I’ve been sober for about a month & a half now and have been doing really well so far. I’ve noticed over this last week that I’ve been more introspective than usual which has poked at some of my triggers and made me think more about drinking than I have since I started the sober thing. After a rough morning with my better half (in addition to feelings and struggles my recent reflection has brought to the forefront), my urge to drink right now is raging. Any words of advice or encouragement would be greatly appreciated right now because I really don’t want to give in & fall off the wagon.
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Listen to recovery podcast can be a mindset you can use now? Try “Recovery elevator” for example. Cravings come and go, they don’t last forever. So try to do something to set your mind on something different.
Hang in there!
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I so feel you ,it tough when that thought continues to grow until it’s all we can think about,at about a month and a half a great guy on here advised me to go onto you tube and watch roadmap to recovery once I watched it things started to ease off and fall back into place ,take a look I hope it brings you some answers and relief.kerp moving forward even if it’s at a snails pace .
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Take a walk. Play a game on your cell. Poke around here for a while. Join intherooms.com and sit in on a meeting. Wash something. Organize your closet. Call a friend. Journal it. Meditate. Take a shower. Take a bath. Listen to a podcast. Listen to a sobriety podcast. Draw. Write a poem.
I would suggest something that gets you away from alcohol, if you’re near it, and something that you didn’t normally do while drinking.
Triggers are fleeting. This will pass and you’ll be grateful when you didn’t give into it. Just take each moment as it comes. Start a task to get your mind off of it and if it’s not working switch to something else, don’t struggle through it. Tomorrow is a new day and you’ll feel better when you got through this one without drinking.
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I am struggling as well, however the urge to drink isnt there. For me, giving up the drink was only the first step. I had to learn how to live again. How to have fun, how to be sad, how to struggle. Life is good, life is bad…its life.
In the beginning its about saying “No” to the drink at all costs. Each time you say “no”, it gets easier.
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Best thing to do is remove yourself when you feel those triggers coming in. Don’t get lost in your train of though get up and go (do sometime that you like physically.) Sitting down always made me feel worse and got me deeper in though
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How are you doing today?
Thank you for checking in. Today’s another rough one. …maybe even worse than yesterday. 
I keep trying to find ways to distract myself or things to take my mind off of it but I’m definitely struggling.
Keep saying “no”. Read every thread on here, interact with the folks here.
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Well you’re doing the right thing by reaching out 
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I think that’s what I need… People I can chat with.
It’s hard quitting cold turkey, being without a job and stuck at home alone (thank you quarantine!) with just our dogs to keep me company while the Mrs. is at work. I’d usually reach out to my aunt or my mom to talk when I’m having a hard time with anything, but I’ve lost them both in the last 4 years (my mom to this very disease) so that’s not really an option.
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I lost my mom to this disease as well, had she made it another 5 months she could have seen me become sober, and all of the miracles afterward. Who knows though how things work, I think on a subconscious level her death helped in my recovery.
My mom passed in October of 2018 so she never got a chance to see me sober up, but watching her go through what she went through definitely deepens my desire to get, and stay sober. These last few days have been the most difficult since I stopped drinking though. …more time home alone because of my wife’s crazy work schedule, very few friends that I can reach out to, trouble keeping my thoughts in check… I just need to find a way, or ways to keep myself occupied so I don’t cave. Having others to reach out to does seem to help a bit though, so thank you.
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My mom took her own life with an intentional overdose, I had watched her struggle with addiction and mental health issues since I was a young child. Her first suicide attempt was when I was around 8. I try to remember how it made me feel, and how cold I actually became from not having the proper tools to cope with it, it was really abusive on her part. I am not a victim though, I survived, and feel stronger from it, but I try to keep it in mind how much damage I can do if I use. My daughter is emotionally behind, due in part to my inability to stop using drugs and get us out of a bad situation with her mother when she was an infant and toddler. I have full custody now, and she has made great strides in the last year, she has put in a lot of work for a 6 year old. And so have so many others so she has a fighting chance at a safe, thriving life. I’m so dangerous when I use… or period if I’m not Spiritually right. There are so many healthy outlets for us, the recovery movement is needed in this world, lives are being saved and changed, some of us are artists, others gardeners, teachers, engineers, Spiritual leaders, and the list goes on and on. We can use our experience, our worst parts to reach others and help them from the abyss, and give it all to a higher power. I know you have so much potential, if you’re an addict, we’re special people, and we’re alive for a reason.
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How ya doing?
Thank you so much for sharing at least some of your experience with me. I’m so sorry to hear about your mom. I am glad, though, that you’re using what you went through with her to better yourself and help your daughter. My mom didn’t intentionally overdose, but she knew she needed help and refused time & time again and, over a relatively short period of time, went from bad to worse to…well, gone. She was my best friend and losing her like I did made me withdraw or shut down in a lot of ways so I feel alone a lot of the time…but it also kinda helped me put my drinking, and the effect it has on the people that care about me, in perspective. Right now, I just wanna find a way to make it through the day…then the week.
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Still struggling, but hanging in there. Mother’s Day approaching is definitely making it more difficult because drinking was my “go-to” when it came to trying to cope with things and not having my mom here is making everything feel that much worse right now.
Its rough. Memorial day, for me, would start a month long drinking binge. The pain i was trying to wash away consumed me. The first Memorial day sober was rough (i was 90 days at that point). I made it thru.
What I learned: it still hurt as much regardless of being sober or drunk. However, when I stayed sober, the rest of my life didnt fall apart. That was the true gift of sobriety.
Stick with it, its worth it.
Sharing, and growing more so I have more to share has been one of my greatest allies against this disease. There’s something I can learn in everything situation, that I can share at some time or another. We’re all just living here. They are so many healthy activities we can participate in, and maybe even form a lifestyle around it 
Get busy and reach out to someone you trust! Great job sharing your struggles on here. Try to keep in mind that life is hard, these things will happen either way and using will not be constructive. Even if you experience temporary relief, the set back is likely to make you feel worse than you do now. You have to be willing to acknowledge and face the way you feel in order to process in a healthy and patient way. If this is too much right now, distraction is a completely viable coping skill. Exercise is another great alternative when you’re feeling this way. Stay strong!!! You got this. 
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