I have completed my first full day of sobriety for the first time in almost 4 years. I lost my father 11/4/20 and fell into a deep depression after his passing. I turned to drinking, thinking it was under control. Now almost 4 years later I haven’t been sober a single day since his funeral. Alcohol has made me cold and disconnected from my family which I’m now on the verge of losing because of my addiction. I want to make it out of this rabbit hole and am looking for any advice, encouragement, or correspondence that may help get thru this. I look forward to hopefully hearing from some of yall.
Welcome to the community
Welcome to the community Darryl. My advice would be to make a sobriety plan. Have people you can go to when things get tough. Which they will. Find a meeting in your area, spend time interacting on here, and take advice from some of the people who have some solid sobriety time. Follow their lead and do what they do.
Glad you’re here
Thank you for your response. I suffer with severe social anxiety which has come on since the loss of my father. Do you know if there are any program/meeting options that are able to be done virtually?
Yeah this app is good for AA. You can join a meeting from anywhere and you don’t even have to turn your camera on. You can just listen till your comfortable.
Smart recovery also has the same set up.
Thank you so much. I’m downloading it now. I greatly appreciate it.
One day after 4 years is amazing. Be sure to let your doctor know because detox can be life threatening or at least very rough. The ER is another option but maybe try your doc first.
I’m sorry for your loss. My mom died last year and my sister has been drinking too. She sends me odd texts and I’ve asked her to seek therapy. I think she is worried that it will be painful to open up about, and she’s right to a degree, but that’s how healing happens. I leaned on my partner a lot but I’m retrospect working with a professional would have been better.
Guess I’m saying it sounds like working through the grief with a clear head might be your path to sobriety. Therapy is very accessible and even online. It’s just talking with someone. I’ve done therapy before and it was nice to have a standing chat with someone interested in how you’re doing.
Good on you for ditching booze but that sounds like more of a symptom (and let’s be honest, it usually is…)
So glad you’re here ! .
I’ll add another mention for Smart online meetings. First 4 or 5 meetings I joined I didn’t have the camera or microphone on. No one had an issue with this, infact I’m sure on several occasions they started by saying any newcomers were welcome to simply listen in to the chat. It’s a great anxiety reducing way to see if the programme is somthing you’d like to actively participate in at a future date when you feel you have the confidence. In all honesty the biggest block I had to meetings was overcoming my anxiety of interacting with strangers. I now use online twice a week and the people there have been great, kind of like a social event minus the drinks.
Welcome to the community! My advice would be about the same as everyone else on here. Start going to meetings, even if it’s virtual. Starting somewhere is better than not starting at all.
Find your support group. The people you can call when you’re going through some more challenging moments.
I have found with a little over a year of sobriety now (I was in the same boat, hadn’t been sober in almost 8-9 years) just about everything I loved doing or being about, I had to reconstruct mentally how to learn how to love those activities again without the booze. I’ve also found new interests along the way too.
I would not have been able to start loving myself again, without the support of this community and many others. You’ll also find not every community is the right fit for you, and that’s okay. What is important is finding those groups that help better you and that make you feel included.
Hope this helps, and you should be proud of your 24 hours of sobriety! Keep going!
This is not easy, but it will be much more fulfilling in the end. That I can promise