Alcohol was never my drug of choice but I certainly knew how to use it.I don't have a problem being around any friend or social situations where alcohol is used in moderation..........which seems to be very rare and accounts for me missing most Christmas parties.
I see the glitzy billboards and advertisements about the new sophisticated ways to get plastered and most of the times it just sails right by me.However,Saturday I was running around with Steve looking at a new project and he started talking about the perfect way to make a martini.My competitiveness kicked in and I found myself in this inane conversation about how one is to freeze the vodka and spray the vermouth in the glass with a mister and use only Spanish olives...yada,yada,yada....you get the picture.
What happened is I found myself glamorizing the art of getting inebriated.I wanted a martini and I wanted it now.
After that thought came into my head something clicked........I like to call my HP..........."Hey dude! You've never drank like that in your life" LOL
Sipping on a Stoli martini out of Ralph Lauren crystal stemware sitting by a log burning fire with Rover by your feet is a f***ing delusion.
Your story is more like chugging the cheapest Gin you can buy[one in which you can still see the juniper berries],taking a leak out in the front yard and throwing up in the azaleas.There is no stemware involved!!
I shared this at group last night and it's amazing how many addicts think drinking might be different somehow.Although I attend NA the longer I'm around the more I see the insidiousness of this disease.You quit one thing and believe it might be different with something else.
The holidays can be tricky.A lot of emotions are running rampant.Don't let the monster sneak up on you.
Obviously, alcoholism is much more prevalent than pill addiction and easier to deny. It kills me how it is glamorized, as being drunk is one of the most unglamorous things I can think of.
As you know Tim, it's all politically and financially driven.
As you know Tim, it's all politically and financially driven.
I was very glamorous in a kind of a demoralizing way....or so I've been told.LOL
that too has occurred to me, (the desire for one drink)
alcohol has never been a problem for me as i cannot ingest more than two drinks and if i did i vomit the whole night, so fortunately for me that was enough to turn me off from drinking, but i had a craving last summer on a hot day for a margarita and some salty tortilla chips and then the new years eve glass of champagne at midnight is another craving i deal with anually. dinner out with a group from work or wedding receptions are hard too. when everyone orders a cocktail and i say a coke please. BUT, i take the advice of my sponsor for which i thought last Christmas, which was my first one clean and sober in over 30 yrs, that it would be ok to indulge in one, but she taught me differently, that no addict no matter what their drug of choice was, we would only wake up the sleeping giant once again and for that i abstained.
glamourizing alcohol is so wrong, magazines, billboards and t.v just seem to try and invite everyone to something that is going to make their life seems so perfect.
i hope technology can come up with a system where the car wont start if your loaded.
alcohol is a drug, period! ( an NA slogan)
thanks for this much needed post as a reminder to everyone who may want to indulge this holiday season ****jewels
alcohol has never been a problem for me as i cannot ingest more than two drinks and if i did i vomit the whole night, so fortunately for me that was enough to turn me off from drinking, but i had a craving last summer on a hot day for a margarita and some salty tortilla chips and then the new years eve glass of champagne at midnight is another craving i deal with anually. dinner out with a group from work or wedding receptions are hard too. when everyone orders a cocktail and i say a coke please. BUT, i take the advice of my sponsor for which i thought last Christmas, which was my first one clean and sober in over 30 yrs, that it would be ok to indulge in one, but she taught me differently, that no addict no matter what their drug of choice was, we would only wake up the sleeping giant once again and for that i abstained.
glamourizing alcohol is so wrong, magazines, billboards and t.v just seem to try and invite everyone to something that is going to make their life seems so perfect.
i hope technology can come up with a system where the car wont start if your loaded.
alcohol is a drug, period! ( an NA slogan)
thanks for this much needed post as a reminder to everyone who may want to indulge this holiday season ****jewels
Alcohol and tobacco are two of the biggest killers around and they're both legal. People start on them young because they're so easily accessible. It's hard enough not glamorizing drug use in our addict minds without the ad agencies coming along and offering the subtle lighting and camera work, too. I'm glad you nipped that little daydream in the bud, Tim.
Can you ask Steve to shut it when he starts rhapsodizing about alcohol in front of you? It's really insensitive to talk about that sort of thing to a recovering addict.
Can you ask Steve to shut it when he starts rhapsodizing about alcohol in front of you? It's really insensitive to talk about that sort of thing to a recovering addict.
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i hope technology can come up with a system where the car wont start if your loaded. |
There is Julie.My CPA had to have one installed in his car after his 4th DWI.You have to breathe in this contraption that is hooked up to the ignition.It won't allow the engine to turn over if you have any blood alcohol.
