GracieLou

Getting out of my comfort zone was very rough. I like to isolate so other than work and quick trips to the store, I was home. Safe and secure in my little world.

When I quit drinking and went to AA I found that although I was not real comfortable at first that after a while my anxiety went down. Before I was barely able to drive to work and I would cry the whole way there and I could not get home fast enough.

Today I do not have that at all. I am fairly relaxed. There are times I feel stress but that is just life.

Fear kept me from doing many things but I found that the more times I pushed the fear back, even just a little bit and walked out of my comfort zone it got easier and easier.

You are here, that says you have already crossed a comfort line. Good job! Keep coming back

zjw

ya know the one thing about quiting drinking is in the end only you can do it. I felt pretty alone no one could quit for me ya know. no one could really help me. Keep in mind i was not going to AA or anything that first year. This gave me the opportunity to dive deep into myself.

In the end you could have all the help in the world and still be drunk in a ditch. In the end the power to stop has to come from you and your higher power.

But like i said before it does make it easier to have people to talk to that are familier with this struggle.

Dee74

You've got a lot of good suggestions here

Of course it's better to try and stop. This won't get any better or be any easier ten years from now...it may be 10 times worse by then.

I had no confidence in myself or my abilities either....but I knew I hjad to stop...and I had a lot of trust in the help and support here.

I just had to learn to use that support

why not join our June support thread as a start?
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...2014-a-17.html

D

Eddiebuckle

Hello Tie,

My experience, much to my surprise, was that alcohol was the source of my anxiety. I would have sworn to that statement on a stack of Bibles, but I found that my anxiety pretty much went away after a few months sobriety. I had my doubts about all the talk of how dangerous alcohol was to the central nervous system until I actually experienced withdrawal. Please seriously consider talking to your physician about this - alcohol withdrawal can be fatal, and is relatively straightforward to manage medically.

Good luck!

MattyBoy

Not meaning to repeat what others have said, but I found that my social anxiety was as it's worst when I was drinking. Why? Because drinking was so badly damaging my self esteem that I felt that I was no longer in a position to offer my point of view on anything in a situation or even open my mouth.

When I sobered up, yeah it was rough at first and it took time for my self esteem to come back to what it was before I started drinking, but with more and more sober time under my belt it improved tremendously. As my self esteem increased so did my willingness to be open with other people. In my first month I didn't seek help from anyone face to face because I was ashamed but posting on this site eased the transition from talking honestly about my situation to virtual strangers on the internet and to being open with people in my life.

It gets better I promise.

Live2Run25

I might be the anomoly here, but I didn't use anything other than this website and a little AVRT. I've been sober over 2 years. I came here all day long if I needed to. I didn't attend AA, or talk to my doctor. I just REALLY KNEW that I wanted to quit. That's where it has to start. With you...

mburnsc

I've really wanted to quit on my own for 14 years, and ive tried hundred of times. it has never worked. ive tried eating well, excercising, picking up various hobbies...ive tried it all and nothing has worked on my own.

for a person like me, alcohol is the only thing that can help me connect with other human beings, the only thing that helps me be around people...to be a normal semi-social human being. its like a night and day, the sober me and the drunk me. so i dont know how i could somehow quit without some sort of miracle.

mburnsc

its like ive heard in AA talks, if when you quit the problem really starts..you just might be an alcoholic. i dont quit drinking and things get better...they get worse.

Cow

I would say, if you going it on you own, has some kind of 3 strikes program, or gives you self 3 month, and if it not done, then not even mess around any more and get some help. You not want to be still "quitting" 5, 10, 20 year from now like lot of us.

FlyerFan

Kudos to you for looking for help, no matter how you do it, you are making an effort. I can't survive without other people and a program like AA, but i do know folks who stay sober who aren't in AA, so there are many different things to try.

My anxiety was horrible all my life, even as a child. But once I stopped drinking and I tested the waters a little bit, I love people now. (one of my first fears was saying hello to the mailman when he brought our mail to the door one day. LOL)

MesaMan

I'm doing exactly what Live2Run25 mentions in Post #26. It's simple. It works [for me].

Every day, Folks do amazing and positive things. Sometimes you have to seek out the stories. Nonetheless, the Mind can do just about anything. I simply let mine run the Sobriety Show while accepting that it all comes down to me. My Hand not lifting the first Glass. My thoughts stomping down the very occasional AV noise. My Brain determining the few trigger situations I need to stay clear of.

I don't believe my Sobriety requires a Miracle. Not surprisingly, therefore, it doesn't. Drinking was great fun. Until it wasn't. Frankly, I don't think about Sobriety all that much, any more than I worry about getting hit by Lightning. If you make up your Mind not to relapse, the fear of relapsing is a non event. I don't plan to go Scuba Diving. Therefore, I don't sit around worrying about getting eaten by a Shark. That's what my fear of relapsing is like. Nada.

tomsteve

reading through yer posts, im not seein where drinkin really has been the easiest route. reads like its making the route a lot worse.

yes, it is better to try to stop than not try, but ya gotta want to stop and yer gonna have to put in some form of action.
what I believe I am reading is fear- fear of the unkown- fear of what life without alcohol will be like and fear of takin a look at yourself?
if so, all ya need is some courage. I think you know where continueing what yer doin is gonna take ya. I don't know too many people that have stopped drinking and it was worse. if ya stop drinking, work on making changes, and give it time im sure things for you will get better.

gardendiva

I use Rational Recovery and this place. I do a lot of reading about alcoholism. No meetings or official programs, just the program I designed for myself based on RR.

GwenCummings

Hello Tietheknot.

In all your posts i don't see your vision for the future. Where do you want to be? What do you want to be like? Is your anxiety something you are just prepared to live with forever? I have it and it is crippling. I take medication for it and I have quit drinking. I have forced myself to go to AA. You don't have to speak. Just sit and listen. Read the literature.

If that's not for you, there are loads of suggestions on here, very good ones.

If it was me, I would take someone I trust with me to the doctor. They can speak for you.

Get some help because you are only going to get one tour of duty on this planet and at the moment you are spending it feeling miserable and depressed and staring into the bottom of a glass.


Really good luck. if you have done one thing today, you have helped me. I feel even more determined to get this monkey off my back for good.