TerpGal

So I was on my hands and knees scrubbing the kitchen floor and started grumbling and resentments, "Oh, must be nice to have been on a vacation from reality for the last 4 weeks having people clean up for you and here I am scrubbing this damn kitchen floor, worked my ass of cleaning up half of YOUR mess......blah blah blah" And then I realized, holy crap, Im STARVING. I haven't had any of these irritable thoughts in a few days now. I was sort of amazed. I didn't really buy it before. AND I was PO'd that I chipped a nail that I JUST got done today.

lillamy

Oh is it ever! One thing my husband (the new one) has taught me is how much better I feel when I have a regular routine. When we first started dating, he was like a mother hen, making sure I ate on schedule, went to bed on schedule, got some kind of exercise every day. It felt really weird -- I felt like I was five again -- but it really did help with my moods a lot!

I'm glad you sort of caught yourself!

Thumper

Oh yes!! Sleep is my big obstacle. I go through phases of not sleeping well or not wanting to go to bed (crave the 'off' time I get at night) and wow - much harder to stay balanced during the day.

I have to get up at least once a night with one of my kids now and I'm edging back into that chronically sleep deprived state. Not sure what to do about it but I'm getting to old, lol. At 30 I could do it but I'm a long ways from 30!!

Good for you for recognizing it! It can domino fast. I quit exercising so I could sleep another hour. Now I don't feel as strong (emotionally - weird but true) and I've gained weight. That makes me unhappy and I crave comfort eating. Such a cycle! I want to cry all the time. Raging bitch is around the next corner so I need to figure it out!

Florence

We're just babies! We're just babies, man!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od-C9dQeDPw

I laugh about HALT, but HALT is real. I've been really irritable over the last few days, thanks to work stuff, money stuff, weird parents stuff, and also my marital anniversary, and I realized yesterday I was feeling REALLY lonely. So I had some people over and we made pizza. Today I feel like a million bucks.

HALT is one of the better tools I've taken away from all this. In the past I would have isolated until I mysteriously felt better, which is basically never.

cookiesncream

In many ways the longer I'm sober and the longer I educate myself the more I think that outside of the addicts (okay MINE) tendency to get mad and then drink, well we're not all that different. You friends and family just do a better job at coping with life's ups and downs. Good for you for realizing what was REALLY going on.

Peace,

Cookies

mfanch

I have a special version of HALT. I call it HEBLT (pronounced he-balt). Hungry, emotional, bored, lonely, tired.

I run through a checklist of these when I feel OFF. I have never gotten through to the end and not identified what the problem was.

Great post!

FireSprite

Bullfrog once shared this on one of my threads & the variation was so true for me that I use it now too:

I have a day or so each cycle during my PMS where my hormones really muddy my thinking & can really affect my tolerance/patience/reactions so I've learned to recognize it & try to avoid making getting into any confrontations, deep discussions or decision making if I can avoid it.