It would be fair to say I didn't have the best sleep in the world last night. In fact I was awake at 3am listening to my beloved Tara - she really does calm me down that woman.
My Facebook exploded last night after the TV promo went out in advance of Sunday night's piece airing - and I 'outed' myself to all my Facebook friends about my book coming out as well. It went nuts!
I had so many likes and comments and shares and private messages not to mention text messages and emails and phone calls. It was very overwhelming and lovely and amazing and my synapses were firing on all cylinders! I had to put my onesie on and eat some ginger crunch just to calm myself down (probably not the best idea to sugar load just before bed!).
And then my blog stats EXPLODED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of extra hits and all from New Zealand (strangers who found out about me from the TV programme's Facebook page no doubt).
Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of kiwis finding my blog and reading about my journey from miserable, boozy, lonely, stuck person to the person I am now (sugar binging in a pink onesie but SOBER and HAPPY).
And I think that if even one of those hundreds of hits was from a person who is right now stuck in the place I was stuck in.. feeling miserable and alone.. then all of this lost sleep will be worth it.
And all I want to say is you are not alone.
You are not alone.
You are not alone.
You are not alone.
You are not alone.
You. Are. Not. Alone.
Love, Mrs D xxx
I just "liked" your book on fb ;) Thanks for the heads up!
ReplyDeleteI just found your blog, I wish I had found it sooner! I'm a mum of one gorgeous 7 year old boy, and battling the booze. I'm guilty of hiding wine, and since my husband thinks I'm not drinking I have to be pretty creative as to where I hide my bottles. I've kept up the pretence of going to alcohol counselling and group sessions. but all the while I'm still drinking. I'm pathetic. But I am gaining some inspiration from your blog. So thank you,
ReplyDeleteMrs. D, You are an international inspiration! Thank you so much for sharing your story here, in your book, and now in mainstream media. I found your blog two months ago. I am on Day 38 alcohol free. Your writing has helped me immensely. I hope you sleep better tonight knowing you really are helping those out there, like me, who did not we were not alone until very recently. Love and gratitude from the Midwestern USA.
ReplyDeleteThank you Mrs. D.!
ReplyDeleteJenny G.
Mrs D, I have been following your blog for some months now, and just want to say- hats off to you for your courage, your honesty. You are my 'go to' blog when I am struggling.
ReplyDeleteYou are amazing. In the very best way. :)
Anna C
Oh Mrs D I saw your clip on FB last night. So cool and you rock :) xx
ReplyDeleteWell done Mrs D! Will we be able to watch the programme online all the way over here in Suffolk England?
ReplyDeleteHey Mrs D
ReplyDeleteI echo all of these sentiments and compliments.there's something about the way you write.....so so inspirational!what's your book called?I'm definitely going to buy it!
You are amazeballs!
ReplyDeleteso hope i can watch this is vancouver, bc.
ReplyDeleteAnd Australia?
ReplyDeleteI feel like your blog is my safety net. If it wasn't for your positive attitude to living alcohol free I wouldn't be following in your footsteps. Thanks for being my guiding light!
ReplyDeleteYay... all sat down with my cuppa waiting to watch you on Tele and feeling like a proud cheerleader! xxx Neetz x
ReplyDeleteAm just watching your story on Sunday and wanted to say how much I admire your honesty, sincerity and strength. How brave of you to share your story (one I'm sure that many people can relate to). Keep on writing : )
ReplyDeleteI just seen you on the sunday programme, bloody awesome mrs D good stuff
ReplyDeleteMrs D thank you for empowering others and letting it be known to society that it is an issue! Your interview was simply amazing! Such a wonderful lady and all the very best with everything.
ReplyDeleteLoved your honesty thankyou :)
ReplyDeleteI just think you are one amazing lady with having such a high profile husband and 3 children and you managed to get through all of it by yourself. You one brave beautiful strong woman.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Mrs D. Keep up the good work ...
