My birthday was yesterday & it was the first time in 4 years where I didn’t drink on my birthday. Now it’s the weekend and I can feel the irritation of alcohol withdrawals hitting. I want to cry, not bc I’m not drinking, but bc I can feel a lot of emotions suddenly suppressing me that I was prob hiding in my drinking habits. Anyone have any tips to make it a bit easier? Thanks & happy Friday 
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Happy Birthday and welcome here. Share your feelings anytime here. We listen and understand!
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Nice long showers where you can ugly cry
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Happy birthday! What a lovely gift you’ve given yourself. Congratulations! I hear the return of emotions is a good thing and to see if you can just “sit with them.” 3 weeks sober and waiting for mine to return. Feels like they are soooo far away.
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Happy belated Birthday @Jackksterr55! I agree with @Meems59, you couldn’t have given yourself a better birthday gift!
Tips to make it easier? Hmm, trust that this will pass. The feelings and emotions are real, sure, and we feel our feelings when sober - but maybe think of them as clouds. They’ll pass, and the blue sky is always there, just behind the clouds.
Stick here, with us. Ride out the hard-right-now by reading around, distracting yourself on the memes or foodies thread, and drawing from the words and stories of others who have been where you are right now.
One day, one hour, sometimes one moment at a time. Be proud of this step you’ve taken! 
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I found that replacement drinks helped me a lot for my first sober birthday last year. For some people Mocktails and stuff can be more triggering than helpful. For me, they help a lot at social events and celebrations where i used to drink or where others are drinking. I’ll get cream soda in glass bottles, I’ll ask servers to please put my non alcohol bevarahe in an alcohol glass to match the people around me. It helps me still feel included like I’m not missing out. I also feel it draws less attention from strangers. I used to ask this in private but i learned very quickly that my friends were there to support me and that my sobriety was not a point of shame but a point of pride. So now i ask pretty confidently. Ive only ever been questioned or treated weird in reaponse a few times. But those servers were also just…unpleasant servers haha
Ive also found that not doing a “party” or “gathering” helped with my birthday. My fiance and I did a “staycation” instead. I live in colorado so he brought me to glenwood springs. We stayed in an air bnb and ate good food and enjoyed the quiet peaceful town, watched movies and played board games. It was less pressure and much less triggering than having a party.