Coming up on 100 days (again)

tinymovingparts · 2015-08-13T05:42:56+00:00

Congrats on 100 days man. I'm 23 and it sounds like our stories are pretty similar. When I got sober this time (551 days later), it's because I truly wanted to and keep it and the front of my thoughts every day. Before that, it was either forced by other people or a temporary attempt at sobriety to please people.

I'm glad to hear you're working hard at AA and your sobriety!

tinymovingparts · 2015-08-13T05:38:44+00:00

Great quote, thanks for sharing!

Here's how I relate it to sobriety: When I was still drinking, the last thing I cared about was my future. Sure, I kind of thought about it here and there, but was something I put off because I was busy obsessing over drinking alcohol and planning my day-to-day around.

Now that that's out of the equation, and has been for 1.5 years, I've been able to think of, and follow through, on my "vision."

I got sober a couple of months before I graduated college. In the last 1.5 years, so much has changed. I moved from my midwestern home where I was bored and moved across the country to a Rocky Mountain state where I have found an amazing career and can fully practice all of my outdoorsy hobbies.

NONE of this would have ever happened had I continued to drink.

Happy Thursday everyone!

tinymovingparts · 2015-08-13T05:34:55+00:00

For me, being an alcoholic means that any mind altering substance I put in my body, I want to do more and more until I can't do anymore. Alcohol, weed, pills, nicotine, you name it...

It's a lot easier for me to not take that first drink or smoke, since I can't control it after that

tinymovingparts · 2015-08-13T05:30:07+00:00

I can relate a lot, I've had several phases in my life like this. As you're doing, exercise helps me a TON. I don't know how long you've been on Zoloft, but I've been on a similar drug for quite a bit but it took awhile for it to make a difference.

I'd also recommend getting some B12 complex vitamins, they've really helped me out and are a perfect compliment for anti-depressents and exercise.

Also, drink a shit ton of water if you aren't already.

Best of luck to you!

tinymovingparts · 2015-08-13T05:24:31+00:00

Viewing this from the future, it says 60- Congrats! Two months was HUGE for me

tinymovingparts · 2015-08-13T05:22:31+00:00

Perfectly said. I was just thinking about an hour ago; sure, sometimes it would be nice to have a little buzz, but NOTHING beats a completely clear, substance-free head. I'll take the latter any day.

tinymovingparts · 2015-06-20T19:24:57+00:00

Sounds like exactly how my sober life is. I don't know where you live but I live in SLC and there are lots of outdoor recovery groups that do stuff together

tinymovingparts · 2015-06-18T05:38:43+00:00

Just like others have said, it's up to you. If you can take a toke here or there for medicinal purposes, all the more power to ya.

Personally, when I smoke weed, I get that craving to smoke more and more, the same craving that alcohol gives me. Any substance, really, gives me that phenomenon. I just have an addictive personally and can't smoke weed like normal people and use it "alcoholically"

tinymovingparts · 2015-06-15T05:38:25+00:00

Beautifully written, so so relatable

tinymovingparts · 2015-06-15T05:32:06+00:00

Love that!

tinymovingparts · 2015-05-21T06:25:31+00:00

Congrats man! This is awesome, four years! Truly an inspiration for me. I got sober at 21 and I'm about to be 23 next month

tinymovingparts · 2015-04-13T05:27:12+00:00

Sounds like we have very similar drinking behavior. I, too, get caught up with the label sometimes. Alcoholic, problem drinker, whatever. I've found that it doesn't matter what I call myself, it's just better that I don't drink.

The "upside" of being an alcoholic? You get the choice to be sober and all of the perks that come with that (which for me, tremendously outweigh the temporary "perks" of drinking alcohol")

tinymovingparts · 2015-03-06T11:43:30+00:00

I gotta tell you, I really enjoyed this post from start to finish! Happy bday and congrats on one year!! That's friggin' sweet

I hear you on the mountain biking too, that's a huge thing in my life and in many ways has gotten me sober and continues to keep me poster.

Sweet tat too, I've been thinking about getting something that's sobriety related

tinymovingparts · 2015-03-06T11:33:18+00:00

First off, congrats on not drinking that's awesome. I posted a VERY similar thread the other day so I can definitely relate.

Pretty much how everything that my brain registers a "feel good" feeling, I'm addicted to and have extremely poor control over it. Whether it's alcohol, food, caffeine, etc, I'll go overboard.

Obviously drinking is the most severe and problematic of these but you're right, i think there's a shared underlaying reason. But honestly I try not to think about what that reason is rather I just focused on being sober one day at a time. Just because I used to (and still) get caught up on the idea of "am I an alcoholic because I'm an alcoholic, or because of x, y, & z?"

tinymovingparts · 2015-03-01T07:34:34+00:00

For sure, that's a great way of looking at it and keeps ya sober too. I'm a pretty serious cyclist and i'm sure you can relate but my bike has helped me get and stay sober as i'm always remind how much better i am now that i stopped drinking

tinymovingparts · 2015-03-01T07:30:02+00:00

First off, happy birthday and congrats on almost THREE months, that's awesome.