ReplyDeleteWow...im sitting watching you on the telly..thankyou for sharing your story...so brave but I know its going to help so many people. I hope it inspires the man sitting next to me question his own drinking habits..you may have planted a seed. Thankyou :)
ReplyDeleteMrs D I am watching your interview on tv. Wow you are an amazing, strong woman. We all have demons we have to deal with or a life crisis at some stage. I felt for you when I saw the shorts advertising. You will be an inspiration to many Thank you
ReplyDeleteWow. I'm sure I was just watching myself on TV! I'm a 32 yr old mum and wife and have been sober for just over 3 years.
ReplyDeleteI'm sooo proud of myself and YOU!
Just watched the show- well done, well done to you or being brave. Keep up the good fight for yourself and for others.
ReplyDeleteYour story definitely hit a nerve in my life, I am a fully functional responsible person but I drink a bottle of wine almost every night- time for a change! You have inspired me. ... tomorrow will be my day one.
ReplyDeleteIm just like you. I am 36yr d mom of two and find myself drinking a bottle of wine almost every night. I feel guilty and ashamed of myself constantly. Tomorrow im going to start alcohol free and have a break. Im scared but inspired
DeleteYou're an amazing woman, Mrs D - have just watched the programme. Continue to enjoy your wonderful life :)
ReplyDeleteIn our family it was my husband who stopped drinking: like you, he just stopped and hasn't touched a drop for 18 years. He's the bravest man I know.
Yes Wow. I agree - it is very brave. The programme highlights a real problem but hopefully inspires more people to stop drinking.
DeleteMrs D you are an insperation to so many young drinkers.
ReplyDeletewith this blog i think all alcoholics should read your posts and know their not alone.
Dear Mrs D
ReplyDeleteI'm so proud of you and the strength you have to overcome this disease. You have given your family an amazing gift by giving up the booze for you and them.
Dear Mrs D
ReplyDeleteI'm so proud of you and the strength you have to overcome this disease. You have given your family an amazing gift by giving up the booze for you and them.
Hi Mrs D - I drank my way (alone) through my 20's, 30's and 5 years into my 40's before realising this is not who I wanted to be - I didn't want this to be my legacy so I decided I needed to stop. I'm one month shy of being sober for 1 year. I have no one in my life that realises what an amazingly big deal it is to stop and I am chuffed that you have spoken out. Thank you for your honesty and for letting me know that I'm not alone because sometimes it feels that way. I'm just so thankful for a great nights sleep!!
ReplyDeleteYou are not alone!!!!! Remember some of us only have someone because we're nt sure if we're brave enough to go solo. Plus it's such a great displacement technique to havs someone especially if that someone has issues!! You're an inspiration xxxx
DeleteGood on both you and Mr D. A very brave thing to do which will help so many others.
ReplyDeleteOMG was going to say u hv no idea how much I needed u, but guess u do know. Thank u so much. I am u, amazing to most on the outside but feeling like a fraud on the inside. I dont want to be disgusted with myself anymore. Thank u
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing woman you are. I have just watched you on Sunday. I can't even start to understand what you have gone through, but I just want to say I think you are an outstanding lady to have worked as hard as you have and overcome the things you have. Also what a wonderful husband you have to have stood by you and supported you as he has. May God richly bless you and your family.
ReplyDeleteDear Mrs D,
ReplyDeleteI have just watched you on Sunday. I cried. What you were saying was like looking in the mirror. I am a single Mum of one and decided to stop drinking just 6 days ago You are an inspiration to me, thankyou.
Loved your honesty, you have started a positive snowball affect & through your perseverance for yourself have & will help many to begin an amazing life off the booze.
ReplyDeleteMrs D, you are so brave to share your story. I have just watched the programme and I'm sure others will draw strength from you, your family and friends.
ReplyDeleteJust watched your show and my husband and I looked at each other across the lounge, wow I think that is me!!!!
