Mental Health thread

wedge2

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Jan 20, 2011
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Drinking is tricky over 45, quit this year when i turned 50 (except for the holiday bottle of Chimay) because I wanted to keep surfing regularly not wanting to feel like burnt shite for a week afterwards. It's done wonders for my health, a group of friends came down for drinking, coke, hookers & surfing (in that order) and the wildest thing I did was crossing a river full of crocodiles on a flimsy bridge. No one should be indulging on those levels at this age. Sorry about your friend.
Oh man, I bet they were feeling rough
 
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SurfFuerteventura

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Sep 20, 2014
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I guess this belongs here, just ate an entire 500mg thc chocolate as an experiment, wish me luck:)
Half a gram? You should be just fine.

Once, for a couple of long flights, I thought I was eating 10mg, turned out to be 10g... switching flights at the connections was a bit rough, but otherwise got thru unscathed. Did sleep the entire trip, 26 hours, and do not remember much at all else..

:foreheadslap::monkey::barf:
 
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Pescado713

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Oh man, I bet they were feeling rough
The ringleader was 52 and could give Rick James a run for his money in his prime, I've never seen anybody blink so much per second or maybe I just never noticed because I was also so high.

Fortunately there were no wailing hookers handcuffed to the bedposts of the AirBnB the next day.

Partying doesn't make you feel younger, surfing does.
 
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Mr Doof

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Jan 23, 2002
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Thanks guys...yeah starting to see the benefits that you hear but don't believe at the time. AA wasn't for me, but I did go hard for the first few months --- now more on that get the fck outside and do crazy (sober) sh!t vibe. Really helps with that natural dopamine hit we all search for in the bottle.
Helped a friend go to his first few AA meetings.

He couldn't hang with the Christian messaging at the AA meetings he went to and in no time at all, found his way to a Rational Recovery group.

Some back sliding as he cleaned himself up, but last I heard, 10 yrs sober from last drink.

AA and the God thing may not be for everyone, but I am super happy he took his first steps to get to those AA meetings.
 

Bob Dobbalina

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Helped a friend go to his first few AA meetings.

He couldn't hang with the Christian messaging at the AA meetings he went to and in no time at all, found his way to a Rational Recovery group.

AA and the God thing may not be for everyone, but I am super happy he took his first steps to get to those AA meetings.
I can totally understand how this is a blocking point for people.
 

wedge2

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For me it wasn't that, I get the god/higher power metaphor thing. It was mostly the cliquiness of the whole thing and the power tripping some of the old timers have (and I went to meetings all over). Just a weird vibe in the rooms (a lot like a church), but it does work for some people so that's cool.
 
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Bob Dobbalina

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For me it wasn't that, I get the god/higher power metaphor thing. It was mostly the cliquiness of the whole thing and the power tripping some of the old timers have (and I went to meetings all over). Just a weird vibe in the rooms (a lot like a church), but it does work for some people so that's cool.

I can imagine.
I've never attended an AA meeting, but I've been to plenty of Al-Anon meetings. There are obvious similarities, but they are not the same. Cliquiness seems kind of inevitable in both, and any environment that works that way. If you aren't actively working to welcome newcomers, it's going to happen. Hence the whole "don't gossip" thing and other traditions that they try to work in. People come into those rooms pretty raw and the transformations are not linear. I'd imagine it's pretty tough for people to continually be transparent and honest with people and continually share their journey with people they haven't had there for all of their story. Pretty easy to find people you vibe with and keep seeking them out. But getting past "the story" is kinda one of the points.
 
