Kevin, great to hear from you. Don't be such a stranger.
Kimber, same goes for you,
Regina, hang in there, you can do it!
Hello to everyone new and old, please keep posting regardless of whether you are on day 1 on 100, have it all figured out or just fell on your face. We all gain from your stories and learn lessons from one another. This place has been a real blessing to me. Thanks Patrick!
Ken,..thanks!..and I will try to start posting more,..like I said I still read here every day and keep up with everyone's journies. You seem to be doing great,..so whatever you're doing keep it up. I believe you truly have the motivation and resolution to do it this time! Maybe one day I can/will get to that level,..but honestly as of now I haven't been able to,...thus I haven't been posting very often,..other than to encourage those of you who are. I have been doing much, much better with it though and I know this board plays a big role with that.
Kimber,..things are going well (for what they are...),..the kids are as wild as ever and keeping me busy!You "normal"??..Kimber?? never,...that would be boring.
Kevin, that's exactly what I was doing for a while, hovering, not participating. I can tell you for me, things got better when I started participating more. It sounds like you are in a pretty good place too and to that I say good for you! You can do anything you set your mind to, stay connected and your contributions are important.
Carol, you have the best advice.
And I fully agree with the name change away from a booze related past. For what it's worth I am not a JP (Justice of the Peace) nor do I have VD.
I'm doing well, following Patrick's 'massive change' sentiment. I just became a 'student pilot'; directly related to my decision to quit drinking. I can now fly a plane, with passengers, in my local training area. First passengers will be my wife, then kids. Next year I will continue to not-drink and work at my navigation licence (which allows full piloting wherever).
Not only was all my booze money poured into the endeavour, but also the mental commitment and fortitude. I also booked all my lessons for the first thing in the morning; lets be honest here...if I tried to get into a cockpit at 9 a.m. smelling/acting/being my old drunk self I would have probably been asked to discontinue.
I changed from a late-night drunkard watching crap TV back to stuffing my mind with books till 10, then lights out. Up at 5 (military hours) for a run/swim or yoga/meditation. Work, family, personal life is at an all-time high. a weird thing is happening at the moment where the sight of people drinking makes me physically sick...I hope this passes as I do not want to become the worst person of all...the PATRONIZING RECOVERED ALCOHOLIC.
Anyways, I am always reading and lurking here....I'm heading for 1 year (with a relapse on an overseas trip) and want everyone to know that YES it DOES get easier with every day/week/month.
JPVD (Jean Plod Van Damme).
.
Last edited by JPVD; 11-17-2011 at 02:23 PM.
Wow! A lot of congratulations are due to so many of you..Christy, bassetcat, serena and I am sorry if I left anyone out. I am at the end of day 4 and fighting the urge. But reading Patrick's work has encouraged me to start changing the way I live my life and how I think about myself. It is something I have thought about before but never acted on with sincerity. Alcohol clouded my thoughts and made me feel I was better than I was. These feelings would fade until the next binge. I don't want to live like this anymore. Thanks to all of you for being there and sharing your own journeys.
Stay strong everyone!
Welcome PG1.5!
Very cool post JPVD and I too had dreams of piloting a small plane one day but unfortuantely I was always drunk or hungover for too many years and just never got around to it. I'm glad to read you are actually doing it and it sounds like you are really living life to the limit now. Good stuff !
It's also interesting that you mention the sight of people drinking makes you physically sick. While I do not have that speciific reaction I do notice now that the sight of alcohol repulses me and reminds me of all the time I wasted getting wasted.
I am noticing now the longer I remain sober the more subtle changes I see on so many levels. Each new day brings new insight and different ways of looking at life.
I remember when a relative of mine told me after many years of sobriety that if he had known how much better life was being sober he would of quit years earlier. I am starting to experience a little bit of what I believe he was saying. I'm still fairly early in my sobriety and still have some struggles but his words do give me hope.
Have a good sober evening everybody.
That's so inspiring JPVD. I've got so many ideas and plans for the future but alcohol drains me of money and energy so that I haven't started any. I'm slowly feeling my energy coming back and look forward to implementing my plans and start getting fit again. You show us that it is possible, so thankyou.
