Today is the day.

Just a Thought · Newbie

Today is the day.

toni baloney · Senior Member

Hi Jennifer,

Happy to see you here with your new resolve. Was that book, "Alcoholic's Anoymous"?, you will find you in there too, no doubt.

And hoping so much your plan of action includes, more than a new diet, etc.
Meetings, Meetings, and Meetings. There you will find all the AA literature you need, the book I mentioned, and the 12 x 12, The Twelve Steps of Recovery. I sure hope you will come back and write some more here.

And saying I hope today is the first day of the rest of your life. The only requirement for membership in AA is a Desire to quit drinking. Hope so much that you will check out the meetings. There you will meet many people, some just like you in a newcomers meeting.

If this is your very first day sober, then CONGRATULATIONS!

I wish you the very very best.
Toni

Dave Harm · Senior Member

In my thoughts and prayers...

and yes head to meetings...

Doll · MIP Old Timer

Lots of luck.

Many prayers.

Get to an AA meeting & you won't have to be alone.

(((hugs)))

Jen

Sobrietyspell · MIP Old Timer

Welcome to MIP, Jennifer. Wishing you so much recovery love & luck though with your willing attitude & continual surrender you will find this 1Day@aTime. Keep on reaching out & doing whatever it takes. Staying sober is our primary purpose upon which all else is possible with patience & perseverence. Happy Sober Day 1! Danielle x

pinkchip · MIP Old Timer

Welcome and Congratulations! I will respond with the greeting I got when I walked into my first AA meeting. You are home now and you never have to drink again. The only other thing I would like to say is, thank God in AA..."I" don't have to beat my alcoholism because "we" all help each other one day at a time. It relieves much of the burden and the compulsion when it becomes "WE can stay sober" and not "I." I could never stay sober on my own. But hey...that's just me (and I'm thinking many others on here whom I will elect not to speak for lol).

Just a Thought · Newbie

Today is day number 2! I am actually feeling pretty good today. The crazy thing is my dad is an alcoholic - so I grew up going to meetings and reading literature. How in the world did I turn a blind eye and let myself get into this situation? But I am ready, willing and able to start over and make things right. Thanks everyone for your support.

pinkchip · MIP Old Timer

Yeah..I think you will find several others on here and in the rooms who grew up with a family member in AA. My uncle was "all about AA" I didn't go to meetings but I certainly recall what he was like as a drunk and what he was like after AA (much improved). I have a couple of friends in the fellowship who had one or even both parents in AA as they grew up and they have echoed what you just wrote. To answer how did this happen? My belief is we all have an innate desire to tell ourselves "I'm not like my parents" and when it comes to alcohol it usually comes out in the form of "I don't drink like dad did" or in my case, "like my uncle" "I don't yell and scream and smack my kids (could be cuz I don't have any kids)" Anyhow, it doesn't much matter because you are in the right place now. Congrats on day 2!!! Keep em coming.

Mark

Mike B. · MIP Old Timer

Jennifer,
Welcome! Good luck in your journey. My situation is similiar to your with the family and kids. The good thing is you never have to feel that way again.

My father left our family when I was 4 to pursue a career in Alcoholism. He returned to my life six years later- after finding the solution: AA. I grew up thinking I never wanted to be him..... I think Pinkchip was right on: I'll be different than my father...
I also believe Alcoholism is hereditary and is passed on through generations. There's research and many good doctors who support this theory.

I would recommend going to meetings, have an open mind, take suggestions and get a sponsor. Life took a positive turn for me when I did this.

toni baloney · Senior Member

Hi Jennifer,

Glad you are enjoying your 2nd day. and PLEASE stay in touch here on MIP with more Posts. Sharing your Journey with us. Thats if you want to.

Toodles and the best of wishes for you.

Toni

Just a Thought · Newbie

I feel terrible. I had a most terrible day - I won't even go into all the sordid details - but I bought and drank a bottle of wine. The symptoms went away immediately and I physically felt better for a little bit but then felt so terrible. I was trying so hard. I know that I actually need inpatient treatment but have to bring home a paycheck or we will lose everything. I hate those celebrities that can check in to rehab for a month and don't even care. I have three kids and a mortgage and car payments and medical bills. I will start over again tomorrow. I am so sorry for failing. The physical addiction is so strong. The headache and stomache ache and heart palpitation disappeared after the first glass of wine...

bikerbill · MIP Old Timer

OK so you did some more research. Get thee to a meeting, if you're like me then you'll learn that you can't do this alone, can't do it out of a book, can't do it on willpower alone - if you're like me you'll find that you need a power higher than yourself to help you stay sober one day at a time. That higher power some choose to call God, some choose to call group of drunks, some choose to call good orderly discipline - no one is their own higher power and no one is someone elses higher power.

If you want it you can get it.

kkotz401 · Senior Member

I am glad that you decided to get sober. Think of how proud your kids will be whan you are sober. I think you will find this board very helpful. I know I have. Staying sober is one of the best things that has ever happened to me.

toni baloney · Senior Member

Hi Again Jennifer,

My suggestion would be first to make a Post, a lot of folks here dont keep reading the same Posts over, so many might miss you here, when you could use some real good support. So Please dear, make another Post, that is what this Board is for.

And I do want to say, that if you are attempting to do this on your own, no wonder you had a bottle of wine, it took me 10 years of Relapse to get that.

Once a good therapist, when I had announced that I was going to quit drinking and Join AA, her words were, "I think you are going to have a very hard time doing that"
Annoyed by her answer, I asked WHY would you say that. and she said, "Toni, you have survived in your life, by only your sheer will to servive it. And AA is going to ask you to give up your one survival skill". And Jennifer, even thought I did not like her answer, it turned out to be so very true. It took me and a swinging door to AA 10 years, and because this is a progressive Disease, things got a lot worse before they got better.

I was in one of those Recovery Homes too, but it did not KEEP me sober. And with your responsibilities to your family, why not just try doing the meetings, finding a GOOD Sponsor, someone with a solid ten years in the Program, that can help you stay sober in these early days. Go to meetings, listen to the woman, and when you see someone, that you would like to have what she has, ask her.

If you were diagnosed with a fatal disease of any kind, would you not want to go for support, and care with the people that have survived that terminal illness??? Ask yourself that. This Disease is now known to be a genetically pre-disposed illness, and with your families history, it all makes sense. I do have two Sons, one mentally ill, and one that is a Doctor here where I live, he does not like alcohol, never drinks, and he just escaped the genetics, that is how I think of it. My other Son, the one that suffers with Schizophenia, would and could if he could get his hands on any, any phyco active drug, LSD, Payote, Meth, he has done them all, and loved them all, so he did not escape the genetics, as well as my own mother that was Schizophinic, so he got a double dose of the bad genes in this family.

Did not mean to turn this into a me thing, was just trying to convey to you, that quitting alcohol is never easy, have never heard of it being so.

And what someone was saying is so very true, find a Higher Power of your choice,
I choose to call mine God, but you can choose, Good Orderly Direction, Rooms full of people that cannot, NOT Drink, or rather, Groups of Drunks. Whatever you want.

These early days of not drinking have never been a piece of cake for anyone, and you said you have a lot of books on Recovery, do you have the Gorsky Book, on Relapse Prevention.

I am wishing you the very best Jennifer, and saying a little Prayer that this will be the beginning for you of a life, better that you could ever imagine. Sober living and the dilligent working of the 12 Steps of Recovery is the WAY out of this Disease.

All that I have written, you probably already know, but just wanted to share some thoughts with you today.

A Big fat Hug to you Dear,
Toni

-- Edited by toni baloney on Friday 5th of June 2009 02:39:09 PM