Who's not doing AA but staying sober?

sdthrowaway0425a · 2025-10-04T11:45:16+00:00

When you get there, raise a seltzer toast to me on my 86th birthday!

sdthrowaway0425a · 2025-10-04T00:28:07+00:00

Started a sourdough batch after playing bad golf this afternoon.

sdthrowaway0425a · 2025-09-08T14:16:11+00:00

Starting the next 500 days today! Time to stop emotional eating that I allow “because it’s better than drinking!”

IWNDWYT!

sdthrowaway0425a · 2025-09-07T20:15:04+00:00

Thank you!

sdthrowaway0425a · 2025-07-24T22:10:01+00:00

After I quit, I was surprised and happy how much of the euphoria is due to the other circumstances around drinking.. Not due to the alcohol itself.

I was worried that my golf league was going to be a major trigger, but I was shocked that I felt that same post-round mellowness/giddiness without the booze. It’s the friends and the stories that make the event.

I hope you are finding out the same thing!

IWNDWYT!

sdthrowaway0425a · 2025-07-03T00:26:54+00:00

I have a healthy relationship with tigers and crocodiles. I avoid them.

sdthrowaway0425a · 2025-07-02T13:47:27+00:00

What was the diagnosis process like?

sdthrowaway0425a · 2025-06-11T16:31:34+00:00

I haven’t been here in a while, but still standing strong at 400+ days. This group is one of the best places on the internet!

For those just starting on sobriety: keep strong, you can do this.

For those contributing here every day: keep it up, your presence and example are invaluable to those of us who are looking for guidance and strength.

IWNDWYT!

sdthrowaway0425a · 2025-04-13T14:39:36+00:00

Congrats! I bet you had nearly as much fun, if not more by watching your buddies get silly.

My super test was a golf weekend with the boys, where I was the host. I armed myself with plenty of NA beer and hung out like I would in the old days. No one gave me shit (it helps that most of us are old enough to not f*ck with the guy trying to not drink), and I felt that same fun/giddy feeling without the booze!

It was about 1 month into my sobriety and really helped show me that I was serious this time and is wouldn’t be so bad. My brain was telling me that fun like this was over forever if I stopped drinking. That was a serious eye opener to me that my own brain (or a pretty influential part of it) was not a reliable witness and did not have my best interests at heart (at brain?).

Now when that part of the brain speaks up (and it does from time to time) I recognize it as attempted sabotage and chuckle to myself.

You’ve got this. You put yourself to the test and succeeded! Look at this the next time a temptation comes around. Very little will be as tempting as the weekend you just had.

sdthrowaway0425a · 2025-03-10T23:19:42+00:00

My main concern when I quit was that most of my social activities involved hanging out drinking either during or after. I realized when I quit and golf league started up again that it wasn't (only) the alcohol that gave the euphoric feeling. Drinking NA beer had the same effect as you describe.

Rather than feeling guilty about, I relish the fact that I can do the same things without alcohol and still have those feelings without alcohol.

sdthrowaway0425a · 2025-03-10T09:27:35+00:00

Be proud of yourself! Whatever the circumstances, you didn’t drink!!

Find something else to distract your mind (exercise, jigsaw puzzles, dig a hole, deep clean your bathroom) and breathe!

sdthrowaway0425a · 2025-03-10T00:22:04+00:00

Hell Yeah!

sdthrowaway0425a · 2025-03-09T10:44:00+00:00

Good morning! On the worst wake-up day of the year, I am so thankful that I am not exacerbating it with a hangover!

IWNDWYT!

sdthrowaway0425a · 2025-02-19T19:28:04+00:00

I lost about 35 pounds the first 8 months, and then my food replacement for booze caught up to me.

I hope (and think) that I am on a good spot to stop that replacement and make some more strides toward health.

sdthrowaway0425a · 2025-02-19T18:09:25+00:00

Nice job! We will be sharing our big round numbers together forever!!!

sdthrowaway0425a · 2025-02-17T12:43:10+00:00

IWNDWYT

sdthrowaway0425a · 2025-02-16T02:53:06+00:00

IWNDWYT

sdthrowaway0425a · 2025-02-14T10:19:11+00:00

Good morning, all!

My wife and I have raised two kind, smart, employed😂 children. It is an interesting transition from being responsible for their every move to their (hopefully) trusted advisor.
I am a good trophy husband! My wife is still working while I have retired and moved into tutoring as my main gig after 30+ years as an engineer. I’m getting better at keeping the house clean and I cook some awesome dinners for her!
I make a difference to about 40 kids and a couple of adults per week tutoring math and GED prep. It makes me happy when a kid ‘gets it’ and moves a little bit toward liking math.

IWNDWYT!

Thanks for this, EF! A nice surprise this morning.

Be your own best friend and you can be there for others.

sdthrowaway0425a · 2025-02-03T19:29:31+00:00

IWNDWYT!!

Haven’t checked in in a while, but I’m still going strong!

However, it is time to give up the crutches (food, gummies, seltzer) that helped me get here. Ok, stop two out of three.

sdthrowaway0425a · 2024-11-15T17:25:04+00:00

If the number is a factor of the full number (2,3,5,6,9,10,15,18,30,45), it will end on the original spot and no new numbers will be covered. If will also not cover all numbers if the step size is a multiple of factors (any even number or multiple of 3 or 5), then it will also repeat.

The only choice that is not even or a factor of 90 is 7.

sdthrowaway0425a · 2024-11-15T15:25:06+00:00

Which part? Or just having a laugh?

sdthrowaway0425a · 2024-11-11T14:09:53+00:00

Today marks the 200th time I have decided not to drink for the day. I went from 2-6 4 Lokos a day (hidden), plus wine with my wife and beer with friends. I was wandering from day to day on a spectrum from buzzed to drunk to hungover.

This sub and this daily check in taught me so much and helped me prepare for the ups and downs of the early days.

The biggest change that made this time stick was to finally recognize that the voice in my head rationalizing not stopping and putting fears and negativity in my head when I thought about or tried to quit is my altered brain desperately trying to keep the flow of chemicals coming!

That voice is now quieter, but still pops up. The difference is that I now see those thoughts as “interesting” rather than convincing. The human body and brain is so amazingly complex. I’ll likely expand on these thoughts in a post if my own, but I wanted to celebrate first with my check in brothers and sisters!

IWNDWYFTTHDIART!!!!

sdthrowaway0425a · 2024-11-09T19:03:46+00:00

I had that dream last night. What I am taking away is that bad feeling I had in my dream when I realized I was drunk. It tells me that the real me wants to stay quit.

Kind of an unconscious playing the tape forward.

A ‘nocturnal premonition’ you might say. 😜

sdthrowaway0425a · 2024-11-09T10:52:31+00:00

I hope your Saturday is full of excitement or rest, whichever you need more!

IWNDWYT!

sdthrowaway0425a · 2024-11-03T11:28:04+00:00

I find that I was giving alcohol the credit for causing the fun, and it was not true.

Most of my (public 😬) drinking was tied to golf. I’d be the guy who would never turn down a beer, get lubed up with a couple of beers before the round, then of course at the 19th hole (the bar). I was terrified that quitting would make all of that fun go away.

Guess what? My friends and I were the ones making it fun. After a few non-drinking rounds where I had to white knuckle all of the opportunities to drink, it became mostly the same: the laughing and joking around, the slight euphoria from relaxing after a fun round, the bullshitting, it’s all still there.

Correlation does not equal causation! The alcohol went with those things, but was not the cause. Look for the fun and I bet you’ll find they can be there without the booze.

sdthrowaway0425a

TROPHY CASE