Is music a trigger for anyone?
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 341
Is music a trigger for anyone?
Hello all and thank you for putting up with my posts. Every time I am tempted to drink I come on here instead.
My biggest struggle in the 22 days I've had sober is that I used to sit here every single night and listen to an Ipod or play music videos while drinking. Nothing else compared to my two favorite things together, beer and music.
Now when I listen to music I want to drink so bad that I cry so I quit that. I can't even turn on the radio in the car or severe depression sets in. I'm afraid this will lead to relapse since guitar was one of my outlets and I've quit that too.
Music helped me deal with feelings and now it makes me want to relapse. Anyone else? Thanks
My biggest struggle in the 22 days I've had sober is that I used to sit here every single night and listen to an Ipod or play music videos while drinking. Nothing else compared to my two favorite things together, beer and music.
Now when I listen to music I want to drink so bad that I cry so I quit that. I can't even turn on the radio in the car or severe depression sets in. I'm afraid this will lead to relapse since guitar was one of my outlets and I've quit that too.
Music helped me deal with feelings and now it makes me want to relapse. Anyone else? Thanks
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,442
Hi BBE
I think many people do have that problem - it's not forever tho - we change and grow and we get stronger...& the siren call gets weaker and weaker...
I really doubt it will be permanent - just give it some time
D
I think many people do have that problem - it's not forever tho - we change and grow and we get stronger...& the siren call gets weaker and weaker...
I really doubt it will be permanent - just give it some time
D
Forward we go...side by side-Rest In Peace
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Serene In Dixie
Posts: 36,740
I drank often in Jazz Clubs....so in early sobreity I did quit
listening to that type of music.
After a year or so....I went back to my CD's
It was not the drink I was missing...it was the ambience
It's called "romanceing the drink" in some circles
Why not try a totally different genre and see how
that works out for you?
listening to that type of music.
After a year or so....I went back to my CD's
It was not the drink I was missing...it was the ambience
It's called "romanceing the drink" in some circles
Why not try a totally different genre and see how
that works out for you?
Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 28
I nearly always have music playing low, even with the tv on - same when I was drinking. Everything seemed to trigger me from walking through the front door to even a shower which I always carried a few in with me.
I still enjoy these same activites now just minus the booze. I came to realise my real trigger was a feeling of no self-worth. You must have enjoyed music before adding booze, and will enjoy again without the need for booze.
I still enjoy these same activites now just minus the booze. I came to realise my real trigger was a feeling of no self-worth. You must have enjoyed music before adding booze, and will enjoy again without the need for booze.
SoberOutlook
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 3,089
Music was definitely a trigger for me. I almost get a faux buzz when Led Zeppelin comes on. But, it's abated over the last year, and I can listen to anything now without recourse. It just takes a while for some associations to fade, I guess.
Grateful to be free
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Arizona
Posts: 3,680
It was a trigger early on for me. Then I got past that. But lately I am finding I don't relate to some of the music that I was into while I was using/drinking. Like I lost a taste for that frame of mind.
I'm grieving that a little bit, because it's like moving on from an old friend
I'm grieving that a little bit, because it's like moving on from an old friend
Member
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 37
I get that way. At first after not drinking I can't stand listening to the music I was listening to while drinking, but then after a couple weeks I start to really fantasize about drinking when listening to that music. But usually the music I'd be listening to had lyrics that had to do with drinking or partying or something like that.
Member
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: London
Posts: 1,384
Early days it would trigger me in the sense that I was drunk so many times when I heard this certain song, last weekend we round friends lots of people drinking and lots of good music , I loved this music and even the maddest notion of dancing sober came into my head, think I will wait a while before I do that things get better the longer you go , that's basically it .
things get better the longer you go , that's basically it .
Member
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: USA
Posts: 36
Yeah I'm a big country fan and of course many many great country songs promote drinking and speak of alcoholism. I am also a musician part time, so there's that scene.
Check out "Double A Daddy" by Wayne Hancock. Its a cool song about sobriety.
Check out "Double A Daddy" by Wayne Hancock. Its a cool song about sobriety.
Member
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 6,947
Originally Posted by DalyCityTrain 
Check out "Double A Daddy" by Wayne Hancock. Its a cool song about sobriety.
Sure, at first, the whole music thing... movies, books, magazines, all that... it truly sucked...
I am here to tell you, with absolutely no reservations at all, that music ended up getting better and better and better... It is once again at the center of all that is good, LOL, I am being a little hyperbolic there, but... I get more joy, not less... And there are a bunch of guys at my AA home group meeting, we are always talking music, we see each other at concerts and festivals, exchange music, all that...
I am listening to one of my new favorite old Grateful Dead concerts (1971) as I write this... God, they were soooooooo good!
12-Step Recovered Alkie
Join Date: May 2010
Location: West Bloomfield, MI
Posts: 5,797
Yeah, music messed with my head in early sobriety too. Anytime I'd listen to techno I'd get this all-encompassing urge to leave the house, hit a club in Detroit, score some extasy or coke, and party like a maniac. Lucky for me, my license had been revoked, my lease had been turned in, and I couldn't register a car........so I had no way to drive down there.
Eventually, I had to stop listening to that stuff because the urges weren't going away and I got worried that, one of these days, I'd act on them. (Hahaha - I also had to stop watching "Trailer Park Boys" reruns....did a LOT of drinking with that show on and anytime I'd see a couple seconds of it, I'd want to pour a drink, STAT!)
5+ yrs later.......the right song at the right time.......and those old thoughts can still hit like a ton of bricks. Now though, it only lasts for a second or two.
