Yo, Tiller!

You're so nonchalant and confident these days...its great to hear that tone.

As our paths recently seem somewhat parallel, I wanted to ask about your AFs...can you string them together? Though ONE AF isn't too hard for me now, I seem to resent the second one if I impose it on myself. Weird. What's the difference between one and two??? But somehow I feel like I need to reward myself, in the old usual ways. I suppose that is the addict still present in me, getting mad and digging in it's heels. More extinction yet to get through... (sigh).

Chrissie

Hi Chrissie --

I'm in an odd sort of space just now. I can have a couple AF days in a row but it takes a little work. I got off track with that over the last 10 days. I seem to be in more of a binge mode where once or twice a week I overdo it. As I did last night and am paying for it today.

It's not really clear what's triggering these episodes. Stress is surely part of it. The lizard brain is still strong enough to take over. Today I feel the familiar funk and self-loathing. But I'm also glad this is a less-frequent state of mind; used to feel like this many days a week. Ugh!

I can soooo relate Tiller my friend!!! This has been my M.O. lately and yes it doesn't feel good. Kinda like that monster I was talking about with Chrissie. I'm feeling like he she or it is really fighting hard to bite me in the "you know what" again. I'm fighting back, and I'm not going to let it.

Stress has been a big part of it for me, that stress being work! It has been about a 10 day stint with me also. Talk about lizard brain, OMG. I just had to quote your entire post, can't believe it's exactly how I'm feeling. HAY!!! Are you reading my mind???

Smiles! Thankfully today is another day, we have a solution, we're working to get there, and I know some day we will.

Zip

exactly, you two! I don't know about you, but I can't BELIEVE I felt that way so frequently, "before". Now maybe...once or twice a month. Like Zip said earlier, w/o the bad days we wouldn't know what good days feel like

An AF week challenge? Hmmm...no, not yet. I've decided to continue w/ what feels natural, currently usually every other day. 2 in a row stresses me so much I think I need to be patient and let TSM do it's thing. But I'm likin' my pledge to drink only beer this week - that makes so much sense, sounds easy and could make a big difference. Who wants to DROWN in BEER??? Even Lizard Brain has more sense than that.

Chrissie

Hey Tiller

Yep, we love the Conchords and were rapt when Bret won the Oscar for best song. Wev'e had/have some great comedians downunder. Do visit NZ one day - it sure is beautiful.

It sounds like you are doing OK. I guess patience is the key, but it does get frustrating when progress is slower than we'd like. Looking back to how it used to be pre-TSM always helps.

Thanks for your support.
Cheers
Sticky

I tried sticking to beer last night, black and tan, yummm, my favoriate lately. Ending up breaking into the wine, thankfully I didn't finish the bottle and still some in my glass that I threw down the sink. Whoda thunkit... I think if I could just stick to beer I'd be alot better off too. The stress of fighting this does go to bad places, like bingeing which is not good. Being patient and letting the process do it's thing naturally is a REALLY good idea. Lizard brain doesn't like drowning in beer, I can imagine that...

Zippy Smiles

Yeah, we have to see if we can speed things along w/ some willpower - and sometimes that works. But sometimes if it just feels too difficult I think I have to just sit back and be patient. It took Nalwayout 42 weeks and I'm only at 24. The progress I've made gets me so excited, I think I'm almost done! But SO not true...

Good for you, trying the beer, and then leaving some wine, great! And Black & Tan would be high on my list, too. But even beer is losing it's charm: as soon as I started Nal, a lot of beer started tasting like something that had been sitting in Mr. Coffee all day, only slight carbonated, blick!

Chrissie

Hi all

Sorry for hijacking your post Tiller, but I have to agree, Chrissie - beer just isn't that great with nal on board. What's Black & Tan? It's not Stout is it (Guinness?) I've resorted to that on occasion when hubby has had some, but it's gross too, especially if it isn't cold!!

Beer can be nice on a hot summer's day, so perhaps you gals will do better with sticking to beer now you are going into spring. It's still warm here most days, but winter is on its way, boo hoo!! Not that we get snow or anything - Auckland is quite mild.

Anyway, good luck with the beer drinking. Maybe I could finally try those wine spritzers I keep suggesting tomorrow night?!

Cheers
Sticky

Hey, Sticky! I'm so glad to hear from you, and the positive tone in your post... we're ALL gonna be fine! As for me...well...I went out to dinner tonight w/ some dear friends to a really cool, cool restaurant. I shunned the wine (as per my "beer pledge") but then the waiter came by and I ordered a Sambuca, OMG, a real favorite, and what a punch (sigh...) Which certainly punched through the Nal and whatever moral turpitude I had in reserve...wine followed, and then MORE wine...

Sambuca is what you'd call a liqueur, I suppose, and delicious to boot (if you like licorice)...anyway, I'm 'fessin' up here that I fell off my "beer only" pledge on Day One...NOT impressive.

Sorry, Tiller, to once again hi-jack your thread! Try to think of it as having a really popular dormitory room that people keep dropping by and can't seem to leave... Meaning, okay, you're popular but then you have to explain all those miscellaneous thongs laying around to Mrs. Tiller...does she have a sense of humor???

Chrissie

This is EXACTLY how it was for me in college. Except I don't think the thong had been invented back then.