I’m comfortable and confident that I can deal with urges to drink when experiencing hard times. But it’s when dealing with milestones and when I’m generally feeling good that my mind plays tricks on me. I got some good news yesterday and I had to fight the urge to go and get a drink. Apart from the obvious in keeping busy or calling a sponsor, how have you all dealt with this?
I know I’m not alone in feeling like this and I’m thankful that I woke up this morning without a hangover
I get the same! Bad times it’s easier to grit my teeth and get through but good milestones really let my addiction whisper to me that I’ve prooved I can do it. I don’t have any advice other than to say that I know what you’re going through.
Cake! When my AA buddies and I celebrate our sober birthdays we started getting cakes. Kind of retraining ourselves to associate cake with a celebration rather than a shot. We even had a friend who worked at a pizza place/bar so after our Sat meeting we’d all meet at the bar (Id drop the cake off there before the meeting) wed have dinner, watch a game and have a piece of cake. We always looked forward to it. We even played Cards Against Humanity there one time. It really seemed to work for us. Hope it helps!
just be grateful that your sober , every day you wake sober is good news ? if you get a urge to drink phone your sponsor no brainer ,
All habits that we have established over the years and I was guilty of it too for a long time. Recognizing it was all habit helped me.
Atomic Habits by James Clear really lays out the process.
Luckily, for me I am currently at a point where when something good or bad happens I say …“wow, this would be a time I would have had a drink before” and then I move on.
Good luck and keep at it.
Yea that has always been how a celebrate stuff too…I just redefined the way I celebrate. Normally a special dinner or other treat of some kind.
I reward myself with flowers or a take away 
Yes! Anything can be a trigger for me but the 2 most common triggers for me are either having a super shitty day, or having a really great one. Curious to see what others have to say about this. Just know you are not alone in this 