Eventually, I had to stop listening to that stuff because the urges weren't going away and I got worried that, one of these days, I'd act on them. (Hahaha - I also had to stop watching "Trailer Park Boys" reruns....did a LOT of drinking with that show on and anytime I'd see a couple seconds of it, I'd want to pour a drink, STAT!)
5+ yrs later.......the right song at the right time.......and those old thoughts can still hit like a ton of bricks. Now though, it only lasts for a second or two.
Member
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 6,947
Oh yea, the Techno... My wife and I have been big fans of vocal trance... armin van buuren, Paul van dyk... All that... And there is/was a big romantic attachment to that music... And uh, well, it was pretty hard at first, it didn't trigger me so much as it didn't do it for me any more, which meant it didn't do it for us anymore... That was a tougher road because all sorts of other things enter the consideration...
The good news is that we have found our way through this... We were just listening to PVD Global last Saturday night.
attachment to that music... And uh, well, it was pretty hard at first, it didn't trigger me so much as it didn't do it for me any more, which meant it didn't do it for us anymore... That was a tougher road because all sorts of other things enter the consideration...The good news is that we have found our way through this... We were just listening to PVD Global last Saturday night.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 341
One of my favorite bands came to town.. Within walking distance of my place. I kept telling myself you are 35 days sober don't go see this band because they are in a bar you will drink.
Then someone offered me free tickets. I sat here. People drunk texted me pictures of them with the band members which really set me off.. I want to scream at my friends because no one wants to do anything at all unless beer is involved.
I sat here alone because I knew that band would trigger drinking. I really hope this gets easier. My friends can drink then switch to water. Why can't I be normal? I drink until I'm falling over. Out of ten of us I seem to be the only one who can't stop at one. I have banned myself from all music, ipod, and car radio. Triggers.
Then someone offered me free tickets. I sat here. People drunk texted me pictures of them with the band members which really set me off.. I want to scream at my friends because no one wants to do anything at all unless beer is involved.
I sat here alone because I knew that band would trigger drinking. I really hope this gets easier. My friends can drink then switch to water. Why can't I be normal? I drink until I'm falling over. Out of ten of us I seem to be the only one who can't stop at one. I have banned myself from all music, ipod, and car radio. Triggers.
Member
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Poconos PA
Posts: 1,544
Drinking and Music always went together for me and I did avoid music for a while but then I began to turn it around. I started writing music in the name of sobriety and use music as way to hold myself true to staying sober. You mentioned playing Guitar. Why not try coming up with an original melody on your guitar that signifies what sobriety means to you?
When it comes to going out to hear other musicians go to Coffee Shops. Yes, the style is usually Jazz or Folk or some other acoustic variety but with an open mind you may begin to enjoy these different styles. Then when your friends pull the concert going on you again you can tell them that you are going to the local Coffee Shop instead to see this really cool Jazz guy. Coffee in hand sitting quietly absorbing the atmosphere may be just the thing to bring you out of the music funk you feel in.
You are not alone with this, you just need to find musical outlets that don't trigger. It is possible because I have done it. Keep up the sobriety, it is worth it and I can tell you know that.
When it comes to going out to hear other musicians go to Coffee Shops. Yes, the style is usually Jazz or Folk or some other acoustic variety but with an open mind you may begin to enjoy these different styles. Then when your friends pull the concert going on you again you can tell them that you are going to the local Coffee Shop instead to see this really cool Jazz guy. Coffee in hand sitting quietly absorbing the atmosphere may be just the thing to bring you out of the music funk you feel in.
You are not alone with this, you just need to find musical outlets that don't trigger. It is possible because I have done it. Keep up the sobriety, it is worth it and I can tell you know that.
Member
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: northern michigan. not the U.P.
Posts: 15,281
i personally didnt get triggered by music and it must be a lil difficult beings how you play guitar. but there is greatnews! there are many, many musicians who got clean and sober. the noted ones i have read about put music aside for a time to work on themselves, then got back to it better than ever.
steven tyler, SRV, joe walsh, keith urban, eric clapton, elton john, are just a very few that have overcome alcoholism/addiction.
you may want to look into rockers in recovery
steven tyler, SRV, joe walsh, keith urban, eric clapton, elton john, are just a very few that have overcome alcoholism/addiction.
you may want to look into rockers in recovery
Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Oxnard (The Nard), CA, USA.
Posts: 13,954
I think there for a wile it was different to listen to my fav jamm's sober. Maybe some euphoric recall about my past association with drugs/alco + music. That would make it uneasy in early soberiety
Now music is an important part of my life and the drugs/alco has lost it importance to the point of nil in my life.
Hang in there, it can get better
Now music is an important part of my life and the drugs/alco has lost it importance to the point of nil in my life.
Hang in there, it can get better Member
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 31,179
Yeah, music did trigger me in the beginning of my recovery. I would listen to a song, remember smoking crack (my DOC) when listening to it, but I refused to give in.
My XABF#3 was an ex because I chose recovery, he chose to continue using. It cost him his life. I was listening to my favorite radio station one day, and a song came up that said "F crack!" I "talk" to my ex, and I busted out laughing and told him "ya hear that? F crack!!!"
In the early days I may have heard it different, but the more recovery I have, the more I get some really good messages.
Hugs and prayers,
Amy
My XABF#3 was an ex because I chose recovery, he chose to continue using. It cost him his life. I was listening to my favorite radio station one day, and a song came up that said "F crack!" I "talk" to my ex, and I busted out laughing and told him "ya hear that? F crack!!!"
In the early days I may have heard it different, but the more recovery I have, the more I get some really good messages.
Hugs and prayers,
Amy
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