Hi, I'm Tracy, an alcoholic.

If I'm really having a bad day it only gets worse when I stay in my head and re-hash everything. The 'group' in my head takes over, tells me I am doomed, and then I start to believe them. And around and around I go. Exhausting! Done it a million times and as I am on the 'slow learner plan,' I have learned what to do. Learned how, but some days it's still really hard. I break my day down into hours. If I'm at work I tackle a project that doesn't take a lot of brains, just busy work stuff, do it for an hour, step back and see how I'm feeling. If it's still bad, pick something to do for one hour again. I am in a big city so I'm lucky that I can make a lunchtime meeting. That helps. Same in the afternoon; make sure you eat, on these days I eat what I want. Hamburgers for breakfast, pancakes for dinner, listen to yourself. And then when I get home I find things on TV, one hour at a time that make me laugh out loud. It sounds dumb but that show "America's Funniest Home Videos" can do it for me ... babies laughing out loud, cats falling into fish tanks, that silly stuff. Call your sponsor, talk to someone who "gets you." My nephew has a great saying that I use on these days and I'll say it to my trusted friends "can I think my thoughts to you?" You'll be sleepy before you know it, put your head on the pillow and, by God, you've done it. Sober another day.

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