I too was a lurker for some time but as you mentioned Ken it is so much more helpful participating than being an observer. For me it makes me accountable and it helps me in those tough times because I don't want to fail you guys as well as myself. I think that's why this site is so precious.
Kevin- it is a little weird about the time difference here. I've never quite looked into it but I know it's quite a difference. As to the direction of the toilet, haven't looked into that either. Shall let you know- I know it's the opposite to yours. I remember a Simpsons episode where they installed a device that made it flush in the other direction so you guys would feel at home!!!!
JPVD, you are my hero! Your posts on the old blog were both helpful and inspiring. If you like the advice, it may be because some of it is yours (e.g., change day to day habits like eating out)! I have quoted you before on this forum and saved many of your posts to refer back to. I am so glad you are still looking over us and you are still doing well. Thank you, thank you for helping inspire and guide me to sobriety!
Just to make a brief announcement in honor of changing alcoholic name to regular name, Bill smit shall hereafter be known as John.
Bill originally logged in so out of it he had to be someone else and then he couldn't even spell Smith right. RIP Bill
John! Glad to have you here by your own name! There is something different about hearing a person's actual name to change something about the connection...
I am doing ok, but I could have killed some of my students today quite cheerfully! It made me remember that impulse to drink, to buffer those feelings. No danger of drinking just a lot of swearing! Tomorrow is a new day, and boy are their heads going to spin in 4th period!
Thanks everyone for the positive outlooks and strength you are showing here. People may slip and fall, but the intention is there, and if the intention is strong, you will succeed.
How do you change your name? I don't want my name associated with alcohol anymore!
Am loving the new name revolution to reflect positivity and the NOW.
Made it through day 5 had a few moments tonight first friday night sober in a VERY long time,but have learnt so much this week its amazing. thanks everyone for being such an integral part of this week in my life. Hope you are all feeling great xx nite nite xx
Peter -- Great to see you. I wondered how you are doing. Don't think you can actually change your name but you can just go in register a new name, and log on. That's what I did. (Wouldn't it be nice if life were that easy)
I tried that John but my "email address is already in use" and it wouldn't accept a new forum name. I guess I can try a different email address. What a stupid thing I did. I joined this forum to give me some inspiration to stop drinking and I named myself after a bottle of wine!
Last edited by peterpinot; 11-18-2011 at 06:10 AM.
Good morning everybody!
Haven't posted in a while but I have to admit Peter, your last post was laugh out loud funny (sorry)! And John, great story that you had trouble with "Smith"! I always wondered what "Smit" meant, well now one of the great mysteries solved (lol)!
It actually feels good to post and get what I call my "keyboard therapy" in! I am still struggling to get a string of sober days together, but I am definetly in a better position today, then several months ago! Thanks to one of my friends, I have been doing some additional reading and research on this aweful substance abuse, and I feel that is really going to help!
I'm really glad to hear so many success stories! To those still struggling and not posting, your only hurting yourself by not posting. I'm the first to admit that its hard to post when you see everyones success and after all this time on this forum, I'm still struggling! Lets face it, I'm embarassed, but It feels good to pop in and say hello to all my old friends and a big hey to the newbies! Your in a good place with alot of GREAT people here!
Maybe I should change my name to William since I need to grow up!! Have a GREAT day everyone!!
Peter -- Right I did use a different email address. The old one was where wine.com and boozers bonanza were sending me offers (just kidding).
Good to see you Billy! I wondered about you too just this morning.
Its so great to see so many positive posts. I got down a couple of times when I read all the drama but I guess everything goes around. I cant change my name because its my nickname I grew up with but I love to see everyone doing what they have to do to move forward. Have a great weekend!
Billy, you crack me up! I wondered what Smit was too. You are right on with your message about posting. This isn't a museum of perfect people, it's more like a second hand store where all participants have plenty of life left in them, they've just been dinged up a little by life, which makes them a lot more interesting!
Thats an awesome way to look at it!!Originally Posted by Ken1
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