EasternRow

Been sober 85 days.
A lot of things significantly improved.. Sleep, digestion, speech, thoughts, memory, skin etc..
But, Getting an empty feeling , especially starting late afternoon thru evening. Seems like there is a craving inside..

How to handle this? any thoughts?

LumenandNyx

Hi there

Yes, my thoughts are - distract yourself. Keep yourself busy doing things you love to do. There are plenty of things to DO in sobriety that don't involve picking up a drink.

What sorts of things did you leave behind when you were drinking that you could pick up again today?

least

The best thing I know to cure 'what ails ya', and to bolster my sobriety, is to practice gratitude every day. I was at 3 months sober and wasn't 'feeling it' and I was advised to start practicing gratitude every day. I did, and now it's a huge (and positive) part of my life. Try it.

biminiblue

Play that tape forward.

Just imagine where a drink will take you. Think about the hangover, the mistakes, the fear and regret - whatever was happening to you that made you feel like it was time to quit drinking. Pull up those memories.


No one here ever said the next morning, "I'm so sorry I didn't drink."

It's not like those drinking thoughts are going to go away. However, they do get further and further apart and much less insistent the longer you are away from your last drink.

nez

I fixed the empty feeling by going inward and getting to know myself better through introspection, which helped me to better understand myself, which shrunk the empty empty feeling.

EasternRow

Thanks for all your support and responses..
I'll continue to take it 1 day at a time and stay sober, hoping this will get easier at some point..

Dee74

Hi and welcome EasternRow

Have you tried mixing things up, changing your routine - especially if late afternoon through evening was your drinking time?

D

Rockbottom1964

Hi, EasternRow. I’ll be on day 240 tomorrow and I still get those cravings, believe me. So strong sometimes that I can literally taste the Scotch; other times they’re just sort of flitting-by thoughts. That’s when I visit SR, or take a walk with my dogs, or escape into my other WIP - my novel. (Sobriety is my first “Work in Progress). Whatever: I just find something else to keep my mind busy and I find that mostly the thoughts of drinking just sort of go away.

I liken the AV to a persistent salesman knocking on my door and getting no reply. He will always come back to try again later; but he’ll try less and less each time he finds no one home, and with less and less enthusiasm. Someday, hopefully, he’ll just give up and stop trying altogether. Until he does, one day at a time works for me, and it does get better each day.
85 days is great. Hang in there.