labyrinth

I have noticed that I am unable to think outside the box lately..unless something is in order of 1 to 2 to 3 I am lost. It is like my ability to think abstractly it well gone lol. Has anyone had this problem. I have heard that this comes back it just takes time..I was wondering if anyone had any input on this.


Thanks


Steve

Chy

In recovery it takes quite a while for us to get all those abilities we thought were easy while drinking back. We're growing up all over again and have to actually be taught like a toddler in some aspects how to function sober. Some day's it's not easy and we suffer tremendous anxiety, uncertainty, and lack mental clarity. It's all part of the healing process, be patient with yourself, stay close to those that provide understanding and support and it will all get better.

Me2

When you relaxe at night and drift off to sleep begin to think back to your fondest childhood memories...the relaxation will most likely make it easier to to do this...remember the smells,,the wind...the light...anything that was great....wether you beleive it or not those are stored inside and by rekindleing them with this simple exercise it will refresh the mental data banks and you will soon open up the floodgates of creativity....steve

mackat

hi steve
i had 13 months clean/sober and woke up one morning to realize i had managed to memorize a few phone numbers!! it is till a major entry in my journals! So, for me, the memory function was the most obvious place to 'see' my mind returning. Altho i dont have an empirical yardstick re abstract thinking, the tomes i choose to read today are weightier than i could have managed 'back then' and it seems when i play music with others, that i have a better 'sense' of whats going on within the group. my guess is, that, having finally gotten my marbles back, i now get to play with em !
but all this took time- and most of that time its been a Great Ride!!
mackat

labyrinth

Thanks for the responses. I have noticed some improvements in the last 2 months and am excited just thinking about the ones to come.


steve

msnbuffalo

Steve

I have noticed the same problem and it is improving for me. I am now able to do more complicated math in my head again, as I did back in college. According to Terence Gorski ("Staying Sober") these brain lapses are worst when we are stressed out. So practicing to relax will help. This is a symptom of PAW and there is a great thread on the subject here. I still rely on a calculator at work much more than I used to but I can tell that I am getting better.

I have been meaning to read "Atlas Shurgged" by Ayn Rand...I tried several times while I was still drinking and couldn't do it...now I think I may be able to handle it!

Mike

Patsyd1

Hi Steve,

Could it be your HP is trying to get your attention to stay in the moment, stay in the day, do the footwork, and leave the results in God's hands?

Some of the things that bothered me the most when I was first sober, are the very things that I had to let go of, because I became stuck in my own head. lol

God works in mysterious ways, miracles come quietly to those who stop trying to figure it all out, and just allow themselves to BE in the moment, and in the this one day

Maybe this is your HP's way of sharing with you, that you do not have to "think" to hard today ...... and just BE for this one day.

Love
Patsy

MootPoint

I had difficulty with abstract thinking when i was drinking. I still have trouble with it, but then I think i did brain damage on my last bender.

I know it comes back with most ppl tho......... it just takes time.

MootPoint

how did my reply wind up all the way back here???

Ninerfan

It had me a little confused as well Moot. I think this thread is a 'do over'. Considering the tone the thread was taking maybe someone deleted a few posts and we get to do it over. Not sure I like that idea, not sure I don't either.

Dan

Big Powers!

MootPoint

i think steve was posting contrary to the reason for the post, niner. and, in that, i agree with the do over.

i think thats a ding ding ding moment DD!

Don S

Decapitation is better than expurgation, eh?
Don S

Dan

What? I've been expurgated?
Jeepers, should I be insulted? Or in pain of some sorts?
:LMAO Don!

Chy

Oh darn doesn't sound like a good thing, okay, taking out the dictionary.

KISS friends!

If you are patient in one moment of anger,
you will escape a hundred days of sorrow.
-- Chinese Proverb

Dan

Yeah that's it Chy, keeping the expurgation simple!
Like eddie Z. would say, teehee!

historyteach

Probably for the best, after all!
Shalom!

Don S

Maybe we should start a word-of-the-day thread, to challenge our brains!

For years I was proud of the fact that I could do the Jumble puzzle in the newspaper without writing down the letters. As years of drinking went by, I became less and less able to do that puzzle at all, and I grew increasingly frustrated. After I quit, one of my measures of restored brain function was the speed I could do that puzzle and whether or not I had to write the letters down as I went along. Using that simple test, at least, I can declare that brain function does restore with time and exercise.

Another test I found was how quickly I could key something out from a botanical key. If you've ever done this, you know what a tedious process it is until you can start remembering the terminology (scabrous, crenate, etc.). It's a great mental exercise, and non-botanists can do it in horticulture texts with constant reference to the glossary (try Bailey's Manual of Cultivated Plants). This kind of stuff, done daily, is a great brain exercise.

It's also humbling. Just a few days ago I was trying to ID a tree from a flower for a customer, and we came to whether or not it had a 'loculicidally or septifragally dehiscent capsule'. Whereupon we gave up, and figured we'd done well to get to the genus if not the species.

So, today's word is expurgate. I think we already did defenestrate a few weeks ago. Tomorrow, the first person to use obstreperous in a sentence gets 50 points.

Don S

Chy

*LOL*..but, but, but,... I can't find my dictionary! Still waiting on expurgate!

Dan

I resisted any and all attempts by my family to make me aware I had a drinking problem in a most obstreperous way for the longest time. In the end though, it was my obstinate self will that saw to it I was in for expurgation from my home.
I think...