Middle of the road keeps me out of the ditch
Good you are in control of you
1is2many

What I take away from this is that you recognize that although this didn't directly impact drinking, it has everything to do with it. I, too, believe that changing our thinking is necessary to fostering a mind that can keep sobriety thriving. Balance is definitely one of those.
For me, I am stopping any attempt to escape uncomfortable and emotionally painful moments. Now that I don't drink, I often want to go for a run and listen to my music to get out of my headspace and thereby escape the crap feelings. I stopped that, too. Now I face those moments head on and let the feelings flow.
I will say, though, I LOVE my workout time. :)
It's great to see you still going and sharing on here.

Good for you!

Being active and working out is so important. But allowing yourself to stop instead of pushing on is incredibly healthy.

I needed to read this! For me, the aches and pains that come with age make me shy away from exercise when I know I need it. My problem in the past has always been biting off more then I could chew and I end up hurting more, so then I take a few weeks off and lose all that I had gain!

Consistancy is the key. Running less miles every day for me, is better then running more miles once every 3 weeks!

We all need balance in our lives....I just found mine!

God Bless!

You are getting there, Vincent :) Like you mentioned Sosa, I used to work out to the point where I felt I was literally running away from booze. Anything to keep alcohol off my mind. Now I run/work out to stay healthy and because I enjoy it, and confront my feelings on my addictions in a head on way. 1is2 I really like the "middle of road keeps me out of the ditch" comment- that's very true!

Thanks everyone. I started drinking again after I got injured in late May. I was participating in grueling endurance events (12+ hours at a time)... and when I was off from training, I realized that I was doing these events and marathon training sessions (1) to escape my thoughts and (2) to define myself. Both terrible reasons.

As Sosa mentioned, we need to face our thoughts head-on, not run from them.

And, as I realized, we must not define ourselves with externals... because, as we all know, everything is impermanent, and when it is gone (as all things will be gone) we're left naked, exposed, and drinking again.