180 Days.....Five Lessons Learned
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 36
180 Days.....Five Lessons Learned
Yep, tomorrow is 180 days for me. Half a year. 6 Months.
Many days, especially in the early days, I came here to find inspiration, guidance and support.
I found it - and in the spirit of "paying it forward" - here are 5 things I learned that I hope will be helpful.
1. PAWS is real, PAWS sucks, - but PAWS goes away. I had some very low days in the first few months. Low energy. Low mood. Low spirit. But I'm happy to say that now I'm starting to feel my mood elevate again. I can feel spontaneously happy, content, inspired and satisfied. And it feels amazing!!!
2. Be gentle with yourself. For as many years as I was heavily drinking - i HATED myself. Every day, from the traditional 4AM "shock-wake" onward - with my heart and head pounding - I loathed myself for being a drunk. Once I learned how to quit - I found I had to release that anger, that regret, that pain. The "new me" had to forgive the "old me".
3. Get moving. Move your body. Walk. Run. Swim. Row. Anything that gets your body moving will help you detoxify your body and your mind. I wasted too much time in the early days of my sobriety trying to insulate myself from the world. I was waiting for the "other shoe to drop" - I should have been out moving around more.
4. Don't care about what anyone else thinks! It's no one else's business that you don't drink. "No, thanks" is a perfectly good answer. Most people don't care whether you drink or not anyway. They have their own problems.
5. It's your subconscious, Stupid! As long as I was "denying" myself a drink - I would compulsively drink. As long as I was using my willpower to stop - I was powerless. As long as I was trying to control my drinking - I had no control. We all have these huge, powerful monsters in our heads called a subconscious. It controls our heartbeats, temperature, digestion, breathing, healing - and so much more. For years I tried to fight my subconscious about my drinking - and I lost badly! 180 days ago I figured it out. I convinced my subconscious to work WITH me. It clicked and I never looked back.
Finally, one last wish for you all. Don't ever give up! You will only fail when you stop trying. Happiness, health, forgiveness and peace will be yours - go get it!
Stephen
Many days, especially in the early days, I came here to find inspiration, guidance and support.
I found it - and in the spirit of "paying it forward" - here are 5 things I learned that I hope will be helpful.
1. PAWS is real, PAWS sucks, - but PAWS goes away. I had some very low days in the first few months. Low energy. Low mood. Low spirit. But I'm happy to say that now I'm starting to feel my mood elevate again. I can feel spontaneously happy, content, inspired and satisfied. And it feels amazing!!!
2. Be gentle with yourself. For as many years as I was heavily drinking - i HATED myself. Every day, from the traditional 4AM "shock-wake" onward - with my heart and head pounding - I loathed myself for being a drunk. Once I learned how to quit - I found I had to release that anger, that regret, that pain. The "new me" had to forgive the "old me".
3. Get moving. Move your body. Walk. Run. Swim. Row. Anything that gets your body moving will help you detoxify your body and your mind. I wasted too much time in the early days of my sobriety trying to insulate myself from the world. I was waiting for the "other shoe to drop" - I should have been out moving around more.
4. Don't care about what anyone else thinks! It's no one else's business that you don't drink. "No, thanks" is a perfectly good answer. Most people don't care whether you drink or not anyway. They have their own problems.
5. It's your subconscious, Stupid! As long as I was "denying" myself a drink - I would compulsively drink. As long as I was using my willpower to stop - I was powerless. As long as I was trying to control my drinking - I had no control. We all have these huge, powerful monsters in our heads called a subconscious. It controls our heartbeats, temperature, digestion, breathing, healing - and so much more. For years I tried to fight my subconscious about my drinking - and I lost badly! 180 days ago I figured it out. I convinced my subconscious to work WITH me. It clicked and I never looked back.
Finally, one last wish for you all. Don't ever give up! You will only fail when you stop trying. Happiness, health, forgiveness and peace will be yours - go get it!
Stephen
Guest
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 8,674
So glad I came across this post! I will have 90 days on Sun and your point 3 is one I have been thinking a lot about. I have done well getting on a good sleep schedule and plenty of rest (and am out of the phase of too-much-sleep I did in the first few weeks of sobriety) and am eating again, healthfully if possibly too much (or maybe enough as I was underweight a solid 15lbs when I quit drinking) and the exercise component is my next focus point.
For physical reasons in my early recovery, things like running again (I used to run and exercise a lot, and even did a marathon) aren't quite reasonable and the active nature of my job has been enough, but I am strong enough now to add an exercise component. I have been isolating in a sense/some senses, and 90 days is a good time to break that pattern a little more! Thanks for the reminder.
For physical reasons in my early recovery, things like running again (I used to run and exercise a lot, and even did a marathon) aren't quite reasonable and the active nature of my job has been enough, but I am strong enough now to add an exercise component. I have been isolating in a sense/some senses, and 90 days is a good time to break that pattern a little more! Thanks for the reminder.
Thank you for sharing your lessons learned. 
Currently Active Users Viewing this Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
