Have you ever seen the optical illusion of the old lady and the beautiful young woman in the same picture? Usually your eye sees only one – either the old lady or the beautiful girl. But as you study the picture you realize that they are both in the picture. The old woman is looking to the left with her chin to her chest and the young girl is looking away from the viewer over right shoulder. The nose of the old woman forms the chin of the young girl!
Sometimes I think my recovery is like this optical illusion. I believe I have had a paradigm shift since I’ve starting moderating on this site since I initially joined in March of 2007.
At first I thought I could moderate without coming to the site for support. Read quite a few posts and visited for a while. Posted here or there but didn’t stay long and just thought I could do things on my own. That led to disaster…right down the same road to drinking too much and making a fool out of myself again and again.
Rejoined in Sept 08 and had a change of thinking. I realized I need the support here but thought I could form a simple plan and I would be o.k. I guess I’m learning that one keeps learning the more they hang around here.
Funny how my goals for myself keep changing. At first I thought I would moderate and allow myself so many drinks on Friday and Saturday (my drinking nights) with a possible week night to allow for a glass of wine with a business dinner. That worked for about 6 weeks then I suddenly saw my intake on those week-end nights increasing. Backed off, went AF and the crazy thing is the further removed I got from AL the better I liked it. How nice to not drink a thing on a Sat. night and wake up refreshed and renewed because AL hadn’t interfered with my sleep. As a person attempting moderation my thinking has now shifted.
I will not think about my drinking. I will not plan my drinking using the excuse "It's Friday or Saturday night so I can have a drink. If I go out to a nice dinner and decide to have a glass of wine with dinner I will do that. But I will constantly remind myself that (the way my body works) I will feel the effects if I have more than 1. My friend who maintains her body weight well says “Nothing tastes as good as thin feels”. So I will use that analogy to drinking to remind myself that no AL beverage tastes as good as how it feels the next morning with no hangover and no remorse.
I remain a work in progress…but a happy one.
Go here to see the optical illusion: Young Girl and Old Woman Optical Illusion
Hugs,
Eve11
Sometimes I think my recovery is like this optical illusion. I believe I have had a paradigm shift since I’ve starting moderating on this site since I initially joined in March of 2007.
At first I thought I could moderate without coming to the site for support. Read quite a few posts and visited for a while. Posted here or there but didn’t stay long and just thought I could do things on my own. That led to disaster…right down the same road to drinking too much and making a fool out of myself again and again.
Rejoined in Sept 08 and had a change of thinking. I realized I need the support here but thought I could form a simple plan and I would be o.k. I guess I’m learning that one keeps learning the more they hang around here.
Funny how my goals for myself keep changing. At first I thought I would moderate and allow myself so many drinks on Friday and Saturday (my drinking nights) with a possible week night to allow for a glass of wine with a business dinner. That worked for about 6 weeks then I suddenly saw my intake on those week-end nights increasing. Backed off, went AF and the crazy thing is the further removed I got from AL the better I liked it. How nice to not drink a thing on a Sat. night and wake up refreshed and renewed because AL hadn’t interfered with my sleep. As a person attempting moderation my thinking has now shifted.
I will not think about my drinking. I will not plan my drinking using the excuse "It's Friday or Saturday night so I can have a drink. If I go out to a nice dinner and decide to have a glass of wine with dinner I will do that. But I will constantly remind myself that (the way my body works) I will feel the effects if I have more than 1. My friend who maintains her body weight well says “Nothing tastes as good as thin feels”. So I will use that analogy to drinking to remind myself that no AL beverage tastes as good as how it feels the next morning with no hangover and no remorse.
I remain a work in progress…but a happy one.
Go here to see the optical illusion: Young Girl and Old Woman Optical Illusion
Hugs,
Eve11
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