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Subway

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for all its oddities, and there are plenty, if you’re a drunk and or druggie and you’re hopeless, it’s a great place to start, and be around other people who have been right where you’ve been.

and it only costs a buck and there are usually snacks

also helps that my father started 12 stepping me when i was barely 12. Not indoctrination or in any religious way, just gently and supportively getting me used to the fact of alcoholism, and it’s rampant prevalence up and down my family drinking tree, was nothing to be taken lightly, nor stress about too much…and to basically prepare me for the inevitable ride I was destined for

. And then by the time I was 13 I made it clear I was an addict in utero, ready to blossom. So, even though I went to some dark and deadly depths, many times over, I ultimately knew where to go for help, knew what was “wrong” with me, and didn’t have as much of that bafflement that so many addicts have when they hit bottom. And AA wasn’t a scary and mysterious sect, it was where drunks went to help one another, vent, have some laughs, and (often) stay sober
 

TeamScam

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Jan 14, 2002
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I was required to do meetings by the court and I already knew it wasn't for me, but gave it a shot. It helped a bit like a safety net as I was finding my sobriety sea legs.
I wouldn't let the higher power thing hold you back, unless it's a group who's really into that aspect. From most of my experience it's easily nothing but a symbolic or figurative aspect designed to make sense of any and everything that's unexplainable or hard to grasp, the blind faith in the unknown is a soothing elixir for people who have always used an elixir to make sense of life's highs and lows.
I've been in maybe a dozen different rooms( that's what the different groups are called) and it's crazy how different they are, and how similar as well.
One group there was something off, all these mostly older men, very guarded, a silent elephant in the room. Really odd, I felt hostility just this darkness. I'm about 70% as sure as I could be after about five meetings, these guys were either child molesters or just generally sexually predators. I knew the one guy had that history, and there was a comraderie or deeper understanding implied amongst a few of the others in that regard.
Suddenly I didn't feel so dirty after all, and that cann be real tough to come by for a lifelong drunk who just got sober.
You just have to find your people.
I don't go to any meetings and hardly ever found a group for me when I did, but to this day, I know they're there and that alone has helped me lighten up toward problems that at the time seemed insurmountable, just knowing there's a place I can be, if only for an hour, if things get too bad.
I wish you all luck and wisdom.

I came here tonight because I hate winter, second only to Christmas, which I also love, on the day itself beautiful but the rest of it, the 35mph offshores, chapped burning skin from wind burn all the time indoors in the dark, it's all dragging me through the wood chipper over here. Fucccc.

Pretty sure I'm gonna go surfing when the front passes later today. That's another thing, the one surf buddy I have left is falling out of the rotation. I have been surfing alone, which is fine if not safe, but really I don't have anyone the share it with. No one to text and be like, "I think 12:30 is the call, downtown, I'll holler when I'm leaving..."
"I got fuggin walloped and washed through back to back and never recovered, but I got a couple and throw kine shaka to Neptune"
That sort of thing.
Just the nonsense, and another set of eyes.
Keep your friends stocked.
 

Bob Dobbalina

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Rough week.
It feels like the last 2 weeks have school have been a war of attrition. It doesn't help when we stay in session all the way to 12/23.

Mother in Law was staying with us.
Wife is getting ready to go back to work.
4 year old is being a 4 year old.
No time to one's self.
No surfing.
 
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npsp

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Dec 30, 2003
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Mom is in hospice and will be leaving us in the very near future. Been really tough on my Dad and sister. I'm prepared as I feel I lost her when her brain completely turned to mush a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, my Dad and sister have been in denial about Mom's condition and are just now coming to terms with her physically slipping away.
Having a family of my own has been the biggest help/blessing. My sister is a spinster so losing Mom is going to leave a huge void for her and I'm worried she won't handle it well. Regardless, I have to step up for them and make sure the train stays on the tracks....
Man, the Holidays are rough.....
 

kelpcutter

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Aug 24, 2008
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So sorry to hear that. All the best to you and your family as go through this difficult time.
 

npsp

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So sorry to hear that. All the best to you and your family as go through this difficult time.
Thanks. We are managing. Mom's comfortable on morphine and will probably slip away in the next day or two.
Have to take my Dad to the Mortuary today to pick out a casket, etc... I hope my sister handles it well. Next few days will be a roller coaster for sure.
 
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npsp

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Mom passed on the 30th. We laid her to rest yesterday. 10 min. before her graveside service, the sun came out and it was a very nice service and a lot of kind words were spoken. Dad and sister handled everything well and we had a great celebration of my Mom's life.
If they're still among us, go give your folks a hug and tell them you love them.