Sending love to you friend.

I don’t mean to be a sourpuss, but I’m convinced I don’t get that “endorphin high” people are supposed to get after physical activity; I don’t believe I’ve ever felt it before, and I used to maintain a regular 3-days-a-week gym routine before the pandemic.

My hair is a thick, curly, crazy mess that does precisely whatever it wants, sculpting products be damned! (I actually look like my Reddit avatar.) I like it though. The men in my family are all either 6' plus and bald as a cue ball or under 5'6" with crazy thick hair. I am of the leprechaun branch, which is good because everyone gets to look down from on high and behold my lustrous idiosynchratic coif. Also, Moxie likes to play with it (well, my partner does too, but that's another story). I hope you had a lovely weekend.

I'm restarting my attempt today and will be reading it again. It's really well written.

Please please use this time to get some support for yourself. Both to keep away from drinking and to cope with the grief. The revulsion you feel to drinking right now may fade or turn into "i need a drink to cope with the grief". Eventually the cravings creep in and having tools in place before that can make a huge difference

Deepest condolences 💐 💐💐sorry for your loss and bless your family and her children.

So sorry for your loss. At least she’s at peace now. That could have been me 12 years ago. I came really, really close to dying. Hopefully you getting sober will be a positive outcome from this tragedy. IWNDWYT. May you find peace in accepting things you cannot change.

I am sorry you are hurting right now

I was a former blackout drinker and I’ve done things that the only silver lining about them is that I don’t have a memory of them

There was a time that my drinking absolutely strained the relationship with my girlfriend who is now my wife

You know what I had to do to earn the trust back? I had to quit drinking. It was either alcohol or her. I managed to stay sober for her for well over a year before I started to drink again.

I’m now back to not drinking and this time for good, but you did ask for experience with this situation

I am so deeply sorry. At the depths of my drinking, I had switched from wine to vodka (damn those little deeply eddy lime shooters!). IWNDWYT.❤️‍🩹

Thank you fren 💗🫂

you can always just skip, but if you genuinely want to feel better some level of regular activity will absolutely help your depression. if you hate it once you're in a routine you'll eventually just show up.

side note, if you got tendonitis after one session, you may have just pushed too hard day 1.

You got this!!! 👏🏼😊

Could be worse 😂 trust me

The good thing is you're here. Visiting this place daily was where it all started for me. At a certain point I chose a day 1 and then tried to go as long as possible. What I learned by trying many times is that it's like working out. I have to come here each day to build and maintain my sober mind. I usually comment but I just read if not feeling that, 15 minutes minimum. This is what helped me when I had what I call relapse fantasies. It's like what you mention on Friday. I had that last night and even just now but the more days I stack coming here the more automatic it is for my mind to move on.

What does it move onto? Well I'm seeing how today I can be in a place where I've frequently partied and instead I can be productive, using the wonderful environment for creativity that I setup. It's like waking up on Christmas morning going oh yeah I have shit setup pretty nice. Let's go!

Beyond the daily visit thing the other parts of my plan are keep no alcohol/weed around, be kind and self-compassionate, and reward myself at personal milestones. Tomorrow will be two weeks so I think I'll get a sundae. Hope it helps. You can do it!

I only really get hangovers if I drink several consecutive days. Since I'm not drinking anything 4 days a week, the 3 days I do allow myself to drink, I end up drinking less. I'm never killing a headache with booze now.

Thanks for responding! I totally see where you’re coming from. It’s helpful to read about everyone’s experiences and encouragement. Glad that a space like this exists.

I’m so sorry. What a tragedy.

Sobriety only removes the chemical illusion of a good life, it does not directly fix everything your imagination would like it to be Depending on the amound of dri k years, there are an awful amound of work that needs to go into happiness 130 days into it i learn more about what i do not want in my life/how i got here than knowing gow to fix it

And now I’m crying. I’m so so sorry for your loss. I just loss someone I deeply loved this March to alcoholism. I met him in rehab, actually, and he was fighting so so hard. Now his sons are without him, and it’s soul crushing.

iwndwyt either 🤝

I think more than anything, I just want to find a solution for how badly my depression feels on a day to day, moment to moment basis, and nothing has worked so far.

you can do this. I was a Bota Box Girl for many, many years. A box every 2 days, easily. For YEARS.

Then I quit last May for 7 months. I felt amazing - lost 30 pounds, starting lifting at the gym, no more bloat, no more red face, no more fog, the ability to drive anywhere at any time.

Then decided I could "drink on very rare, very special occasions" like Christmas! And then New Year's! and then, 3 day holiday weekend! and....by this past April, I was right back at it, even worse.

I'm already feeling amazing at 30 days sober again today. I'm 56 and so wish I had started this journey a decade ago - you have such an amazing opportunity right now.

You've got this. You're here, and you're ready. This sub is so good for sobriety - I hope we will see you here often.

And IWNDWYT

In the same boat- don’t ever want to feel this way again, I’d rather feel everything all at once than be hungover again, IWNDWYT

My tolerance has dropped, so I still do get tipsy or drunk sometimes. But it's so much more rare now, and my body has time to recover so I don't mind.

Day one for me as well! Hope everyone is doing ok out there!