steve-in-kville

Wow.... just really shocked how my moods can swing. Yesterday started off on a pink cloud. Everything was right in the world. By afternoon my nerves were shot, I was extra irritable, snapping at the family, etc. Started to run down through HALT. I had skipped a snack or two and only had an hour of sleep the night before.

Ate a good, healthy meal at dinnertime, popped a REM cap and went to bed early and slept like a rock! Woke up with the alarm and all is good again. I suppose another lesson learned!

This is all.

August252015

Hi Steve- I forget how long you are sober now? I can definitely relate to mood swings- most of my recovery has been pink clouds ad infinitum, but I have had distinct points, even part of a day, that I recall as rough and black. More on the irritableness, immediate onset type!

Right now, this week at just past 2 yrs, I have been feeling a bit Johnny Cash, "Ring of Fire" kinda need to be tough but feeling "off" at the same time. I remember at 4 mo having about a week of just irritable, disgruntled muddling through.

It has gotten WAY smoother over all and I am grateful. I figure sticking with it and trying to take good care of myself when yucky hits (like sleeping a lot this week, which helps me when I am overwhelmed with some kind of feeling).

Keep going- thanks for sharing!

steve-in-kville

It must be something about the evenings. I'm feeling really down again. I think after dinner I'll sit back and watch a DVD or some NCIS or something. This is starting to bug me out.

Stayingsassy

I second sleeping a lot on a bad week. It helps take me outside myself when I'm overwhelmed and I can just go to bed to turn off a bad day. I am going to sleep tonight at 9 and ill be waking at 7. That's not unusual for me on long stressful days like today, when I packed in a full day of work, then cross fit, then made dinner for everyone. Time for a lot of sleep.

I find it healing. It's possible that I am having more peace in sobriety than others because if I need it I indulge in a lot of sleep. I feel for people who struggle with insomnia, I think it carries over to lots of areas of their lives.

zjw

I started to really pay attention to what was causing my mood to swing and worked hard to eliminate it. Or try and soften the blow if it anyhow. Some stuff you just cant control.

but there is a saying we cant control crap in life but we can control how we react to it. This is a fairly true statement. Now faced with some big stuff it at least for me gets harder and harder to control my reaction to it.

we are only human tho at the end of the day.

I know for example my current job i'm a much different person when i have a day off say vs have to go to work. I'm happier more energetic and usually in much better spirits but the min i have to log back on to work its like awe F ME F ME etc.. Lucky for me thats been removed from my life now so I'll be happier in that regard lol.

zjw

some might say practice your reaction to situation with the little things. THen when the big things come along it will be easier.

That might be true... given my current predicament i havent flown off the handle and picked up. I havent done a lot of htings I typically woulda done in the past.

steve-in-kville

Thanks for the replies, everyone. I think the wild mood swings have more to do with my sleep patterns. Lately it hasn't been consistent and I am working on a routine for that. Day Light Savings starts this Sunday, so I am being quite diligent on this.

The past few nights I have slept really good, been energetic about all day, try to snack every two hours, etc. But come dinnertime, I get really irritable.

anxiousrock

Oh man, the mood swings!

some days "yes, sobriety, this is the best life can be...on cloud 9!"

other days "fml sobriety, all I ever do is crave alcohol this sucks"

I feel like it will be that way for a while!

SoberCAH

Moods are a deceptive fact of life, because they don't always paint an accurate picture of my life's circumstances.

Moods are especially problematic in early sobriety, because they tend to be rather volatile.

Not always and not with everyone, but, nonetheless, fairly typically.

I try to focus on what I am doing and not how I feel.

If I am doing the right things, a degree of contentment and acceptance will usually come over me and I feel well enough, even though the circumstances could certainly be a bit more to my liking with respect to some aspects of life.

The reality is that difficult times create growth opportunities which don't exist when everything is seemingly going my way.

MindfulMan

10 months tomorrow. Yay me. May 9 2017. Ten months of actually living.

Still get the mood disorders. In my case it's hard to separate sobriety mood swings from bipolar disorder and seasons. Mood coming up because spring. Although if you're in the Northeastern US it's not feeling very springlike, I'm sure.

It does get easier. Acknowledge and watch the moods. They tend to smooth out faster for me that way, and I also think through if there is any external cause for a mood swing. There often is something, and these I can do something about.

steve-in-kville

This evening is going a little bit better since I'm a bit more prepared, I guess. Got a routine going and as long as I don't deviate from that, I'm good. Drove past the ol' liquor store on my way to get some groceries and it didn't even taunt me.