Withdrawal or Depression
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2016
Posts: 23
Withdrawal or Depression
I'm not sure if I'm sad because I want to drink or because I'm without a car and future legal consequences are clouding my mind. I hate that I'm unable to enjoy Thanksgiving this year. I'm really trying but it's hard. I hate not being able to come and go as I please. I hate that I made such a horrible mistake. It took about 10 minutes to ruin my life. I was okay earlier but now I feel like crap. I really want to just sleep through the entire day.
Member
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 2,950
You're sad because you're sad. Analyzing the sadness keeps it around. You want to get up and get out and go do something you've never done before. If that's too much right now, get up and do something. Iron a shirt. Make pancakes from scratch. I don't know. Something, anything that is different, that results in a change in something. You made your shirt free of wrinkles, you made pancakes. It will give you enough of a slight energy boost to get out and expand your world a little bit.. go to the bookstore and wander about. Go to a park and take pictures in a creative way, or better yet, find an event where there are lots of people and take pictures of your surroundings. Then come home and edit them.
Movement, results, action, creativity.. Patience, no expectations of big quantum changes. But no dwelling. Now is the time for forward momentum.
Movement, results, action, creativity.. Patience, no expectations of big quantum changes. But no dwelling. Now is the time for forward momentum.
Member
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 2,950
I appear to have glossed over your post, and I apologize. If you can't come and go as you please, you can still find some ways to change up routines.. Other people can use the other suggestions.. Changing little routines and doing new things, it's a subtle way to recondition your brain, so it learns that you're not stuck and you do have power over circumstances.
This is something you have to do, for your mental health.
This is something you have to do, for your mental health.
Member
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: northern michigan. not the U.P.
Posts: 15,281
it didn't take 10 minutes to ruin your life.
it took 10 miniutes for it to get from your head to your heart that alcohol has been ruining your life.
yeah, the day is called thanksgiving here in the U.S. in many countries is just November 24th.
it reads like you want to drink to try and make the negative thoughts to disappear. whether im right or not, drinking is just a temporary solution.
getting sober and cleaning up the wreckage required me to do some trudging early on. i had to accept it took time to get to where i was and it was going to take time to sweep up the wreckage.
even today i can get negative feelings. accepting that it is what it is does remarkable things.
[B][/howeverB]
if there are actions i can do those days to help, its best for me to do those actions.
broken,imo, most alcoholics are inpatient. we want what we want and we want it yesterday!
patience- its not about what im doing while process is happening. its about what im thinking. even learning how to change my thinking and lookin at life on lifes terms positively took ( AAAARRRRGGG!!!) patience.
keep on trudging!! 6 months or a year down the road you just may look back at this and think something like i can when i look back: dang!! that really wasn't that bad to get through!
p.s.
alcohol is a depressant. it takes time for the full effects of alcohol to be completely gone.
it took 10 miniutes for it to get from your head to your heart that alcohol has been ruining your life.
yeah, the day is called thanksgiving here in the U.S. in many countries is just November 24th.
it reads like you want to drink to try and make the negative thoughts to disappear. whether im right or not, drinking is just a temporary solution.
getting sober and cleaning up the wreckage required me to do some trudging early on. i had to accept it took time to get to where i was and it was going to take time to sweep up the wreckage.
even today i can get negative feelings. accepting that it is what it is does remarkable things.
[B][/howeverB]
if there are actions i can do those days to help, its best for me to do those actions.
broken,imo, most alcoholics are inpatient. we want what we want and we want it yesterday!
patience- its not about what im doing while process is happening. its about what im thinking. even learning how to change my thinking and lookin at life on lifes terms positively took ( AAAARRRRGGG!!!) patience.
keep on trudging!! 6 months or a year down the road you just may look back at this and think something like i can when i look back: dang!! that really wasn't that bad to get through!
p.s.
alcohol is a depressant. it takes time for the full effects of alcohol to be completely gone.
Member
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 1,095
Withdrawal or Depression is something I ask myself everyday.
I have good moments and bad moments.
I am 31 days sober after drinking daily for 27 years and I am not sure if I am depressed because I am not drinking or if the drinking gave me anxiety and depression.
Bottom line is keep busy, do anything but think about it.
I have good moments and bad moments.
I am 31 days sober after drinking daily for 27 years and I am not sure if I am depressed because I am not drinking or if the drinking gave me anxiety and depression.
Bottom line is keep busy, do anything but think about it.
12 Step Recovered Alcoholic
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 6,613
Depression or withdrawal? I used to get these awful hangovers that would last several days. They may have been withdrawals, it doesn't really matter now. I was physically in a bad way.
I was also mentally in a bad way. Full of guilt, shame and remorse for all I had done. I used to sit in the rooms of AA with other newcomers and we would talk about how depessed we were.
Then I met someone with real depression. Mine was never that black. The way he described it, depression was several orders of magnitude worse than what I was suffering.
Then I realised it wasn't depression I was sufffering from, it was self pity. Poor me. Poor me. My chaotic life of self will, the life devoted to satisfying my base instincts at the expense of everyone around me was over. Poor me. I could no longer drink. Poor me. I could no longer do as I pleased. Poor me. I would have to get honest, poor me. I would have to take responsibilty, poor me. I would have to face the consequences, poor me. I would have to learn a new way of life with some discipline in it. Poor me.
