol. This is the alcohol ink tutu/angelina
|
|
|
Post by Mark_LA on Feb 15, 2017 14:52:13 GMT -5
Yay, an old-timers reunion catch-up thread! How nice! I check in here now and then and had thought of starting such a thread myself but didn't know what to say.
I miss the old About days too. I read a lot on the Sober Recovery site and find it useful for my sobriety maintenance, but I only rarely feel moved to post there. For some reason, it doesn't have the same spirit of community and camaraderie that our old site used to.
I'll be 4 years sober next month. I have my ups and downs, but I've never felt seriously tempted to resume drinking.
Good to hear that some of the old crew is still alive and kicking and sober. I hope to see posts from more old-timers here!
|
|
|
Post by jeyu0422 on Feb 15, 2017 20:02:04 GMT -5
Wow, I'm happy I decided to drop by the old neighborhood!
Hi J, Brett, TuTu, and Mark,
I hope some of our other old friends will see this and decide to post. It's so good to hear that everyone above is doing well. I'll be three years this April and that is hard to believe. Not that I have made it three years (well, I guess that too), but that amount of time has gone by so fast. I have absolutely no regrets for quitting drinking. Actually, I have very few regrets for the years that I spent drinking either. I've pretty much forgiven that Mark and moved on. I do find that my life is easily divided into two distinct periods, much like BC and AD.; maybe it should be BQ and AQ. I can tell you enequivocally, the AQ years, though they have been few, have been the most rewarding.
They say the very best friends are the ones who you don't have to talk to all the time to maintain a friendship. You guys are just that to me.
Later friends,
Mark/Jeyu
|
|
|
Post by angelina1512 on Feb 15, 2017 20:13:41 GMT -5
How amazing that we still care about this site and would like to spark it up again.
now we need some of the others to jump in as well and tell us how great life is without alcohol.
even though I still keep in touch with the other two musketeers and we will all be 3 years soon it would be great to swap life without alcohol stories, because those we can remember.
penguin was telling me a story the other day of what I did and didn't do when I was drinking, thank god that Tutu has been buried. Lol i was actually very embarrassed and couldn't quite believe what I would do.
example I would get up in the middle of the night naked and paint outside, all the lights on, it's a wonder the police weren't called and I was arrested. Funny now but OMG can you believe it.
i tried to climb out of the window one night and the only reason I believed penguin was the slats on the blind were broken, my foot got stuck.
now I'm just funny and I remember it lol.
come on some of you old members visit and tell us how things are, sober.
tutu/Ang
|
|
|
Post by gwampa69 on Feb 16, 2017 15:30:57 GMT -5
I second what Mark (of Texas) and Mark (of California) and Angelina (of TuTu fame) all said here. And thanks to J (of Canada) for striking up the conversation. It's great to see everyone pop up like a bunch of prairie dogs. I miss everyone and what we all did for each other. 18 months, 3 years, 4 years! Wow. It's great to see everyone doing so well. Things are good in Michigan. I've been to Thailand twice now. My girlfriend has been here twice as well. I may be going to the UK with her in April (she goes twice a year with her student group). So I'm looking forward to that. Lookout Stonehenge here I come (maybe). I also plan to make a buckingham palace guard smile or go to jail trying. Stayed tuned to CNN for that I guess. Anyways, life is good and let me just tell ya right now, plane tickets are a lot more affordable without any bad habits to finance.
|
|
|
Post by Sam on Feb 17, 2017 23:51:50 GMT -5
Hey folks,
Nice to see you all, it's been a while, I too miss the times when this place was more active.
I am doing well, semi retired now, been traveling with my lovely wife,we're soon to celebrate our 30th anniversary in two months. We got back from Quito, Ecuador just recently, what a city! We had a great time at 10 thousand feet above sea level.
I don't know how long I've been sober, but it has been a couple of years at least, I often look back at my career in drinking and what a monster I was. I can say that my wife's support all the years I was sick and her love and determination and not giving up on me helped me want to stop drinking, the other part of staying sober was up to me and it was not easy as I wanted to drink, and I wanted to drink a lot at all times.
I know more about my illness and my addiction to alcohol just about everyday now, it is on my mind even after 30 years of heavy drinking, I know the statistics and that I would've been a dead man had i not stopped....I had to stop, I can't say what program I used, I tried a few including AA.
I stopped because I have so much to live for, my love for drinking often times overcame even my family at a younger age, but now that I am older I had to choose, and I choose life with my wife and our children as hard as it was for me to decide.
God bless,
Sam
|
|
|
Post by yvan on Feb 18, 2017 4:20:18 GMT -5
Hi everyone. Old timers reunion! I too check in the forum now and then. Sure that I miss the good times of the forum even when we were not always talking about the beast. What can I say. My alcoholic life is dead and buried, I am me in real life and really and truly, it's amazing. I can't imagine a second losing my mind in a glass, knowing that it would wake up in me an addiction that I fought hard to get rid of. The nightmare of alcoholism is not for me anymore. Just started my 4th year sober and for sure, I'm not the same person and I'm still learning everyday as the light after the darkness will never stop to make me grow. Good to know that some of you are doing so well. We made it. Saying farewell to alcohol is a huge decision for an alcoholic. We can be proud to be where we are now. I was told years ago that there is a life after alcohol but I had to make it without it to know what living sober means. It's black and white. I enjoy everyday and every moment of my life. Family, friends, hobbies, job, always busy, life is good. I will be in France with my family in April, also enough with winter in England even if I don't hate it as I used to and that's what I am, a grateful alcoholic. It makes my life so much easier and much more enjoyable, so many things and little things in life that I didn't see, measure and appreciate when I used to drink and bring me now true and real joy. One million times NO, I couldn't be again the alcoholic I was, better to be dead, honestly. So, tutu, Jenn, jeyu, Brett, Mark, J, Sam, Pam, good to 'see' you all well and giving some news. I am so happy to know that my friends I met and shared with on the forumily are well and happy. Take care all and hugs to each of you.