Morning Gina.I don't think Steve met any harm.I've learned a long time ago people who can drink won't get it no matter what you say.Besides,I allowed the conversation to go on as long as it did.
I finally broke it off by changing the conversation.
I do remember a few years back at his birthday bash in this restaraunt with about 12 people at this table.I had turned my wine glass over and the waiter was approaching to pour the wine.Steve was already a little smashed and he yells at the table.........as other patrons turn around,"He can't drink! He's an alcoholic and druggie" LOL
Everyone turns to stare at me with a look of pity or "horror"....
It was the highlight of my evening.
QUOTE |
I do remember a few years back at his birthday bash in this restaraunt with about 12 people at this table.I had turned my wine glass over and the waiter was approaching to pour the wine.Steve was already a little smashed and he yells at the table.........as other patrons turn around,"He can't drink! He's an alcoholic and druggie" LOL Everyone turns to stare at me with a look of pity or "horror".... |
Well, we'll keep educating people and advocating for addicts' rights and someday people will react to that sort of thing the way they would if someone were to say, "He can't eat that! He's diabetic!"
Maybe they were looking at Steve with pity because he was the one drunk and yelling in a restaurant. You were sober.
SO THATS My oldest problem huh?Here I thought she started to drink because shes a lazy immature jerk....
QUOTE |
There is Julie.My CPA had to have one installed in his car after his 4th DWI.You have to breathe in this contraption that is hooked up to the ignition.It won't allow the engine to turn over if you have any blood alcohol |
see, i thought i had read that somewhere, ok, whats taking so long for all newer vehicles to have this most life saving device installed? but i guess that doesnt solve the problem either as you could have a sober person start the car for you, huh?
Ok peeking and you confused me Sabrina.She drinks cause she does, all this accessibility means sh*t, just that the world looks at certain things as more acceptable then othersand just cause it is accessible doesnt mean you have to try it, or that it is okNot sure I see lazy or immature either in the mix with her, even if she seems that way, she isnt drinking because of it
It plays into what Tim found at NA, that there are conflicting views as to a drink being ok or not. Hubby has seen some of that, as the opposite reaction that he found in AA. Say heroin and that is it, you are not really allowed in as if heroin is any worse or better then just drinking. I find it all very odd looking in from the outside. I would think or at least hope that once addiction that word itself is out there, that would be enough. A fellow addict would be seen as drug makes no difference but it gets all confused. A heroin addict will see a crack addict as worse thenand a pill addict would do that at least I didnt use heroin, or a someone who smokes pot regularly would think well I am not doing the harder so called drugsBizarre if anyone asks me
Enjoy the day,
Love
Tina
It plays into what Tim found at NA, that there are conflicting views as to a drink being ok or not. Hubby has seen some of that, as the opposite reaction that he found in AA. Say heroin and that is it, you are not really allowed in as if heroin is any worse or better then just drinking. I find it all very odd looking in from the outside. I would think or at least hope that once addiction that word itself is out there, that would be enough. A fellow addict would be seen as drug makes no difference but it gets all confused. A heroin addict will see a crack addict as worse thenand a pill addict would do that at least I didnt use heroin, or a someone who smokes pot regularly would think well I am not doing the harder so called drugsBizarre if anyone asks me
Enjoy the day,
Love
Tina
Hey Tina
I guess Im just venting,disappointed,& just?????Fustrated.
I mean at least she is going by ONE rule & that is if shes drinking she is NOT allowed to sleep here.As Mikey has work,Anne has school & theres way too many bad memories of her dad like that.I mean shes only right down the street so I KNOW where shes spending her nights,but it breaks my heart.She is ALWAYS on my butt about being an addict,she knows both her dad & I have problems with drinking...I just am fustrated.
Like I said I vented...I dont know why she started to drink again,as she doesnt open up to me,but I see so much of how I USE to be at her age & its like HOW THE HELL do you save someone you love.I know I know I cant.Its just real hard watching my life repeat itself again...
I guess Im just venting,disappointed,& just?????Fustrated.
I mean at least she is going by ONE rule & that is if shes drinking she is NOT allowed to sleep here.As Mikey has work,Anne has school & theres way too many bad memories of her dad like that.I mean shes only right down the street so I KNOW where shes spending her nights,but it breaks my heart.She is ALWAYS on my butt about being an addict,she knows both her dad & I have problems with drinking...I just am fustrated.
Like I said I vented...I dont know why she started to drink again,as she doesnt open up to me,but I see so much of how I USE to be at her age & its like HOW THE HELL do you save someone you love.I know I know I cant.Its just real hard watching my life repeat itself again...
