The 1 Year Milestone

[Ninja]

Thanks Darcy. 91 down, 274 to go. I'm on the way bring it on sister. EAF that is. I'm going to kick your A**e

[Ninja]

Thanks also to everyone else who requested.

[Rebecca]

Woohoo! I'm in for 6 months from today, I'll go half way and maybe I'll change my mind to a whole year by then, but I commit to 6 months. Ninja, you know we have to make it through the Christmas holidays. Maybe we can help each other! Congrats on 91 days!!!!

Rebecca

[Ninja]

Hey Bec, heres the lyrics by the great man himself M.J. It'll get us through. Dec takes in my birthday and new years eve as well, that'll be a tough one but as he says, I'll be there. Good luck on our new road. This is for all my friends out there at B.E. who have and will help me through this. Enjoy.

You and I must make a pact
We must bring salvation back
Where there is love, I'll be there

I'll reach out my hand to you,
I'll have faith in all you do
Just call my name and I'll be there

Chorus:
And oh - I'll be there to comfort you,
Build my world of dreams around you
I'm so glad that I found you
I'll be there with a love that's strong
I'll be your strength, I'll keep holding on
Yes I will, yes I will

Let me fill your heart with joy and laughter
Togetherness, well that's all I'm after
Whenever you need me, I'll be there
I'll be there to protect you
With an unselfish love I respect you
Just call my name and I'll be there

(Chorus)

If you should ever find someone new
I know he'd better be good to you
'Cos if he doesn't, I'll be there

Don't you know, baby, yeah yeah
I'll be there, I'll be there, just call my name, I'll be there

(Just look over your shoulders, honey - ooh)

I'll be there, I'll be there, whenever you need me, I'll be there

Don't you know, baby, yeah yeah
I'll be there, I'll be there, just call my name, I'll be there...

[Rebecca]

That's so nice Ninja, I'm excited about doing this with someone so encouraging to talk to! I won't let you down, I'll be by your side too. I made it through my birthday and anniversary without drinking. Birthday was rough, but it's my own fault because I want to go out to a place where I knew everyone would be drunk - New Orleans. I was the only one not drinking! Good luck, let's do it.

[Ninja]

-92 + 273 Not long now eh!

[Tink]

Thanks Ninja! It brought a tear to my eye. You are such a doll! I am sober and you have sooo much to do with that my dear friend!

[Lel]

One year - now that would be an amazing milestone!!!

Maybe....just maybe.......

Lel x

[Ninja]

Hey Tink I'll be waiting at the other end with that mug of tea as you won't be that far behind me. I'll be there.

[Tink]

I'll be there Ninja! I will hold you to that. I will have a long journey though. I will get there. I had to start over so it will be a bit of a delay from that silly little slip I had a week or so ago. I wrote down the new date and it is on here but I am not really focusing on it allot. I am taking life as it comes and living in the moment. I have just excepted that I am not doing it anymore and so that is that. Got that advise from another friend of mine the other day.

Hope you are all well and I will be here most everyday. I am just not counting right now. Just not doing any drinking anymore.

Have a great day and give yourselves a hug please!

079.gif

[Rebecca]

You guys will both beat me, I actually had some wine last week and also after I made it 100 days and I never changed my date! It was minor, but since Tink changed hers, I need to do it too. I think someone told me not to change it for a minor slip, but I've had more than 1 minor now so I'll change it! My picture is my new wagon, the "magic bus." I'll just change my date to the start of this thread, since that's when I said I would commit. Tink, I don't count days anymore either, it just helped me at first. I know I said 6 months, but I'm trying to talk myself into a year, I was thinking about what I was doing a year ago and it doesn't really seem too long, I'm sure it would fly by and I would not even miss alcohol!

[Sheila]

Hi to everyone here
I think this thread is a brilliant idea, and I'd love to commit to a goal of 1 year, but with my track record recently, (slipping big time after about 4 months), I'm taking it nice and easy.
But this is so very very tempting
Sheila

[Ninja]

Hi girls, Bec I'm also not counting days any more only as far as I want to get to that 1 year mark then I will taste the sweet smell of success. At first it was a challenge getting to 1 week, 1 month etc but as time goes on my life is just going on as well, minus the day counting. I am trying to treat life now just as it should be as if I'd never drank and it seems to be working. I know it's all in the head to a certain point but the more my mind takes it for granted that I don't want a drink the easier it becomes to just live without it. I don't think of it like I used to morning, noon and night and wondering what time I would be drinking or where my next drink was coming from. I have put all the things back into the place they should be in my life. Drink is now so low priority on that list that I can't even see me getting to it any more. That's how far down the list it is. I'm treating it with the respect it deserves and that's none. I have no respect for it. The only respect I have for it, if you can call it respect, is how dangerous it can be if you let it. So I'm not in a race to get to a year and I don't care who beats me, I'm just going to plod along with my head in the clouds a long way from the EAF, thinking about how great my life has become and how better it is getting. In the short space of 3 months there has been such a terrific difference in my life, relationship and work, it's unbelievable. This time in May/June I was nearly out of work, out of a marriage and out on the street. How things can change just by stopping the one thing we think is helping us get through life. It isn't helping at all, it's hindering, that's why we're all here. My wife bless her has been my rock through all this. Without her giving me that one last chance I would be nowhere and for that I cannot thank her enough and have told her so many times already. I knew that deep down behind all that depression I got her into that somewhere the old OH was begging to come back to me but I had to be the old OH as well and as soon as I changed so did she. I kept us in a vicious circle which was spiralling downwards and going nowhere. Now with a clear head I can see where I was going wrong and am putting everything right, I have apologised many times for it and am on the right road. I have the love and respect back from her which I knew was still there but just hidden away from me. You all have helped me get it back with your words of wisdom and your stories to relate to. This sharing thing is not one to be taken lightly. I have attained such strength from it and will forever be grateful and I cannot say that enough. I have had a little fairy sitting on my shoulder shooing the EAF away with her magic dust and for that I am also grateful. Thankyou Tink you are a great mate. Pity you're in the States I'd take you out for a coffee to celebrate. Bec there is a certain strength to you changing your drink date, you are looking forward, along with your hippy bus that's the way travel, no reverse on those things. Sheila tempt yourself and jump aboard, you can't lose out. We all have a track record. Theres no one on here who hasn't. We can all cruise along to that magic 12 months together. You've done 4 months before so you can do it again. You can. I slipped and got back up so can we all. It's all part of the learning process. If we slipped and never got back up that would be different but we did get back up and that shows us we can do it. We are not trying, we are doing, that's the difference. So my 1 year family I am now finished my soap bax routine and off for a read on other threads. There's always some little snippit which interests me and I get a lot of strength form them. You can too. Loadsa Love Ninja

