Thank you JSP for your wise words. Youre right about needing a replacement. I love live music and I have gone before and danced without being tanked. I think I need to try that again and of course exercise and I love doing stuff with my dogs- I think its all about being active!

Youre also right about the cravings. I reckon it makes more sense to take a nal when you get a craving rather than every day as per the common prescription. Of course not as much sense as TSM but more sense.

Its nice not to have a mind not constantly preoccupied with Where is my next drink?

MD

You might enjoy a book I just started, it's called "Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear" by Elizabeth Gilbert. One story she writes about is of a lady who figure skated when she was young, but she fell out of the ranks and gave it up. Many decades later, she felt there was something missing and always remembered the freedom and satisfaction she got from figure skating when she was young. She decided to pick it back up again, so there she was being coached among young graceful 9 year olds, but she didn't care whether anybody was going to be wowed by her skating. She was doing it out of her need to connect with the art and express herself, for her own sake.

that's amazing Jsp. I've been thinking a lot about my childhood and what I enjoyed doing. I loved playing netball and my daughter's coach has been away and I've had to train them. Yesterday we won and it was the best feeling ! They all tried so hard and it was great to see them come away with a win - I was on a big natural high yesterday. Am still reading the upward spiral - I will take up your next suggestion too. Thank you JSP you are so supportive to me and others . You are a GEM .
MD

"Yesterday we won and it was the best feeling !"

That is so cool! Awesome, MD!

Hello TSMers

I feel like making a post as I'm heading into my sixth month on Nal. My average weekly total has dropped by two this month and my AFDs have also increased. I love looking at those numbers.

However more important than the numbers are the changes Ive noticed in my behaviour. I don't get drunk and sit on facebook and watch crap TV and text stupid things to people anymore. When I'm sitting at home I try and do something a bit more productive even if it is watching a good movie - Im trying to catch up on any of the the top 100 movies I haven't seen. I watched Vertigo the other night and next stop is Raging Bull.

The other night my daughter was upset and overwhelmed by everything at school. Now before I would have of course helped her but I would have already had a drink by that time of night -6pm as home at 530 and would have been thinking about my next one. However this time I was able to fully focus on helping my daughter deal with everything (even though I went to a Smart recovery meeting between stage 1 and stage 2 of helping her!). If Id still been drinking maybe she wouldn't have even come to me about all her worries. That thought is devastating and reinforces how much my relationship with her means the world to me.

Now the habit is still there on weekends- Friday and Saturday night I do look forward to a drink. However I have the Nal and always drink less than I think Im gonna drink. Also I worked yesterday an Sunday and it was a very stressful day as my co faciltator was late and we were under pressure to mark our student's presentations so we could give them all written feedback. It involved super concentration. My brain was mush at the end of it and it was the end of the course. I always get a bit emotional saying goodbye to my students!. Perfect recipe for a drink marathon. I had my Nal then an hour later had an ultra light beer which contains less than o.5% alcohol. Then I had a glass of Shiraz (ok a big glass so maybe 2 units) but that was it!!! Hooley Dooley this is me firing up to get hammered after a stressful day and basically having 2 drinks!!! I really wanted to get hammered too!

It's amazing how much room I have left in my brain after all that time spent craving a drink and thinking about what I was going to drink has gone. Sometimes I find that a bit hard because I have to think about hard things like finding a job that I love and my relationship with my partner- however even though difficult not having drink to occupy me forces me to think about what changes I need to make in my life.

Thank you Nal and TSM. Without you I wouldnt have been able to make these changes. And thank you to people on this Board for your generous support.

MD





productive o

Fantastic, MD! Another very inspiring progress report!

MD I was really happy to read your post - it is wonderful the way that nal works for us. I know that we all want a magic pill, but I think the Nal working slowly is better as it gives us time to get our brains around the not drinking SLOWLY and so enables us to alter our lives - I know that when I did eventually stop, that it still took me a few months to sort of get used to the idea- and there are some days that I SO wish I wanted a drink - but I cannot make that happen now! So I understand your wanting to get hammered and it just not happening - it made me smile!

Great reading from you!

hugs, Maggie

Hi Board

I've had a bit of a downer week and how I realised that was I was actually thinking about drinking more. I think it was actually boredom- we've had horrific storms in Sydney so a lot of outdoor activities were called off. I only had 2 AFDs this week and drank 17 units. Oh well I followed the golden rule and was very mindful of drinking more and wanting to drink more. MD- lets have a better week this week. I'm going to go for a run with my dogs in the sunshine!

Have a good week Comrades!

MD

Looks like we're floating in about the same range, MD. Glad you were able to weather the storms without getting "blown away" so to speak!

Nal on, MD!