Thoughts and coping

When I had a bad day, I would drink to drown those feelings. Now I have a bad day and I cant stop obsessively thinking about it. Its so consuming. Can you relate? What do you do to cope?

86 days sober but still obsessively thinking when things don’t go according to plan or I disappoint myself.

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I’m Buddhist, I use meditation and mindfulness. You have to be mindful of the negative thoughts you are having and turn them off or reroute them in a positive direction. At least that’s what helps me a lot. Meditation is wonderful too it really helps just sort of melt every bad feeling away. You can start at ten minutes a day, consistency is key :slight_smile: It’s all about not letting your mind just autopilot into negativity. You have to realize that having these feelings only makes it worse and to just let them go. Stressing about it won’t actually change anything.

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It is hard. I drank for the same reasons. It does get better. 2 things to consider. First, what you are feeling is that little addictive voice using what ever it can to get you to drink. Second, it’s a learned response. For 24 years, alcohol is how I “solved” my problems. You just cannot relearn that response overnight. I substituted long walks and physical exercise for alcohol. Eventually, your brain will pair a bad day or disappointment with a different activity than drinking.

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