ReplyDeleteI watched myself on tv tonight. :,( I have a problem.....
ReplyDeleteThe tears have been rolling down my face. What a brave, resilient and resourceful woman! Your courage, tenacity and truthfulness is amazing and so inspirational. I have become a bottle of wine a night gal, hanging out for 5.00 p.m. before opening having my first sip; knowing it's not right but telling myself that it is justified after having a tough day. I have been quietly worrying about my drinking. Your blistering honesty has made me finally front up and face the issue, admit that I want to stop and that I will stop. Thank you so much for sharing your battle and your victory. You are a change maker. Well done!
ReplyDeleteSo many would have watched an seen themselves hope your blog will help others well done your pretty special
ReplyDeleteI am 53 and living in Welly and so wish I had found your blog ages ago. I am a 'high functioning alcoholic' - oh god there I said it and whatever that actually means !!
ReplyDeleteStarted like you in my teens and have progressed onto 2 bottles a night and should have stopped years ago.
This last week I have had 4 alcohol free days and kinda didn't want to see Friday and Saturday as I used that excuse of end of week and a friends party on Saturday to drink. To be honest I am at that point I bloody do not want to drink anymore.... I too cannot just do the 'normal' thing of 1 or 2 drinks - I want the lot !!!!
You are inspiring and I wish I had realised earlier in my life what I needed to do.
I also stopped drinking when pregnant and breast feeding and started with a vengeance after that. I too have an amazing husband who will support me through whatever I do.
I have the added issue of primary income earner, which just gives me more excuses for a drink - but I have had a guts full.
Day 1 tomorrow as Ito be honest I have a glass of wine beside me right now ! and I hate how that makes me feel.
I have been thinking of my own blog, hmmm I am not really a writer, but please take some positive from me, I start tomorrow and I will succeed.
Wow, great effort. I was in your husbands shoes for many years. My ex-wife is now 12 years sober, but the parallels are amazing. You have the opportunity to be the next John Kirwan (depression). YOU can make a difference.
ReplyDeleteI've lived with an alcoholic for 6 years now. I live without alcohol to support him. thanks for sharing your story so bravely tonight on TV. This is the dialogue I want NZers to have. To be open about alcoholism without shame.
ReplyDeleteMy husband suggested that we watch your story I nervously laughed and said fine. In didn't want to be like you i wanted you to be some kind of weirdo I wanted to laugh at you. But Instead you were me I mean your relationship with alcohol was the same as me my husband knew what you were going to say before you said it because he has lived it through me. I think I could be quite seriously sick a condition that could be helped by not drinking and yet it still hasn't stopped me. Wow can you believe that. Tonight you gave me some hope that I am not so bad that I can still get over this battle thankyou
ReplyDeleteI am you and you are me. I cannot thank you enough for your courage. May I be blessed with your conviction in putting this curse to bed.
ReplyDeleteI love my family dearly but worry about their drinking. I have great hopes that your honesty and courage will have helped many people. As a mother and grandparent I often feel powerless. Your blog is a salve to my wounds and concerns. Best wishes for the future.
ReplyDeleteI was so moved by you on the Sunday programme and applaud you for your great courage in 'outing' yourself to the whole country. I too have walked the road to recovery, and like you, know that life is good sober. It's been 22 years for me, but I remember. I marvelled at you hanging out until 5pm before drinking. In the end, for me it was my breakfast. And in the end, I was drinking to feel 'normal'. Your feet are firmly on the recovery road and you know that life is good. Thank you for sharing. Sisters under the skin!
