How Recovery Effects You
 

OK...Mark did a poll last week and I love polls...and this question is one that has been rattling around in my brain for a bit so I thought I'd see what others think.

And I voted for #2...I view recovery as the process of unearthing my authentic self as opposed to transforming who I am into someone new.

I kind of view the period when I drank as a time when I was possessed by a demon.

Hi LaFemme!
Hard to put in words!! I feel re born again!! I have such a lust for life now,I look forward to the future and all the possibilites that are there, for the first time in my life....Each day is such a gift I guess its like walking through the fire...I might be a bit burned...but not crispy!! :) Great post!!! thankyou!! :)

I could have voted both 1 and 2, but choose 2..... I understand the demon thing....oh very well....I shudder..

Singed a little? I like that analogy:) And Congrats on your soon to be 1 year sober!! Yeah!

#2

I came late to alcoholism. I just want to get back to where I was at in my 30's... not perfect, but enjoying life...

i was once a naturally happy fun person with a self-confident personality...gradually, the booze took all of that away from me, coupled with relationship that i could not save (not from my drinking, but his gambling~which made me feel like drinking more)...my depression grew like a monster too.

i no longer try to save others, i am saving myself first.

I feel like a Whole New Person!:) Without a lot of the fears and problems and old attitudes I used to have.

#1

I keep changing, little by little, into a new person each day. I replace old ways of thinking and behaving with new living skills. Thus giving me a new perspective on life as well. I think the person I was before recovery, made it necessary for me to be eventually in recovery ;).

#1 and #2

Now that I'm not frozen in time by drink, I am rediscovering who I was both good and bad. I think I have new and improved skills and tools today that I didn't then.

Recycle referred to recovery as "Radical Transformation" last week, that's why I posted the query. The thing is the person I am becoming is the person I always was, inside, hiding behind a rock scared to come out as the demon laid waste to my life. The longer that demon remains in his cell, the more bricks I add to locking him away forever, the happier, healthier and stronger the real me becomes:)

I think 2... I am definitely the person I was when I quit drinking for 7 years before that being before I relapsed and went on a 2 year runaway... BUT, this time around I am doing things differently in my recovery. This means, that I am seeking ways to be happier... don't get my wrong I am VERY happy in my world, BUT, I do believe that little changes in my world will make me even happier. So, I am trying to reach for more happiness.

WOW, did that make sense... don't know, but it does make sense to me. :-)

Voted 1 - I'm certainly remembering the great time that I used to have with myself and remembering who I was, but I'm putting work into knocking down all of the walls that held me for so long.

Facing my addiction has shattered my previous self-limiting belief system and has propelled me into a new state of thinking, behaving, and being; I wake up excited about my life now.

#1. I've been drinking since I was a teenager (I'm 35, now) and combined with my odd childhood, I feel like I never grew up. So I guess I think I'm becoming the person I should have always been.

Like some have mentioned, I could go with 1 and 2. I chose 2 however, because I do remember the brief time as an adult when I didn't drink, and I liked who I was then. I still have fleeting memories of how wonderful it was to not have clouds and self imposed obstacles in my way when I tackled life's many problems and issues. Character traits that eroded away inside my many bottles have been showing up again since my last drink, and I thank God for that - because I truly thought I had lost any semblance of my former self long ago.

Funny, that. :)

None of the above.

I've never really known who I am...and I can't exactly say that I'm becoming a new person.

I'm me...whatever and whoever that is. I consider sobriety one part of this strange journey called life.

Where is the "it changes from day to day" option? Or even.. hour to hour...sometimes minute to minute.

I'm

LOL!

I went with 3. I still do all the same dumb stuff as before cept now I'm sober (most of the time) while doing it and I find I've got a few extra bucks in my pocket.

#2 is true, but I'm learning stuff too and growing (I hope) so #1

D

I hate to go against the grain here, but honestly looking at myself. I am the same person for the most part. Just not drunk all the time. I think people drink for all types of reasons, but I didn't drink to fill voids. I didn't drink because I hated myself, or even to escape from anything. I don't feel I drank because of spiritual maladies or because I was abused as a youth. I drank because I learned to love drinking at a very young age and it was the only way I knew to have a good time and enjoy myself. Drinking was imbred in me. The problem was I don't have an off switch. The next problem was I hated feeling crappy the next day because I didn't have an off switch, so I found a way around feeling crappy by drinking continuously for extended periods of time.

When I put this full time drinking idea into place I didn't realize that it was the last piece of the puzzle to turn a heavy binge drinker into a full blown alcoholic. But it happened.

So as far as me changing as a person, I did come out of a dark period in my life, and learned alot about myself and about alcoholism, but the reality is I haven't changed much, I am pretty much the same person doing the same stuff, just sober, and I have always like myself. I do have a greater understanding of alcoholism and addictions, and I have a different outlook on people who have these afflictions now.

#2

Only now that I am closing in 90 days am I starting to figure out everything alcohol took from me. I am surprised by the re-emergence of joy - I am the happy and content person I use to be. Alcohol opened my life to things that robbed me of happiness and made me into a selfish jerk when I was drunk.

Yep it matters not to myself. Just the folks around me that figure I should be sober. Hu?

Other than substance induced behavior I am exactly the same as I have always been, I just make different choices now.

I did #1. My thinking is that I have been drunk so long I forgot who I was before!! No other way to describe it other than a new awakening.

l feel like a whole new person,
l've learn't so much in sobriety and have so much more to give (both to myself as well as others). l'm finding out who l am really supposed to be and discovering l have more strength and compassion than l would ever have given myself credit for.
Great poll really got me thinking, haven't really asked myself that question before now :01:


The first step towards change is acceptance.
Once you accept yourself you open the door to change.
Change is not something you do, it's something you allow.
Will Garcia

Right now I'm pretty much the same as I was before, except I'm not consuming drugs and alcohol now. However, I do feel that I am able to push my self to new heights now that I am not drinking. I am training for another marathon and I must say training is so much easier when you're not drinking and consuming drugs all of the time, and my body fat is down to 7%.

I picked 4. I am still figuring it out....

#3. I haven't changed except I am much healthier.

I chose #1 because I was changed by the experience of drinking and recovery. I think I have a deeper sense of life and of wanting to be present and aware in each moment.

I could easily make an argument for #2 or #3. (I'm rediscovering my authentic true being; or I'm essentially the same, just with a few more experiences in life, which is part of life.)

Great survey. I found it so interesting to read what others wrote.