The giving up/cutting down alcohol support thread!

Pippilongstocking

come on then who else is up for a muskahound night tonight???

mollypolly

Well done Fay.
I am really pleased for you.I bet you feel really good.Keep it up
Love Mollypolly.

Hope everyone else is doing good....being where they want to be tonight,XXXXXXXXXXX

Bismarck

fayjmck wrote: »

Hey all managed a whole week AF - whilst I don't want to boast as I know its not pretty, am pretty pleased with myself

and so you should be!

today's thought was one of the pain of continuing to stop drinking....

first had the thought that the hardest thing to do is to start doing something that you don't want to do.

then I figured that if you look at stopping drinking every days to moderate your intake, doesn't that just mean you spend half your life giving up/stopping and that is blooming hard work ! a bit like yo-yo dieting in that you spend quite a lot of your time in a state of flux.....not sure IU could cope with the strain of regualrly having to give up.

anyway...well done to all who've done what they set out to do.

take care...will post separately about an idea I've got for christmas...

eselt

Hi all- hope everyone is OK, still thinking of winebox particularly (hugs)

Could do with some advice guys. I now feel ready to get back some kind of social life and meet some new people- nearly all my old friends are ex-drinking buddies and if I'm realistic thats the thing we had most in common really, and they've drifted away now I don't drink. Most of my family are really busy with little children or work and I don't want to rely on them because its not fair and they have their own friends. SOoooo.....how does a non-drinking alcoholic 40 yr old single mum with a part time job (so little money) start to rebuild her social life and get and meet some new people who won't want to spend all their time drinking or in pubs? I've tried an art class but everyone was quite a lot older than me. Any ideas?????

Wishing you all the best tonight- thanks

biscotte

Hi All,

Well done Fay -you should be proud (and you're not boasting so don't worry)

Eselt, are you sporty at all? Local leisure centres often have clubs that meet every week to play (I used to do badminton) and the subs are very often reasonable because they're not 'private' clubs. otherwise are there any local associations you could join? I'm thinking gardening/ local history/ book reading etc. clubs, or maybe you could try volunteering somewhere - perhaps the school PTA/ brownies/scouts - they would be the right age. Even the WI is getting younger nowadays with the increase in younger folk interested in the 'frugal old style' lifestyle. These don't give you instant friends but they do open the door to social activities and are not generally associated with drinking (although a book club I belonged to once was extremely lushy!!). Also, how about going to church (don't know your belief system), but some of the 'younger' churches have a lot of social activities, not all necessarily scripture or praise based (believers have friends and a sense of humour too).
I do think that people our age with kids just don't have much of a social life as usually we're too tired but I have found school the best place to find friends (we have moved several times and find ourselves in a very mobile population so is has been relatively easy).
Good luck and remember you always have some virtual friends here!

Miss_Piggy_2

Good morning all,

Eselt, Biscotte has come up with some great ideas there. Depending on how sporty you are, a sports club of some sort is great. My OH used to belong to a badminton group - they had all sorts of ages and abilities there.

Well, I'm really pleased with myself. Only a small thing but I went on my families christmas get-together last night. I actually OFFERED to drive and it was the first family do I ahve stayed sober at for many years. And you know what....I had a GOOD time! Only thing I found was I kept looking at my watch when the drunker members of the family were talking for ages! And I don't have a hangover today so the day isn't a write off! I feel great!

I know, I'm easily pleased

Anyway, hope you all have good Sundays

Miss P
xx

eselt

Thanks biscotte- some really good ideas, I just need to find the confidence really- I live in such a small village where everyone knows your business, and I am a bit paranoid- for example at the school, all the mums know about my past problem, so I think they wouldn't be happy with me doing stuff in case I relapsed again, I can totally understand that, I'd feel the same. Maybe I need a fresh start where people don't know about my past, but at the moment my children are so settled at school and have loads of friends so I think it would be selfish to up sticks just because I want to escape from my past and get a new start. Its frustrating because I was good mum and had a good job and a happy family life for 20 yrs, then because of drinking I blew it and people only seem to remember that, I've got a long way to go before people will realise I have changed.

Hope everyone is good today- some brilliant efforts here lately, best of luck with it all everyone.

shopaholictiedtheknot

I recently joined an egyptian dance class in the next village to me, it is all women and fab fun! we are having a dance evening on Saturday and people from the other types of dance classes will be there so it is really good for socialising and making new friends

PS I am 39!

eselt wrote: »

Hi all- hope everyone is OK, still thinking of winebox particularly (hugs)

Could do with some advice guys. I now feel ready to get back some kind of social life and meet some new people- nearly all my old friends are ex-drinking buddies and if I'm realistic thats the thing we had most in common really, and they've drifted away now I don't drink. Most of my family are really busy with little children or work and I don't want to rely on them because its not fair and they have their own friends. SOoooo.....how does a non-drinking alcoholic 40 yr old single mum with a part time job (so little money) start to rebuild her social life and get and meet some new people who won't want to spend all their time drinking or in pubs? I've tried an art class but everyone was quite a lot older than me. Any ideas?????

Wishing you all the best tonight- thanks

Bismarck

Miss_Piggy wrote: »

Well, I'm really pleased with myself. Only a small thing but I went on my families christmas get-together last night. I actually OFFERED to drive and it was the first family do I ahve stayed sober at for many years. And you know what....I had a GOOD time! Only thing I found was I kept looking at my watch when the drunker members of the family were talking for ages! And I don't have a hangover today so the day isn't a write off! I feel great!

one little victory...there will be many moreeverything looks and feels different after a while. Then you realise where you really want to be.

take care everyone...

eselt, some great ideas so far...you shouldn't need to move....in some ways I'd view that you're far less a risk than some that are probably hiding plenty!

polaroid

hi guys, hope everyone is ok. having a lovely (un hungover) sunday morning here. just chilling out at home with my little one then going out to finish xmas shopping then going to see santa with grandad (think me and grandad are more excited than little one..!!!)
xxxxxxxxxx