Group, running, food and a shrink.

Hello.

Yesterday I attended the group. Another great meeting, came away feeling on a bit of a high.  If you feel the urge to read more about the Smart recovery programme you can do so here. I have been discussing the possibilities of peer mentoring and also training as a facilitator which would allow me to run meetings myself. Not only would this give me the chance to give something back with the benefit of my experiences, but also gain continued support from a peer group. Things are underway, forms have been filled in, I`ve ordered a book and watched several videos of an annoying American in a baseball cap. If I can survive that then I`m up for anything. The book contains a lot of the “tools” used within the meetings to try to rationalise and motivate etc. I`m not normally one for such bumf but the whole process and rationale behind Smart seems to make such sense. More about this as the book arrives.

Couch to 5k is progressing nicely. I now have a pair of shiny shorts to go with my running socks and bottle. Sarah has proper running shoes. We are turning into THAT couple. I have always been very dubious of people who espouse the benefits of exercise but now I have actually tried it I am starting to understand.

Returning from our week 3 runs and there is a real feeling of accomplishing something and a great feeling of well-being. The fact that we are already running for 3 minutes at a time without dying is quite an achievement. I`ve started comparing stats on my phone app and charting our progress, I feel a spreadsheet coming on. Maybe even graphs.

Last night I approached and passed a major milestone. A social event with old friends but no beer. Two friends came round for a barbecue. An event that would normally of course involve a huge amount of beer, as they always do. As it happens we had an ace evening, great food, great company and a great assortment of different flavoured fizzy water. This may seem like such a trivial thing but it was a huge event for me, affirming that a social life can still exist whilst sober. Also to be able to relax with close friends and talk comfortably about recovery was a great help. Cheers Bren and Ian, lovely evening and helped me a lot.

Today I had an appointment with the Consultant Psychiatrist about my anxiety and depression issues. Still early days to tell the effects that stopping drinking have had but we have increased one med to try to help with the anxiety surrounding the thoughts of a life without. Seems one of the causes of relapse is worrying about what would happen if you relapse. Makes sense I suppose. Will plod on with the meds for now, give my recovering liver a chance to start processing them and see what happens once they start having full effect. All in all, a positive couple of days. Let’s keep it like that.