Let's try this again, shall we?
****EDIT 15 DECEMBER 2016**** Rather than making multiple public posts on this subject and my journey, I will be commenting on this same post from time to time. Feel free to follow along. :)
So I've been seeing a therapist for a few months. I don't really know if it's 'helping' but I do enjoy talking to her.
I've also scheduled doctor and dentist appointments for January and February respectively. The last time I had a general 'all systems" check up was when I had that cancer scare three years ago, so I've honestly been avoiding doctors since. But. I'll be 49 in March, and this tired achy pudgy old body is the only one I've got so I should probably do a better job of taking care of it.
To that end, I've decided to give up alcohol for the next 8 weeks. I KNOW this is going to be tough, but I do see that it's become a habit and my tolerance levels aren't what they used to be.
There are a few medications I want to talk to the doctor about for both weight loss and my depression/anxiety issues and pretty much ALL of them caution against drinking while taking them so I think it's a smart idea to break that habit now. I've been doing a LITTLE better than I was a year or so ago when I started being honest with myself about just how much I was drinking and how often, but I've no illusions that this is going to be easy. I drink when I'm stressed, and I stress a LOT. Sometimes it's a glass of wine, sometimes that glass turns into a bottle. I have managed to mostly stop drinking on weeknights, THAT was getting pretty out of control. I'm a big girl, I can admit that. The Winter Solstice retreat is this coming weekend, and the state park it's held in is a dry site, so that will give me a weekend away from it completely which hopefully will make that first 'dry' weekend a little easier for me.
I've going to talk to a friend or two who have done the 'dry for a month' successfully and ask them to sort of be my support network. Someone I can call or text or send an instant message to when I'm feeling the temptation. I've got a couple of coloring books and or course, books to read and tea to drink to help distract me from the lure of the bottle.
So there. I said it, and I've made this post 'public', so The Russians can see it too. :). Wish me luck!!!
So I've been seeing a therapist for a few months. I don't really know if it's 'helping' but I do enjoy talking to her.
I've also scheduled doctor and dentist appointments for January and February respectively. The last time I had a general 'all systems" check up was when I had that cancer scare three years ago, so I've honestly been avoiding doctors since. But. I'll be 49 in March, and this tired achy pudgy old body is the only one I've got so I should probably do a better job of taking care of it.
To that end, I've decided to give up alcohol for the next 8 weeks. I KNOW this is going to be tough, but I do see that it's become a habit and my tolerance levels aren't what they used to be.
There are a few medications I want to talk to the doctor about for both weight loss and my depression/anxiety issues and pretty much ALL of them caution against drinking while taking them so I think it's a smart idea to break that habit now. I've been doing a LITTLE better than I was a year or so ago when I started being honest with myself about just how much I was drinking and how often, but I've no illusions that this is going to be easy. I drink when I'm stressed, and I stress a LOT. Sometimes it's a glass of wine, sometimes that glass turns into a bottle. I have managed to mostly stop drinking on weeknights, THAT was getting pretty out of control. I'm a big girl, I can admit that. The Winter Solstice retreat is this coming weekend, and the state park it's held in is a dry site, so that will give me a weekend away from it completely which hopefully will make that first 'dry' weekend a little easier for me.
I've going to talk to a friend or two who have done the 'dry for a month' successfully and ask them to sort of be my support network. Someone I can call or text or send an instant message to when I'm feeling the temptation. I've got a couple of coloring books and or course, books to read and tea to drink to help distract me from the lure of the bottle.
So there. I said it, and I've made this post 'public', so The Russians can see it too. :). Wish me luck!!!