FreeParticle

Just curious. For me it's going to be listening to music while "impaired." Ridiculous as it may seem. Music is my favorite thing in the world and it just seems to sound even better to me when I've got a buzz of some sort going on. I know I'll miss that.

LexieCat

Actually, if my own experience is any guide, it will sound BETTER once you get used to it.

What you think is a great listening experience is really just background noise for getting high. When you get sober, you can actually hear the details a lot better--I notice stuff in music I never noticed before.

Of course, I STILL have a tin ear--expensive stereo equipment is totally wasted on me--but even on my cheap speakers it sounds better when I'M not wasted.

Anna

Nothing at all!

Dee74

Hi Free Particle

As a very new newbie I used to roll my eyes at the guys who'd say 'nothing'...but now I totally get it.

I really honestly miss nothing about my old life - I wouldn't swap this life for anything - besides I can do anything I did then, except get high....

I hope you get back your musical enjoyment

julez

I can count more things I don't miss, like the hangovers, and self loathing after a night of drinking....

Mark75

I miss a thing or two, I got addicted to stimulants... the energy, laser beam focus, dopamine, the heightened libido... sure I liked that, but getting addicted... it took it all back eventually..

The music thing.. Also my (second) favorite thing in the world... I get that, but, now at 2 years out.... it's better, I play better, I listen better and get more meaning from it.... instead of just a "gee whiz", "wow man" kind of experience... lately, with the help of Grooveshark, Pandora, iTunes and a torrent or two... I have been deepening and widening my listening horizons... jazz, blues, folk... oh, and I have also been going back and listening to the old acid rock I loved when I was, well....

Just ride it out, you won't lose your music appreciation, not at all, in fact it'll be better than ever.

Mark

Spawn

nothing at all!

Zencat

Sure there are some things I miss. After all I was addicted to powerful drugs that caused euphoric feelings. That's how I got addicted anyway...the feel good toxic chemical high...Do'h.

But as it is with addiction, the good high gets less and less wile the bummer lows get deeper and darker. Until the point where alcohol/drugs had me half dead. There wasn't any euphoria then.

Now life is better when its natural.

LaFemme

I'm not going to lie And say there is nothing I don't miss...but I make a habit of not thinking about it. I don't want to romanticize any part of the addiction...so if I find myself heading that way I replace those nostalgic thoughts with the worst memories I can summon.

That's just my philosophy.

LawMama

What LaFemme said. There are things I miss, but the benefits of sobriety FAR outweight the difficult parts and I choose to think of the positives. Not that I don't know how you feel, because I do. My first three sober concerts were tough. But when I think about it now, the good feelings I thought I was having when I was f-ed up were an illusion. It always was gone by the next day.

FreeParticle

I've been to Soooo many concerts. I cannot even begin to imagine how much better my memory of them would be if I would have been sober for any of them.

FreeParticle

I waited for so long to see Depeche Mode. They came around last year and I went totally annihilated. I was so excited to go and now I can barely remember any of it. So stupid.

Kitey

I miss my Friends who I got drunk with, they were all * Normal *Drinkers but our rare get togethers were soo Funny and we used to Dance our legs off to Our Fave Music, we used to have a Bawl but now I stay on my own until I cure myself, they understand I cant drink with them anymore and give me loads of support but I miss the fun but the dreary days of feeling like Shite I am happy to say Goodbye to.....

I am happier changing my life round and getting to " Re-discover " the True me. I wont ever go back to the Drunken person I had been for many many years! As for Music..I blast it all day and still have a little Dance here and there while doing housework but these days Im Sober! xx

Bamboozle

I do miss getting drunk. Only the good parts, though. If I didn't like getting drunk I wouldn't be an alcoholic.

It got to a point where the costs vastly outweighed the benefits. Being drunk most of the time isn't living...and I knew that nothing would ever get better if I didn't change.

If I ever pick up again I'll be off to the races. That's why I have to stay away. I'm not sure I could stop again.

sobermax

My drinking thoughts are mostly lies: I'll see myself sipping elegantly or laughing with friends. In reality, I neck vodka from the bottle, tell lies and set my flat on fire.

FreeParticle

There's some good wisdom going around here.

Lilly03

Drunk dancing? That's about it. Nothing else though. Sobriety is so much better

LawMama

lol Lilly. I can relate to the dancing thing. I thought for the longest time that I wouldn't dance sober....turns out I can be just as goofy dancing without being drunk! And I probably have the self restraint to be a little more classy about it.

Lilly03

LawMama I'm trying to get more comfortable with it! I think I may though - as I get more comfortable with myself I may not care as much. In front of good friends I don't care, but people I don't know I'm terrified to dance.

grateful2b

This is my seventh year sober and this is the first year I can say:
Nothing at all!
By degrees, through the years, the desires, the romance; mental, emotional and physical have fallen away...
Thank God..