|
|
|
Post by angelina1512 on Feb 18, 2017 4:53:47 GMT -5
Hello everyone,
it was was so nice to come and look tonight and see that Sam and Yvan are both well and happy.
Yvan I have such fond memories of you and the forum and how you use to make me laugh, until I cried, until I would fall out of bed. Such good times, so sad that we have all parted and not keep in touch so much.
Yvan I often wonder about you and your boat vantu, I think that is what it's called, and how about the cows, have your caught one yet?
so much to know. Sam it's good to hear that you and your wife are doing so well and that you made it through the other end.
i am often very grateful that my husband also stood by me, now I appreciate him so much more. He still drinks, I don't have a problem with it, I go buy his alcohol if he is away and I know he has had a hard week I will call in and pick up a bottle of scotch.
we went to a distillery a few weeks ago. NANT distillery in Tasmania, they have a taste testing so penguin thought he should try it. i got to smell it, it did nothing for me, either way, it didn't repulse me or make me want it. It was just something that I knew I could never have, but I would never want as well. It was good to just accept.
so here's to all of us that now are sober, happier, and happy to live life without it.
Maybe we we all should call in once a month at least and give a report on how life is, ups and downs as it can't always be perfect.
miss all you guys,
love and hugs,
tutu
|
|
|
Post by quitat54 on Feb 28, 2017 15:08:50 GMT -5
Hi All
It is good to hear from everyone and to see that everybody is doing well. I understand what you are saying Brett, what is the sense of writing if no one reads it. You guys have been my inspiration and I just wanted to check in. I imagine it sort of ... that everything that needed to be said regarding our battle with alcohol has been said. And if there is no one new that needs help time to move on. I hear joy in your new life and assured conviction that you don't miss the old life, don't think about alcohol. I like what Mark said about Before and After. Both lives have nothing in common. Even though I would not go to distillery I have gone to stores with alcohol, my son buys it sometimes. I have gone to bars to meet my friends (still not my favorite place to hang out. Don't want to tempt the beast). I put too much effort and suffered too much to become complacent or arrogant. At the same time I don't think that AA style of life appeals to me. To be constantly reminded of my illness. I know that rationale there is to support others and be reminded... but I enjoy the spirit of newness, sober life. I want to enjoy it and not be constantly reminded what screw-up I was and how pathetic my life was. I will always remember how pathetic my life was and how miserable I was. I am always vigilant and don't want to tempt faith. Having said that I want to enjoy the sober part of my life (whatever is left of it). As Sam points out I managed not to kill myself with booze, so hey, that is a lucky break and I don't want to waist that opportunity. I thought about going to other sites, but have not found one that I liked. Also, I found a lot of inspiration from you guys because you did it. You put the hard work and showed resilience and intellectual understanding what it is and what it takes. It is different for some that I have seen who still long and think that there will be a time that they can have one drink and be fine. And when they have that on occasion they think they are cured. Anyway, I am not knocking anyone down, but my philosophy is... roll up the sleeves and do the work. If you think there are magical solutions, you are not ready. As Mark LA once said " your desire not to drink has to be stronger than desire to drink". At the end it boils down to this simple maxim. No magic there. Once I crossed that threshold, I began to feel what it means to be free. Good to hear from all of you.
Angelina, congrats on your smoke free life. Keep it going girl, 7 years for me. It gets better and better. J
|
|
|
Post by slimkim on Mar 1, 2017 7:09:26 GMT -5
Glad everyone is doing so well. The thing that attracted me to this forum vwas that it was full of practical ideas and not AA based. The only higher power I believe in is my dead grandma.ive been to so many meetings where they rave about sponsor and higher power. That's what I got out of this site pure and simple, just practical ideas. All dayevery day.not much to add.
|
|
|
Post by Dana on Mar 1, 2017 9:49:39 GMT -5
Good morning all! It's been awhile. Life is good in my neck of the woods. I came around yesterday and posted in my Dana's Journey the Sequel thread. It wasn't until much later that I saw this thread, and I'm glad I did. It is so good to hear from all of you! I love my sober life. All of the ups and downs, and ins and outs. I never thought I would be able to cope without my 'friend' alcohol. But I've been able to do just that for 2,159 consecutive days! The forum helped me get through some of my darkest days and I'm so grateful for everyone who participated. These days I still go to AA meetings, I like the f2f contact and helping others truly helps me. I also participate in the stepchat.com meetings from time to time. I'm also a grateful member of Alanon, there are some pretty good meetings around here. I love talking about recovery! And still, as much as I love talking about it - it doesn't consume me day and night like I thought it would. I actually don't think much about drinking and I don't think much about not drinking, it's a non-issue... just like grampadave said it would become. And that is amazing to me!
|
|