The way alcohal is treated by us is, to say the least, odd. Its marketing with all the sexy commercials & almost mystical shaped & colored viels(sp). Yet it is so dangerous, in every way. At the --talk to u some other day, wife came home bitchin
there are days...
there are days...
The alcohol industry misuses the disease model of addiction to justify selling their product to those who can "drink responsibly". But you don't have to be an addict to drive drunk. I just heard about a drug court judge who went to a long liquid lunch hosted by the makers of the ankle alcohol monitoring devices which they were trying to sell to the NC Dept of Justice. The judge had three drinks and drove off under the influence.
You cant save her, and you have to understand that no matter what she is her, not you, not at all
I gotta boggie the prince is here, but you know how to find me. Try not to worry to much....
Love,
Tina
Oh and dog I hope you can get back and finish your thoughts. I sometimes wonder if people see tv and think if I buy that, drink that my life will be just like that...kinda twisted and sad but I do wonder....
I gotta boggie the prince is here, but you know how to find me. Try not to worry to much....
Love,
Tina
Oh and dog I hope you can get back and finish your thoughts. I sometimes wonder if people see tv and think if I buy that, drink that my life will be just like that...kinda twisted and sad but I do wonder....
posted by mistyeyes
yeah, you and your perfect universes.....I mean being logical here, what do you think this is?
"Drug ranking" is almost a...sport.
It can be used for different purposes. It can be used to lessen one's own addiction (well, at least I didn't use X.....X being whatever drug the addict deems most "dangerous")
It also can be used to excuse one's own addiction in the opposite way. (The drug I used is so dangerous, I couldn't help myself.)
i.e. "Well, heroin is the 'Devil's drug', everyone who uses it at least occasionally or even tries it will become addicted. But alcohol or pot, only the 'weak' who 'use it too much' will become addicted..."
My hypothesis?
Which drug? Doesn't matter
Which person? Is all that matters (That second part of the hypothesis is the one that makes people very uncomfortable and hences sets up all kinds of rationalizations and justifications)
Yup, alcohol is a drug too. I see it a bunch on the pain pill board. There are posters who get their skivvies in a bundle when its suggested they may want to quit drinking too. They say alcohol isn't a problem. Well, they may be quite right. But if quitting alcohol can add even a tiny extra layer of recovery security, and if they could take or leave alcohol it shouldn't be a big deal to quit right? Well, at least that's the theory....
I have even seen those drinking on suboxone (god I hope not on methadone). Well, I don't know what doctors they see, but it is probably not recommended to drink on Sub. So, I don't know exactly what the deal is with that.
Only hypothesis I have is The Least Harmful Chemical (or LHC). LHC is designed for giving a person relief...or something...and doing it in the safest way possible. Some folks have..or need to have... a LHC. Some just can't develop a LHC. I think those who don't have a LHC truly are lucky. No worries about monitoring intake or worrying about interactions. Just "straight up".
QUOTE |
I would think or at least hope that once addiction that word itself is out there, that would be enough. A fellow addict would be seen as drug makes no difference but it gets all confused. A heroin addict will see a crack addict as worse thenand a pill addict would do that at least I didnt use heroin, or a someone who smokes pot regularly would think well I am not doing the harder so called drugsBizarre if anyone asks me |
yeah, you and your perfect universes.....I mean being logical here, what do you think this is?
"Drug ranking" is almost a...sport.
It can be used for different purposes. It can be used to lessen one's own addiction (well, at least I didn't use X.....X being whatever drug the addict deems most "dangerous")
It also can be used to excuse one's own addiction in the opposite way. (The drug I used is so dangerous, I couldn't help myself.)
i.e. "Well, heroin is the 'Devil's drug', everyone who uses it at least occasionally or even tries it will become addicted. But alcohol or pot, only the 'weak' who 'use it too much' will become addicted..."
My hypothesis?
Which drug? Doesn't matter
Which person? Is all that matters (That second part of the hypothesis is the one that makes people very uncomfortable and hences sets up all kinds of rationalizations and justifications)
Yup, alcohol is a drug too. I see it a bunch on the pain pill board. There are posters who get their skivvies in a bundle when its suggested they may want to quit drinking too. They say alcohol isn't a problem. Well, they may be quite right. But if quitting alcohol can add even a tiny extra layer of recovery security, and if they could take or leave alcohol it shouldn't be a big deal to quit right? Well, at least that's the theory....
I have even seen those drinking on suboxone (god I hope not on methadone). Well, I don't know what doctors they see, but it is probably not recommended to drink on Sub. So, I don't know exactly what the deal is with that.
