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Times Remembered

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    Times Remembered

    Hi Everyone:

    Today when I passed my "former" liquor store, I did not avoid looking at it. Instead, I took a good look at people going in & out. On the way home, I remembered back to the times I gave in to temptation, bought a bottle, & hid it under the seat of my car so as not to be discovered. I remembered getting home & secretly drinking the whole thing, only to feel sick in body, mind, & spirit for the whole rest of the day & day after. If that's not desperation & insanity, I don't know what is.

    I don't recall those times to beat myself up or wallow in any way. I do it to take any positive spin off drinking. I do not have the luxury of unwinding w/a glass of anything alcoholic. I would have to finish off the whole bottle, thus undoing any relaxing effects booze might have on me.

    I read somewhere that it's a good idea to look at photos of oneself drunk when the urge to drink hits. That hasn't worked for me. What does work is to remember back to times I've embarrassed myself, missed events, blacked out, etc. It's not pleasant to do, but it is a reality check for counteracting the alcoholic voice that tells me I can have "just one or two."

    Until I came to MWO, I harbored these secrets, & they fed my next binge. Now, I have a place (MWO) where I can be honest & put the past behind me as I sober up. No, it hasn't been easy. However, even w/the slips I've had in the past year, my progress has been nothing short of a miracle. I've gone from drinking whole bottles of wine 3 - 4 times per week to having a rare binge once in a while. (Hopefully those are a thing of the past.) My deepest & sincerest thanks to everyone here at MWO who has shared & responded to my sharings.

    Love, Mary
    Wisdom, Courage, Strength
    October 3, 2012

    #2
    Times Remembered

    Mary
    I had to reply to this post. You may or may not remember me but when I was first posting on this site and even when I was just reading your were very active on the ODAT thread. I remember reading posts from you and thinking that you were struggling and seemed to be for so long. I thought maybe this really is too hard.

    I didn't check in much for a while and when I came back I remember you were on your first (or maybe it wasn't the first) stretch of an AF run. I remember being so hopeful and at the same time so happy for you. I knew then that even though you were still having some struggles you were going to be a sucess and I wanted to follow in yor footsteps.

    Well, fast forward to recently. Last month I could not take the constant battle within my head and went on antabuse. I was able to go 20 days and for some reason stopped the antabuse and went back to my old ways. I'm backt to being AF with antabuse.

    This post wasn't really about me though. I want to remind you that altough you may not be 100% AF you have really come so far. I want to remind you of where you were. I want you to know that you were one of the major influences that kept me coming back. I would have given up, but I am still here and I want to thank you for your role in my still fighting this battle. Thank you and god bless. You should be proud of yourself.
    Patti:thanks::thanks:

    Comment


      #3
      Times Remembered

      Thank you both for such heartening and healing words. My soul reaches out to you in hope and with gratitude. xxx g.

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        #4
        Times Remembered

        Mary - you are a lady to be praised...and I do, if I may! I am sooooh pleased for you...

        It has been an honour to watch you on your journey...thank you.

        Love FMS xx
        :heart: c: :heart:
        "Be patient and gentle with yourself - the magic is in you."

        Comment


          #5
          Times Remembered

          Mary as Finding just said, it has been an honour to watch and share this journey with you. I think all of us who are here for some time will agree that there is no comparison between our lives now and before we joined MWO. Yes it has been a struggle and there have been slips but there have been long stretches of being completely AF and we are still here and still working on it. That is the main thing.

          Rustop

          Comment


            #6
            Times Remembered

            Thank you all so much for the responses. I really appreciate them. In fact, Patti, your post brought tears to my eyes. Every day I am sober adds up to so much positivity in terms of changing my way of life. Yes, the urges come & go. I'm learning to wait them out instead of acting on them. However, they aren't nearly as strong as they used to be. I feel the chains of habit being broken.

