Driver8

It's been six months since I quit drinking. My body is very happy about this, my mind is still, well, the mind of an alcoholic. An interesting part of the sober journey is that I'm doing activities sober for the first time. So, old activities are now new, and it's like I'm doing them for the first time all over again.
For example, I just went to my first sober concert, since god knows, high school probably. It was a great show, U2 was amazing. I went with a group of friends, they were all drinking. I found myself getting anxious. The smell of liquor in that confined space was off putting. That seems to be the feeling I get in social situations where in the past I would be drinking. I get anxious and then I leave.
I just concentrated on the music and enjoying the show. I didn't drink, and I felt good about that.
The first few months of my recovery I completely removed myself from all things that reminded me of being drunk. All my friends who drink, hockey games, certain music, crawfish boils (the list is too long to continue)-- it's crazy the things you associate with drinking.
I've recently started to creep out of my safety zone occasionally and test the waters. You have to be careful doing this. It's a good test and a good measuring stick, but when I start to get that anxious feeling I know it's time to head back to safety.

Fly N Buy

Keep trudging - six months is great!

JimiC

Sounds like you're doing wonderfully and you know when to return to "safety." Congrats!

August252015

Good job staying sober. I am not a big subscriber to the idea of deliberately testing ourselves- life will bring enough tests just by "happening" and we learn to deal with them. I have a full social life and plenty of friends yet I never put myself into a situation that I know might make me tense or anxious. Just my kind of sobriety.

Are you working a program (you might have mentioned this yes or no on your other thread)? Learning tools and thought process changes to live a sober and peaceful life has been so important for me.

Keep going!

JeffreyAK

I found over time that if I took baby steps and especially planned ahead (what will I do before this event, and after, if I get feeling too anxious what will my response be, etc.), I could gradually re-integrate all the things that I used to do, that I still wanted to do, into my life with only a little stress. I think the planning part was key, and it might be as simple as, if I start feeling too anxious I'm going to leave early. But I found that, the next time a similar event came up, it was much easier.

Dee74

I hope you'll find from now on in you'll feel less and less like you have an alcoholic mind - the more I built a sober life I loved, the more I changed to suit it and the more my old mind just didn't fit anymore.

D