[Melina]

As a very new member (I'm only on Day Four!) I came here to see what was happening. I know I haven't even completed a week yet, but I thought that coming here occasionally and at least contemplating the possibility of achieving Year One would be good for me - it would open up my mind to the fact that it could be done. This is a big step for me, especially since a few weeks ago, before coming to this site, it sounded utterly impossible. I wasn't even remotely considering it.

Birthday was rough, but it's my own fault because I want to go out to a place where I knew everyone would be drunk - New Orleans. I was the only one not drinking!

That alone deserves a special award! I've never been to New Orleans, but I can picture it vividly in my mind, and I think it's amazing that you didn't talk yourself into drinking. "It's my birthday. Look where I am. I'll never get this chance again. It would be SO much fun!" Kudos to you.
Okay, back to Week One. Best wishes to all.

[sue]

Ninja, what an inspiring journey you're on. You certainly have made huge changes in your life. You and your wife must be so proud.
I know you said you weren't counting anymore but 3 months is a milestone so very many congratulations for getting there
Lots of
Sue xx

[Ninja]

Thanks Sue, Goodnight. X

[Rebecca]

Hi Ninja,

I feel exactly the same way, I feel like my life has been changed since I've stopped drinking. I didn't think about it anymore. After I had a drink after my 100 days, I think I started thinking about it again and it just wasn't worth it. I don't mind changing my date at all and I don't care who beats me, I was only joking about that. I had a couple of small slips, but it really wasn't worth it - I can feel just as relaxed, just as happy and everything else without it now. I also don't want to leave myself open for a major slip. I quit for 3 months in 2001...I know a long time ago, and did ok at just drinking on weekends for a few months, then I fell off the wagon again for years and drank more than I EVER had before - probably twice as much. I know it could happen again if I'm not careful, things are much different now and I was in my 20's then, but I know I could still fall and I don't want the small slips to turn into another 6 years of drinking. That's why I joined this thread to work towards a longer goal, I feel good about it achieving it, I just have to continue what I was doing! And I'll need inspiration and support along the way from all of you.

Hi Melina,

Hang in there! Yes, it was the most interesting birthday I've had in a long time, I was 2 months sober at the time and didn't want to give in!

[Rebecca]

Ninja,

I meant to tell you I've been down under a couple of times - Melbourne and Sydney, very nice. Longest flight ever, though.

[Sheila]

Hi Rebecca
So much of your 'story' I can relate to. I went for 115 days and then thought I could re-introduce. Up till then, I'd been doing really well and thoughts of alcohol didn't dominate my thoughts. After that first drink with some friends, I started to believe that maybe, just maybe, I could control my drinking, but time and holidays have proved big time that I can't. I am all or nothing. I've chosen nothing and I think I've finally accepted that at last. I remember that 'feeling' when I re-set my 'Last drink Date'. I've done it a few times since and I've no intention of changing it again
I've having some health issues right now, and it's made me realise how much I value my health and just how much I took it for granted. I also know that starting drinking again certainly won't improve anything. I am so tempted to 'sign up' here, but something is holding me back. Not sure what right now. I know that my last lapse has knocked my confidence a bit, and I know I don't want to drink again .....
I'm starting to ramble, so I'll go now.
All the best to everyone here,
Sheila

[Ninja]

Hey Sheila try all the shorter posts first then just piece them all together like I did, you'll be here before you know it. You're right Bec it is a long bloody flight. Now I'm here I only been back once and it half killed me. All drinks free so you can imagine what happened. Ah well I survived to tell the tale. No more long flights and no more booze. That's the way I gotta keep it. Big test this weekend on a bike trip with a dozen boozers up to Mt Kaputar about 700 K's north of Sydney. Should be a great ride. OH isn't coming on this one so I have to be vigilent but I'm prepared not to drink so won't. I'm going to be a right tit and muck around and have a load of fun and enjoy riding like a teenager but no drink. It's over, done and dusted for me and that's how I gotta keep thinking. My life can be full of whatever I want and drink isn't anywhere near being let back in. I am focused and determined and I got all that from you lot. Cheers mates.