            Last night we had friends over. I made a light dinner, & I didn't serve any wine. My husband has been ill, & these dear friends knew it would be a quiet, quick dinner. As I was preparing dinner, all the times I had imbibed while cooking for friends came back to me. It's so ingrained. (Perhaps that's why you had to go back on Antabuse, Patti. Once we get some time away from booze, hopefully the old habits weaken a little.) I didn't drink, but it wasn't easy.

            Again thank you. We're all in this together. Mary
            Wisdom, Courage, Strength
            October 3, 2012

            Comment


              #7
              Times Remembered

              Patti: The daily thread here at 30 day abs is great. We'd love to hear from you. M
              Wisdom, Courage, Strength
              October 3, 2012

              Comment


                #8
                Times Remembered

                Thanks Mary. I'l be sure to check in often. I really am so happy for you and all of the success you have had. It is my pleasure to be here with you.
                Patti

                Comment


                  #9
                  Times Remembered

                  Mary, alcoholism is such a soul destroying illness, as I'm sure you know. Your desire to beat it comes across so powerfully. You've done a fantastic job over the last year, always taking responsability for your actions in a dignified way. I think many of us are on a journey of spiritual healing, I know that's how I feel and I hear it in your posts.
                  I feel that sometimes you really struggle with drinking thinking, it's an exhausting, insane battle once its got us in it's grip isn't it?
                  I'm 25 days AF and I know its very early days, I'm guarding against complacency 24/7. Something has changed with regards to my drinking thinking that has helped me get to 25days. I was finding it hard to explain to myself, then I read a post by xtexan on one of hippies threads about how he deals with feeling meloncholy. What he describes below hits the nail on the head for how I've been coping with my drinking thinking.

                  The melancholy still comes, but I have learned to let it flow through me. If I resist it, then it is worse. The emotional and spiritual energy spent in resisting it just depletes my entire life source.

                  This is a real lesson in becoming truly sober. I got used to hammering down the emotions with booze (a lot of it) during my drinking days, and now it takes a whole different way of existing to let things flow through

                  I try not to get into an active resistant conversation with the drinking thoughts in my mind, I find that it gives them too much power over me, I don't fight them I just let them flow through me with a feeling of indifference towards them. It's been working for me Mary, the thoughts are still there but they have no where near the same power over me.
                  I hope this makes sense and can help you in someway to healing your spirit.

                  want
                  :h
                  xx
                  AF since April 8th 2008 :kudos::rays:

                  Snake....... come crawling,
                  There's fire in your eyes,
                  Bite me, excite me,
                  I'll learn to realize.

                  The poison transmuted,
                  Brings eternal flame.
                  Open me to heaven,
                  To heal me again.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Times Remembered

                    Want: It makes perfect sense. I think the primary reason I drank was to blot out feelings. I must accept that they are a part of me. Yesterday, I felt particularly vulnerable, but I kept going through my day. I did feel my feelings, & they persisted, but in the end, I got through them. Thank you so much for taking the time to respond. Mary
                    Wisdom, Courage, Strength
                    October 3, 2012

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Times Remembered

                      Mary. Your post reminded me of driving the kids to their activities. On the way home I always had to pass by 4 liquor stores. Even though I always swore on the way to the kids activities I wouldn't stop, inevitably I could never make it past all of the liquor stores.

                      How could something like that happen? I was always firm about not buying booze and then the car would somehow end up turning into one of the stores. Maybe I should've sold the car. Yeah, it was probably the cars fault. :H

                      Cheers and have a great day. If you are not having a great day, come back and see me and I will do my best to make it better. :l

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Times Remembered

                        Mohun: I know exactly what you are saying. I'd do the same thing w/liquor stores. Additionally, when I had a particularly bad night, the next day I'd SWEAR to myself not to drink...only to open a bottle later in the day.

                        I think that as we resist these strong urges, our brains begin to rewire. They will weaken & hopefully in a few decades disappear. I know from my own long AF stretches that as the months mount up, the urges weaken.

                        Thanks for the response. Mary
                        Wisdom, Courage, Strength
                        October 3, 2012

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