triathlynne

This week will my first step towards staying sober for good. I am absolutely dreading Thursday however. It's my payday and its also my Friday. It's my worse day for my anxiety too. It gets so bad there's been times I've deficated myself on the ride home trying to get to the bar. I feel so ashamed admitting that but it's why I joined this place. To share my fears and woes. I am hoping I can overcome it this week by trying out some new strategies I've been reading about on here and other places. I've had a very good weekend and got a lot done by staying sober. It gives me great hope and such a good feeling of accomplishment I just wish I could bottle it and drink that instead.

nandm

Hi Thriathlynne glad you are here. I can definately relate to fear and anxiety increasing in sobriety. It was one of the reasons I had such a hard time getting and staying sober. I knew my life got better when I did not drink but the anxiety/fear drove me nuts. I know there are many who ways to overcome/manage/control that anxiety/fear but all I can share about is what worked for me.

For me it took a program of recovery which in and of itself was anxiety producing at first because I had to increase my contact with strangers. But once that initial anxiety/fear dissapated it did get easier. The program helped give me tools to deal with the multitudes of situations I used to drink at. For me those included simple things like mowing my grass (I had no idea how to mow my grass without a cooler full of beer waiting) to the death of a loved one.

I still fight with anxiety/fear but it is different than the anxiety/fear I had in early sobriety. What I fight with today is PTSD which I did fight with then on a smaller scale it just got worse as the years went by and it was untreated or mistreated. The management of that anxiety/fear is somewhat different although it does overlap with the everyday fears/anxiety that stopping drinking produces. These are the things I have found helpful and I hope you find something useful as well. Please remember there is nothing wrong with seeking the help of a medical professional or taking medications as prescribed if you feel that will help you. Both of those things have helped me immensely. Here is a list of some of the things other than the medications I take that I have found useful in fighting anxiety/fear.

• Yoga
• Meditation
• Controlled breathing/breathing exercises
• CBT - Cognitive Behavorial Therapy
• EMDR - Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing
• Visualization
• Exercise
• Routines
• Talk therapy

tootsl1

Triathlynne, can you leave your purse at work? Having just enough to get home( leave money at home thurs am for fri) or change your route? Take an MP3 player on the bus, close your eyes, listen to you fav music and focus.
We all have first hurdles of everything, and getting over the ' first' of anything gives a real sense of achievement. I wish you luck on you first steps, keep focussed, you sobriety has to be the most important thing in your life if you are to maintain it

triathlynne

I would leave my purse at home yes. That is going to be one of my strategies on Thursdays. I drive to work however so it's really too easy for me just to drive straight to a bar. I need my debit card to cash my pay cheque this week as I'm so strapped. I am going to re join my hot yoga place again too. That (I had to have a LOT of dental work done recently that took all my friggen savings). I have already written some inspiring notes as well as some reminders as to why I'm quitting. I'm also going to start taking a different route home that bring me to a lovely trail so I can walk and clear my mind. I'm still dreading it though but I plan on checking the forum all day Thursday to help me through the day. It's working great so far.