The only way out was action, pretty much as Brenda suggested earlier. Get off my lazy #$s and get some recovery going. It only took a few days for the self pity to leave when I did that, and it was replaced with a better feeling and a growing condidence that I was on the right track.
Old BillW wrote this, and it has proved just as valid for me. "I was not too well at the time, and was plagued by waves of self-pity and resentment. This sometimes nearly drove me back to drink, but I soon found that when all other measures failed, work with another alcoholic would save the day."
I was also mentally in a bad way. Full of guilt, shame and remorse for all I had done. I used to sit in the rooms of AA with other newcomers and we would talk about how depessed we were.
Then I met someone with real depression. Mine was never that black. The way he described it, depression was several orders of magnitude worse than what I was suffering.
Then I realised it wasn't depression I was sufffering from, it was self pity. Poor me. Poor me. My chaotic life of self will, the life devoted to satisfying my base instincts at the expense of everyone around me was over. Poor me. I could no longer drink. Poor me. I could no longer do as I pleased. Poor me. I would have to get honest, poor me. I would have to take responsibilty, poor me. I would have to face the consequences, poor me. I would have to learn a new way of life with some discipline in it. Poor me.
The only way out was action, pretty much as Brenda suggested earlier. Get off my lazy #$s and get some recovery going. It only took a few days for the self pity to leave when I did that, and it was replaced with a better feeling and a growing condidence that I was on the right track.
Old BillW wrote this, and it has proved just as valid for me. "I was not too well at the time, and was plagued by waves of self-pity and resentment. This sometimes nearly drove me back to drink, but I soon found that when all other measures failed, work with another alcoholic would save the day."
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2016
Posts: 23
Originally Posted by Gottalife 
Depression or withdrawal? I used to get these awful hangovers that would last several days. They may have been withdrawals, it doesn't really matter now. I was physically in a bad way.
I was also mentally in a bad way. Full of guilt, shame and remorse for all I had done. I used to sit in the rooms of AA with other newcomers and we would talk about how depessed we were.
Then I met someone with real depression. Mine was never that black. The way he described it, depression was several orders of magnitude worse than what I was suffering.
Then I realised it wasn't depression I was sufffering from, it was self pity. Poor me. Poor me. My chaotic life of self will, the life devoted to satisfying my base instincts at the expense of everyone around me was over. Poor me. I could no longer drink. Poor me. I could no longer do as I pleased. Poor me. I would have to get honest, poor me. I would have to take responsibilty, poor me. I would have to face the consequences, poor me. I would have to learn a new way of life with some discipline in it. Poor me.
The only way out was action, pretty much as Brenda suggested earlier. Get off my lazy #$s and get some recovery going. It only took a few days for the self pity to leave when I did that, and it was replaced with a better feeling and a growing condidence that I was on the right track.
Old BillW wrote this, and it has proved just as valid for me. "I was not too well at the time, and was plagued by waves of self-pity and resentment. This sometimes nearly drove me back to drink, but I soon found that when all other measures failed, work with another alcoholic would save the day."
I was also mentally in a bad way. Full of guilt, shame and remorse for all I had done. I used to sit in the rooms of AA with other newcomers and we would talk about how depessed we were.
Then I met someone with real depression. Mine was never that black. The way he described it, depression was several orders of magnitude worse than what I was suffering.
Then I realised it wasn't depression I was sufffering from, it was self pity. Poor me. Poor me. My chaotic life of self will, the life devoted to satisfying my base instincts at the expense of everyone around me was over. Poor me. I could no longer drink. Poor me. I could no longer do as I pleased. Poor me. I would have to get honest, poor me. I would have to take responsibilty, poor me. I would have to face the consequences, poor me. I would have to learn a new way of life with some discipline in it. Poor me.
The only way out was action, pretty much as Brenda suggested earlier. Get off my lazy #$s and get some recovery going. It only took a few days for the self pity to leave when I did that, and it was replaced with a better feeling and a growing condidence that I was on the right track.
Old BillW wrote this, and it has proved just as valid for me. "I was not too well at the time, and was plagued by waves of self-pity and resentment. This sometimes nearly drove me back to drink, but I soon found that when all other measures failed, work with another alcoholic would save the day."
Join Date: Sep 2016
Posts: 847
I think people are trying to get you to see that you need to do something to help your situation, BrokenW. There are things you could do to mitigate what is coming, which will help your outlook.
Did your attorney advise you to do anything to help your case before your trial date, or did he simply suggest sitting around, and to let the chips fall where they may come sentencing?
Did your attorney advise you to do anything to help your case before your trial date, or did he simply suggest sitting around, and to let the chips fall where they may come sentencing?
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2016
Posts: 23
Originally Posted by Algorithm
I think people are trying to get you to see that you need to do something to help your situation, BrokenW. There are things you could do to mitigate what is coming, which will help your outlook.
Did your attorney advise you to do anything to help your case before your trial date, or did he simply suggest sitting around, and to let the chips fall where they may come sentencing?
Did your attorney advise you to do anything to help your case before your trial date, or did he simply suggest sitting around, and to let the chips fall where they may come sentencing?
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