Originally Posted by
hypochondriac 
It's totally normal. Well if you call normal bursting into tears for no reason and wanting to kill someone a moment later...
I found the best way to deal with it was to just roll with it, it's just a ride. Recognise your feelings for what they are and say 'oh that's interesting' and move on. Don't let your emotions rule you and drive you to drink. Look up urge surfing.
I have been sober for nearly a year and a half now and believe me it gets calm. It is a transition but I was amazed at the strength of my emotions in the early days and my relative saneness now. It does get better
x
Thanks. This really helps.
I've been reading some stuff online in the meantime and as I understand, if you've been drinking heavily for a long time, your brain chemistry has adjusted to that. And if you quit, it needs time to re-adjust, which at first manifests as ups and downs. Eventually it'll get back to normal though.
I'm alright with that. I like how I used to be before I started drinking. And given that I've grown a lot as a person despite the drinking, I can only look forward to the new and improved me.
Knowing it'll pass makes it so much easier. I can now look at how I feel and don't really care about feeling bad for the time being.