Only hypothesis I have is The Least Harmful Chemical (or LHC). LHC is designed for giving a person relief...or something...and doing it in the safest way possible. Some folks have..or need to have... a LHC. Some just can't develop a LHC. I think those who don't have a LHC truly are lucky. No worries about monitoring intake or worrying about interactions. Just "straight up".
Tis the season to be drunk....ain't that the truth and I notice the drop off of newcomers at this time of year...I haven't had a drink in over 10 years, I'd rather put a loaded gun to my head than take that first drink but there is something about this time of year that makes me squirrely...I don't know if it's me but it sure seems like there are more advertisements everywhere I look and the alcohol industry does a hell of a job making it look seductive, glamorous, enticing with their commercials...I saw one the other day for Crown Royal and for that split second my alcholic brain was drooling, how they can make the ice look so pretty and then to pour the whiskey over the top and make the drink have a glow.....then I have to go back to that last drunk and there was nothing, absolutely nothing glamorous nor pretty about it....
And Gina, I love the disclosure they put with their ad's...
Normal people don't need to be told to drink responsibly, they just do but boy, oh boy, this alcoholic reads that and for a half a second, I think I can be a responsible drinker....LMAO...I am still sick so I think I'll keep coming back....
Smooches,
Stacey
And Gina, I love the disclosure they put with their ad's...
QUOTE |
The alcohol industry misuses the disease model of addiction to justify selling their product to those who can "drink responsibly". |
Normal people don't need to be told to drink responsibly, they just do but boy, oh boy, this alcoholic reads that and for a half a second, I think I can be a responsible drinker....LMAO...I am still sick so I think I'll keep coming back....
Smooches,
Stacey
Hi Elim,
Tinas perfect little worldlmaoreality I have come to understand is as simple as looking in the mirror. I learned a lot they way
It more works like common sense in my head, which I know goes right out the window all the way around with addiction
I mean really hi my life became unmanageable because of drinking, hi mine became because of crack, heroinwhatever the case isif it could be that simple, as I think why isnt itwith the answer right there is it within the individual
I think to much I know that, looking around with the twilight zone music playing in my head. I wonder if it changed within if it wouldnt just change all around. I know full well the reaction to heroinbeing uneducated when I first heard that word I thought this was it the end and he is just doneand yet I also thought that some drugs were better then othersthat LHC.
Now I think neither as it is the person, what it is for them and nothing more
Not sure generalizing responsible drinking is a good thing either alcoholic or not Once the games begin and with the bottle is now running the show who is really thinking clearlythink about it
Love,
Tina
Tinas perfect little worldlmaoreality I have come to understand is as simple as looking in the mirror. I learned a lot they way
It more works like common sense in my head, which I know goes right out the window all the way around with addiction
I mean really hi my life became unmanageable because of drinking, hi mine became because of crack, heroinwhatever the case isif it could be that simple, as I think why isnt itwith the answer right there is it within the individual
I think to much I know that, looking around with the twilight zone music playing in my head. I wonder if it changed within if it wouldnt just change all around. I know full well the reaction to heroinbeing uneducated when I first heard that word I thought this was it the end and he is just doneand yet I also thought that some drugs were better then othersthat LHC.
Now I think neither as it is the person, what it is for them and nothing more
Not sure generalizing responsible drinking is a good thing either alcoholic or not Once the games begin and with the bottle is now running the show who is really thinking clearlythink about it
Love,
Tina
"Interpersonal negative emotional states and interpersonal conflict situations (e.g., an argument with a family member) served as triggers for more than one-half of all relapse episodes."
Larimer et al. (1999). Relapse Prevention, Alcohol Research and Health.
No wonder Christmas is such a high season for relapse. Take good care of yourselves this time of year. Protect your sobriety, set healthy boundaries.
Larimer et al. (1999). Relapse Prevention, Alcohol Research and Health.
No wonder Christmas is such a high season for relapse. Take good care of yourselves this time of year. Protect your sobriety, set healthy boundaries.
Anybody who has the delusion that drinking is in any way glamorous only needs to spend one holiday at my in-laws house.
Cheers.
Cheers.
[quote]"Interpersonal negative emotional states and interpersonal conflict situations [/quote]
...Would that include my less than spiritual response at the illegal alien with a cell phone glued to her ear driving 35 mph on the freeway about 30 minutes ago?
serenity now
Hi Jodi
...Would that include my less than spiritual response at the illegal alien with a cell phone glued to her ear driving 35 mph on the freeway about 30 minutes ago?
serenity now
Hi Jodi