On Day 11 and I am proud of that, but I thought I’d feel better. I totally understand that it’ll take time for my body to get back to homeostasis, but when? I’ve read books and done some research and it tells me that sleep will get better, you’ll have more energy, but I think I’m being a little impatient.
When did you start feeling the positive effects of not drinking? I know we’ll all have different experiences with it. I also don’t want to see my progress take the sideline just because of these stupid thoughts.
You didn’t get where you were overnight, and you won’t recover overnight.
Your body and brain are going to change for months, if not years.
Positive effects will start happening right away, but when will you feel really good? Could be awhile down the road. I am almost 3 years into my journey, and spent my first few months reallllly struggling. I found out I was Bipolar after I quit drinking. Fast forward to almost 3 years later, and we are just now getting my meds right, and I’m feeling ‘normal’.
Was it a fast outcome? No. Was it worth it? Absolutely. Would I do it all over again? Hell yes.
All of that struggle, and emotion, and whathaveyou were all worth it.
It definitely takes more than a week or two. The early days were HARD for me and certainly didn’t contain much, if any, joy or feelings of great positivity. Yes, I was proud and happy to wake sober and hangover and regret free each day (VERY HAPPY)…but I was mostly exhausted, uncomfortable, defensive, anxious, irritable and a pain in the ass to be around in early sobriety.
Just as it took time for your addiction to grow, it takes time to heal the body and mind. Be gentle with your self and your process and journey. Believe in your ability to preservere and that you will feel better once your body balances itself out. We live so long in fight or flight mode, it takes time to calm our nervous system down.
day 2 really i felt a small miracle had occurred cause id remained clean and sober for a full day, which seemed impissible for a while. physically i felt pretty good after a few weeks. took some time and work and help for me to feel better emotionally and mentslly and i still work on that daily, but really also on day 2 i woke up w some hope and i didnt want to die so i guess right out of the gate i felt better.
congrats on your time and keep at it! hope you check in and update us on your recovery
Can’t agree with you more. Your totally right. I’ve been drinking steadily for 15 years. Have had good times, but extremely more bad times while drinking and I think my body and mind are realizing that they needs time to normalize.
Hmmm, I’m only 23 days so I’m sort of where you are. I tend to feel better in the morning, because I have been sleeping well, then I don’t know, through the day I just have so many more feelings right now, more thoughts, more memories. So it’s hard to tell how I feel because I just feel sort of different? I also am impatient and want to feel all the amazing awesomeness that is, I’ve told myself, supposed to come with quitting alcohol, so maybe I I’m always adjusting my expectations? Working out helps, I usually always feel good when sweating.
In the first week to a month, while I wasn’t necessarily sleeping enough yet, what sleep I was getting was much better. I woke up first thing in the morning and with no hangover could get straight to it.
Overall lots of stuff improved for me within the first couple months, but I was also pretty gungho. Eating better and exercising or at least taking walks. Yoga and meditation here and there. Hydrating more (mmm, sparkling water).
Just not drinking did a lot, but more than anything it gave the time and energy to do other things that made a still bigger difference!
Still a little early. For me it was about 1 month and then better each month after. That was physical. Emotional really took about a year…one day at a time. Go to meetings and share. Have a routine for meals and sleep. Eat fruit - it really helps. You’re not alone.
I know it sounds cliche, but be patient with yourself. I’m at day 77 and had a very difficult first 20ish days or so. Mostly with sleep & mental fog. Somewhere around week 4 -5 something changed & I started feeling much better. Was sleeping better (with meds tho) & most importantly the mental fog started lifting and I started feeling like myself again. I was really scared because I thought the fog was never gonna go away but it did. Low-key I kinda think the mens daily vitamin & omega 3 supplements I started taking around that time helped alot.
