I haven't had much to say lately but wanted to congradulate you Kris for the positive attitude & much success!

Hi Kris- I love your positive attitude! Speaking as a newbie who is already plagued by thought "analysis paralysis", you are such a great example of how success can be measured in different ways. That your quality of life is so much better is a testimony that TSM "works"- just in lots of different ways and in different time frames.

Thanks for the positivity and help you give on the board and congrats on your improved life!!

Hi Kris - so very pleased to read this and see your graph.

Success is certainly a personal thing to measure with this method - but getting your life back in social situations is a huge deal and certainly sounds like success to me!

Happy for you and will be watching the curve continue to trend downwards - congrats!

It's looking good from the outside and above all I'm glad it's feeling good for you .
The six month is a real milestone it's bound to mean alot to us after all we read .
you're there now it's done and more good to come . Nice , Kriss .

Oh yes , and I'm rooting for you ( that is the phrase isn't it ? I've never known it before coming to this board ) but I mean I'm cheering you on to get all shedding the addiction can offer you .

It’s time to report my progress for week 27, and this has been a good one! Nothing too exciting with my numbers, although my overall craving seems lower. The most significant thing that happened was last Friday night. My husband, youngest daughter and sister/brother-in-law were hanging out, and the adults were naturally drinking. It was raining non-stop, so we were cooped up in my sister-in-law’s trailer, and drinks were taking the edge off the boredom. My daughter noticed that while everyone else got pretty tipsy, I seemed “normal”. She said she was so happy and proud of me!


My kids have seen that my drinking has declined over the past several months, but we haven’t really talked openly about it, nor have I mentioned TSM to them. But Friday night, after my youngest broke the ice, I explained how I had been doing TSM, etc., etc. I don’t think she really cares about TSM (maybe a bit too young), but she sees that I’m no longer a drunk, and whatever works is OK with her. I suppose I’ll try to find the right time to bring up TSM with my oldest daughter, but she is stressed out about so many things in her life right now, like starting college. One thing is for sure: whatever I tell my youngest will eventually be told to my oldest. They are too close for secrets.

I think I’m starting to get the courage to open up about TSM in general. I found out a couple weeks ago that my step brother was in rehab (in lieu of jail), so I shared all I could about TSM with my step mother, and she is interested – hopefully he will be too, but “getting caught” is far different from admitting you have a real problem with alcohol. I’ve heard that a long ago friend we used to hang with has “given up on life” because of his drinking. It’s awkward, since I haven’t seen him in 20 years, but I’m going to try to find him and tell him about TSM. So far, when I’ve tried to talk about TSM with people who know someone in trouble, they shy away – don’t want to get involved. I think I’ll have to contact the alcoholics directly. Seems the old “takes one to know one” saying might be true in this case. I applaud those of you who are promoting TSM, some not even caring about being anonymous. I don’t know if I’ll ever be that courageous, but I’ll do whatever I can from behind the scenes for the general public, and I’ll try my best to convince any alcoholics I find that TSM is the answer.

Cheers to TSM and all of you for your endless support!

That's a very encouraging graph. Well done!

Nice graph! Nice progress. And Plain Vanilla, nice avatar. Now you've got me thinking Dairy Queen.

Kris way to go! Having your child say she's proud of you is the ultermint complement. If we're not doing this for our self, we're doing it for the kids. I can't wait to see my kids look at me with respect in their eyes instead of discuses.

Hello Everybody!

Sorry I haven’t posted here for a while. It’s so hard to keep up these days. I’d like to give a warm group welcome to all the newcomers! I actually haven’t reported my progress for a few weeks, so this post will include weeks 28-30, which also puts me at 7 months with TSM!

My journey may look painfully long for the new members, but don’t be deceived – I couldn’t be happier with my experience. My husband agrees that the change has been dramatic. He’s even supporting me when I try to get the word out to people we see struggling because of a family member afflicted with this horrible disease. I tread carefully in that territory, because I’d never want to appear fanatical like so many of the AA followers. I’ve found that some people need to hear about it (gently) a few times before they really become interested. It seems having my husband attest to my success has the greatest impact. He’s pretty reserved, so when HE talks, people listen! Ironically, discussing TSM has become a trigger for me at times – I have a tough time dealing with my emotions when I’m passionate about something, but nobody wants to believe it!

Anyhow, I’ve come to appreciate that this process has been a slow one. Adjusting to life without relying on alcohol to ease the pain hasn’t been easy. If it happened all at once, I don’t think I could handle it. While numbers certainly aren’t the only way to measure progress, I’m thrilled that my consumption has remained under 40 units for the last 5 weeks, and cravings were relatively low. That was a fantasy 7 months ago! I still enjoy drinking, even though I don’t really NEED to so much anymore. We’ll see what happens, but even if it doesn’t get any better than this, I’m already a satisfied customer!

Hi K1,

Well, it certainly looks as though you're now making progress, so - congratulations!

BTW, I don't like addressing you as Krazy1, hence the abbreviation.

All the best.

V.