ReplyDeleteMrs D, I'm Mrs E. I was so impressed with the Sunday program about your 'journey' last night. I am there. I could actually be your twin only I didn't throw up in the loo - I threw up in the car, in front of my teenage boys. Other than that I think I'm a pretty good mother and am well qualified and a respected member of the community. My first 'drink' (should I say guzzle) was at age 14 and like you a bottle of cheap bubbly; mine was Bernadino Spumante. I remember thinking it tasted like crap but still drank it and so my little habit continued although now I don't drink the cheap stuff - I have progressed to Lindauer Special Reserve! I totally connected with you - the 5 pm starts, the drinking on my own, the pretending not to have been drinking on my own when my husband got home or when I stumbled to bed drunk. I have tried to stop in the past - even managed 3 months last year. Why is it I think I'm missing out if I go to the local bar or a restaurant and don't have a wine with my meal or when at a function and the 'free' booze is being handed around - I mean, how can you turn down free bubbly or sav blanc when someone's been so kind to gift it to you? I'm going to try again. I'm not going to drink that bottle of cider in the fridge (that's only 5% so makes me feel better although often is followed by a wine or peach schnapps etc!). I'm going to tell the wine club who phone me monthly with their 'best ever sale' that I want to be taken off their database and I'm going to stick to ginger ale and even perhaps the odd coke and raspberry. Thank you for putting me back on track and making me be honest with myself. I. HAVE. A. DRINKING. PROBLEM.
ReplyDeleteLotta
ReplyDeleteYour strength has given me the courage to do this. Firstly to write and tell you that I am going to do it and secondly and most importantly actually giving up drinking. Like you I have been drinking far too much for a number of years and have decided after watching you and your husband’s incredible strength and loyalty that I can do it too. I am sure I will find the journey incredibly difficult. To be honest I just didn’t know to go about giving up the booze nor how scared I am of failing. Because you appeared on Sunday I now know about your blog’s and your book. Thank you for the inspiration. Here’s to my new sober life.
Congratulations to all of you for sharing you stories. Alcohol is so seductive and as a society it is an issue we need to address. Have courage and strength on the journey you are all taking. Courage all.
ReplyDeleteLotta, I keep re-reading "You are not alone, you are not alone", because we darn-well DO feel alone don't we? Alone in that we are hiding it all from everyone but ourselves of course. It's a lonely feeling. Really looking forward to reading your book. Thank you XX
ReplyDeleteThank you. Listening to you, was as if I was talking. I am so over thinking about what I am going to OR NOT going to drink today. (it always ended up with me drinking anyway). It takes up so much of my time!! 3 days now, no wine.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
Saw you on the telly,then binge tread your blog,as is my way. I like so many of yr followers here saw myself in you. I had my first humiliating binge drinking session at 16. Actually it was my first ever drinking session. You would have thought it would put me off. But no. I am also highly functioning, have a beautifull life and family. My world was getting smaller and smaller due to my poor relationship with wine. I am now 51 and date seeing you decided I have had enough .I suspect most of my friends are in the same boat. We avoid discussing it. I am 7 days sober and am off to a 50th tonite. Not worried because after following yr story know not drinking is my only choice.thank you from a fellow kiwi. NZ can only benefit from your fine example. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteWatched your programme and identified strongly with your description of cravings. Am your average high achieving drunk, only at home though. Really sick of drinking and been dry for four months with the occasional slip. The cravings have actually gone but I love cooking and learnt to cook while having a wine so every night it now has to be a cup of tea. Am pushing alcohol out of my life but birthdays and family stuff can be difficult. Every one understands and there is no pressure which helps. Come from a long line of alkies so I always knew I would have to face this time in my life. The last of my siblings to stop drinking but the eldest. Children do not drink either. I always considered myself a moderate drinker until about 3 years ago when we lost our mother and I had some career challenges. Upped the wine intake and gradually became very concerned as did my wife. You have done very well and should be very proud of yourself and I hope I can say in about 3 years time that I am still sober.
ReplyDeleteThe one thing that makes me concerned about all this "You're a hero" " I am you" "you are amazing" stuff is this... what happens if you have a drink? You've set yourself a very high standard. You say you'll never drink again. I hope you don't. There are all these people who now see you as some sort of champion of sobriety. Be careful.
ReplyDelete