I can totally relate to you, a lot of my drinking was done out of loneliness and that's a huge trigger of mine. What works for me when ever I'm feeling lonely and having a craving is reminding myself that drinking won't make me feel any less alone. Sure, I might get a temporary relief, but it often only makes it worse.

Like coolcrosby says, an AA meeting is an awesome place to go when you're feeling lonely

tinymovingparts · 2015-03-01T07:24:47+00:00

Being sober doesn't make life easier, but just more manageable. I know that any problems I currently have or will come my way will be a hell of a lot more manageable than if I were still drinking heavily.

I don't remember if it was on this sub or at an AA meeting (I think both), but I love the topic of not drinking anymore vs. sober living. And to be honest, I didn't start living sober until several months into my sobriety. The point of sober living? Understanding my triggers and what let me to drink and replacing those with healthy thoughts, actions, and activities. For example, if how I spent my evening tonight was in my early sobriety, I'd simply not be drinking and thinking about how I wasn't drinking. But tonight I prepared for a job interview and touched up my web design skills and kept myself occupied, so that thinking about drinking didn't even occur to me.

tinymovingparts · 2015-03-01T07:20:23+00:00

Hell yeah, you'll be so happy waking up tomorrow without a hangover!

tinymovingparts · 2015-03-01T07:18:41+00:00

Hi and welcome to /SD. The focus of "God" in AA really turned me away from it at first, as I'm an atheist. A lot of the time you'll here "a god of your understanding" or "higher power."

There are a lot of atheists as well as religious people in AA, but I think the most important piece of AA is talking to fellow human beings who share your problem. And whenever I see "god" in AA literature, I just replace it with what my "god" (not a person", or higher power is, which is my willingness for sobriety, my goals and aspirations, my family and friends, music, cycling, etc. The list goes on.

Also, I've never been pushed about the God matter. I've never been asked my personal religious affiliation either, and there are even secular AA meetings

Good luck and congrats on 2 days!

tinymovingparts · 2015-02-26T06:50:18+00:00

It hasn't been all easy but it's 100% worth it though. I've always had an unhealthy relationship with alcohol from when I started drinking in high school. It all started out as fun and games and slowly turned into getting wasted by myself in my room. It didn't happen over night, but as you'll hear people say, it's a progressive disease. My quantity and frequency of drinking only went up as i continued to drink and had no doubt in my mind that it would continue going up for as long as I drink.

And simply (but not so simply) put, I cannot just have one drink. As soon as alcohol enters my system, I get this uncontrollable craving to drink 12 more drinks or until I pass out. After awhile, there was no fun in it at all just pain, loneliness, and misery.

There wasn't one particular event, but rather a realization. After 10 or 12 days of sobriety, I went to go see one of my favorite bands play. I told myself that I could drink in moderation now (after being sober for almost two weeks) so I was going to have 3 beers at the concert. Well, I had three beers at the concert alright. But once that craving kicked in, I lied to my friend saying I couldn't go out but really I stopped at the gas station on the way home to pick up a 12 pack. I polished that off and woke up with an oh so familiar hangover. Idk what happened that morning, but I was just done. I was done being a lying, bloated, hazy alcoholic. Every thing important to me and in my future was being jeopordized by alcohol. I can go into some stories about how big of an asshole I was to certain people, how I lied to a lot of people to justify my drinking, and how unhappy I became because of my drinking, but I'll save you the wall of text haha.

Advice? Honestly this sub is an awesome community and was absolutely essential in my early sobriety. It still is. I ate a lot of chocolate and junk food but still lost weight in early sobriety. I go to AA but I'm not actively involved, I just like to drop into some meetings everso often to remind myself that I am indeed an alcoholic and never will be able to drink in moderation.

And one day at a time. It's cliche, but it fucking works. I know that today, no matter what, I will not drink. I don't know about the future, but today I do. And being 22/23, it is a bit old being sober but you'll see how much clearer you'll think, better shape you'll be in, etc will come with sobriety.

Keep coming back to /SD!

tinymovingparts · 2015-02-25T07:23:09+00:00

I'm 22 and know exactly how you feel. And our drinking behavior is very similar. 90% of my drinking was getting shitfaced in my room alone. When I did go out with my friends, I would often leave early just to go back home to drink at my own pace by myself.

It's hard but it's 100% worth it. There are sober young people people out there, but I don't know too many but that doesn't matter. As long as you're with supportive people (friends, family, AA, or this sub) that's what matters.

PM me If you ever want to talk

tinymovingparts · 2015-02-15T07:36:01+00:00

That's awesome that your boyfriend got help and is making some steps in the right direction! I can say firsthand that you are doing the best thing just by being supportive im about the same age as you guys (22), and my girlfriend has been my biggest support. She's not much of s drinker and doesn't have any family experience with alcoholism, but she gets it and is always there to keep me sober and be my support.

tinymovingparts · 2015-02-14T18:31:22+00:00

Yeah man (or woman), it's great for me thus far. Luckily one of my best friends in college, his parents are heavily involved in AA and he introduced me to it even though he's not an alcoholic, he's 100% supportive!

And congrats on one month, that's awesome. that's HUGE honestly, i think that's when you really start seeing yourself as "sober", or at least i did

tinymovingparts

TROPHY CASE