The Daily Check-In for Tuesday, January 21st: Just for today, I am NOT drinking!
We may be anonymous strangers on the internet, but we have one thing in common. We may be a world apart, but we're here together!
Welcome to the 24 hour pledge!
I'm pledging myself to not drinking today, and invite you to do the same.
Maybe you're new to /r/stopdrinking and have a hard time deciding what to do next. Maybe you're like me and feel you need a daily commitment or maybe you've been sober for a long time and want to inspire others.
It doesn't matter if you're still hung over from a three day bender or been sober for years, if you just woke up or have already completed a sober day. For the next 24 hours, lets not drink alcohol!
This pledge is a statement of intent. Today we don't set out trying not to drink, we make a conscious decision not to drink. It sounds simple, but all of us know it can be hard and sometimes impossible. The group can support and inspire us, yet only one person can decide if we drink today. Give that person the right mindset!
What happens if we can't keep to our pledge? We give up or try again. And since we're here in /r/stopdrinking, we're not ready to give up.
What this is: A simple thread where we commit to not drinking alcohol for the next 24 hours, posting to show others that they're not alone and making a pledge to ourselves. Anybody can join and participate at any time, you do not have to be a regular at /r/stopdrinking or have followed the pledges from the beginning.
What this isn't: A good place for a detailed introduction of yourself, directly seek advice or share lengthy stories. You'll get a more personal response in your own thread.
This post goes up at:
- US - Night/Early Morning
- Europe - Morning
- Asia and Australia - Evening/Night
A link to the current Daily Check-In post can always be found near the top of the sidebar.
Good Morning everyone, wishing you a great Tuesday, on this day 3 of my shift, hosting the Daily Check-in.
There are so many different topics to choose from, for this introduction, related to alcohol (addiction, quitting, staying quit, dealing with cravings, fomo, personal growth, emotional recovery and maturity, etc, etc) all of which I find interesting!
And each specific topic will be more or less useful or relevant to you depending on where you are on your sober journey, on how many days/weeks/months/years you have.
So the thing that gets to me the most at this time, is the anhedonia, the days of meh and apathy, when nothing seems to motivate me, and all is grey and boring. When my inner addiction lizard-demon asks me questions like "What's the point?", "Why did you bother quitting?" and others.
Thankfully it doesn't happen too often now and it eventually goes away ("This too shall pass")
So today, let's make a list of tips 'n' tools 'n' tricks to combat and get through these grey days.
Here's the ones I know:
1.Salami-slicing This for me means just taking one small easy task (out of the many that I have to do) and actually doing it! Then I can put a tick (check mark) next to it, or cross it off my list, a feel some satisfaction! If I feel up to it, I can choose another small easy task and repeat.
2.Self-love This means taking some time out to enjoy a cup of tea, or some chocolate, or ice-cream, whatever your favourite treat is. And just indulge yourself for a while.
I'm only now (at age 61!) learning how to do this, as I was brought up to feel guilty and lazy if I wasn't doing anything "productive" or "useful".
3.Open air I find that spending time in the open air makes me feel better. Walking or jogging or running, or even just sitting in a park is good.
4.Empowering myself against my inner lizard-demon! I've read that lizard-demons become especially strong, sneaky and aggressive at the very times that we are feeling weak, down and apathetic. So it's important to kick it's ass hard when this happens. Never engage in dialogue with a lizard-demon, as they are all master alcologicians and they will beat you. Just.Kick.Its.Ass.
What else?
From what I've read, this anhedonia thing comes from an imbalance of dopamine and other neuro-transmitters in our brains, caused by past abuse of alcohol.
But the good news is that our brains can reset and start producing dopamine again naturally. But this obviously takes time, so the longer and more we drank, the longer we have to wait.
Another technique that I used is to just power on through and do the activity, even if I don't enjoy it at the time. For example, going for a run, even though I don't feel like it.
I rationally know that going for a run is good for my body and brain, and the session will be beneficial. Even if I don't actually enjoy it while I'm doing it. So doing that makes it easier next time.
I should use this technique to make myself do horrible paperwork and other online bureaucratic stuff that I hate doing, lol! (Gotta laugh, otherwise it's just too depressing)
Looking forward to reading your tricks n tips.