numbing emotions
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Cambridge England
Posts: 8
numbing emotions
Hi SR,
Well its two weeks today!!! i feel very positive today after some half assed attempts this year at sobriety. I have felt really low the last couple of days though. Really discontent and very restless. Today i feel much better and i realise now i was numbing my emotions after spending 3 days with my parents for christmas. That is how i cope with being around the dysfunction within my family. Its the same every year and it takes a while too find myself again and be honest with myself about my emotions. But its reminded me how important emotions are and good or bad they need to be felt.
Emotional honesty is important. This is something i have struggled with most of my life because i couldnt of told u how i was feeling from one day to the next. I have looked at some of my diary entries and some seem so fake cos its obvious i wasnt being honest with myself!!! So iam going to try to be in touch with my emotions from now on and be honest about them to myself and others where neccessary.
Thanx for listening!!!
Well its two weeks today!!! i feel very positive today after some half assed attempts this year at sobriety. I have felt really low the last couple of days though. Really discontent and very restless. Today i feel much better and i realise now i was numbing my emotions after spending 3 days with my parents for christmas. That is how i cope with being around the dysfunction within my family. Its the same every year and it takes a while too find myself again and be honest with myself about my emotions. But its reminded me how important emotions are and good or bad they need to be felt.
Emotional honesty is important. This is something i have struggled with most of my life because i couldnt of told u how i was feeling from one day to the next. I have looked at some of my diary entries and some seem so fake cos its obvious i wasnt being honest with myself!!! So iam going to try to be in touch with my emotions from now on and be honest about them to myself and others where neccessary.
Thanx for listening!!!
Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: IL now
Posts: 218
Right at two weeks here as well, CONGRATS! 
Even more important, congrats on your emotional honesty.. that term is such a powerful phrase, emotional honesty. You're doing a fantastic job facing your fears and emotions during the roughest part of the season, trust me, I thought once or 50 times about drinking this last weekend.. but I almost feel relieved now that I didn't.. There are worse things in life, and I constantly remind myself how blessed I am for the people around me. Keep it up!
Even more important, congrats on your emotional honesty.. that term is such a powerful phrase, emotional honesty. You're doing a fantastic job facing your fears and emotions during the roughest part of the season, trust me, I thought once or 50 times about drinking this last weekend.. but I almost feel relieved now that I didn't.. There are worse things in life, and I constantly remind myself how blessed I am for the people around me. Keep it up!
Member
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Bangor, Maine
Posts: 34
Congrats SoCal and Peace.... 2 weeks is amazing! Proud of you. I have 80 days in today... never thought it possible, but here I am, made it through the holidays still sober!!
Emotional honesty is critical. You can't be physically sober until you are emotionally sober. Learned that the hard way!!
Emotional honesty is critical. You can't be physically sober until you are emotionally sober. Learned that the hard way!!
Member
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Alaska
Posts: 1,458
Peace2012,
OMG, that emotional honesty is SOOOO tough! Way to go on trying to tackle it!
I too put up a "mask" to conceal my feelings most times. Whether its frustration, anger, resentment, sadness, etc.
Thanks for posting this today!
OMG, that emotional honesty is SOOOO tough! Way to go on trying to tackle it!
I too put up a "mask" to conceal my feelings most times. Whether its frustration, anger, resentment, sadness, etc.
Thanx for listening!!!
Member
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Baltimore, MD
Posts: 65
Congrats on your sober time and thanks for sharing about the emotional honesty.
I too am just now, after nine months sober, starting to realize the full extent of the way I stuffed down my real emotions over the past few years of drinking and drugging. I just had no idea how to be transparent, how to express anger or other negative emotions in the right way, and so I just kept them all inside and behind a mask. Now I'm finally realizing that the mask has to come off if I'm going to live any kind of meaningful life, otherwise I'm just pretending.
I guess the tough part for me is, now that I am feeling emotions for the first time, still knowing how and when to let them out. I mean, obviously at work (at least in the corporate environment I am in) everyone has to wear a mask to some extent and control their negative emotions. I guess it is just tough for me learning how to balance them after so long neglecting them.
Thanks again!
I too am just now, after nine months sober, starting to realize the full extent of the way I stuffed down my real emotions over the past few years of drinking and drugging. I just had no idea how to be transparent, how to express anger or other negative emotions in the right way, and so I just kept them all inside and behind a mask. Now I'm finally realizing that the mask has to come off if I'm going to live any kind of meaningful life, otherwise I'm just pretending.
I guess the tough part for me is, now that I am feeling emotions for the first time, still knowing how and when to let them out. I mean, obviously at work (at least in the corporate environment I am in) everyone has to wear a mask to some extent and control their negative emotions. I guess it is just tough for me learning how to balance them after so long neglecting them.
Thanks again!
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Cambridge England
Posts: 8
Thanks for all your reply's. It is bloody hard not putting on a mask, thats what ive done for years, but its true there has to be emotional sobriety as well as physical sobriety, im glad i realise that now as sometimes knowing something is half the battle!!
Very new to this site but so so glad i found it!!
Very new to this site but so so glad i found it!!
Member
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 31,179
(((PEACE))) - Congratulations on 2 weeks!! I had no idea of how I'd stuffed my emotions until I realized I really didn't know HOW I felt. Simple things, like HALT - I had to go through it and ask myself...AM I hungry, angry, lonely, tired? I honestly didn't know. I also realized that when I got that "I wanna be numb", there was an emotion behind it. I'd make myself think, "WTF is REALLY going on here" and it took some deep thought, but I've gotten better at it.
It was also pretty enlightening to realize my emotions really won't kill me
Hugs and prayers,
Amy
It was also pretty enlightening to realize my emotions really won't kill me
Hugs and prayers,
Amy
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