PippoRossi

Anyone else feel like this: I've got my sobriety now, but I almost feel like I've hit a wall. I have so many other things to work on personally, but don't know where to start. Talk about feeling overwhelmed! I just want to take the next step and tackle the next big thing in my life, but I really don't know in which direction to go. Can anyone else relate???

Caledonia1

Totally pippiRossi.
It seems to be part of the recovery process.
Hang in there things do ease up.
Baby steps, baby steps. The main thing is we're sober, things can only get better now.
Congratualtions on 52 days!

Needsassistance

I do pippo. Congrats on achieving 50 plus days, that's an accomplishment you should reflect on positively! I'm coming up on 90 Adam having feelings like ok, what's next lets deal with the next thing. I then settle down and realize my sobriety is still in early stages and needs to be my continued focus.

Dee74

I think everyone can relate Pippo - stopping drinking was just phase one for me, not the whole enchilada.

If you can't work out what do next, you can always sit with it a while...or do what I did...pick an obvious and easy 'fixerupper' in your life to get started with

D

Anna

Absolutely, it's overwhelming.

My suggestion is to take things slowly. Make a list if that helps, and prioritize. Put your thoughts down on paper and see what things in your life need to be worked on first. And try to do a few things each day to help you move forward.

PippoRossi

Thanks for the great advice, everyone!

Auvers

The way you feel and what you think you will want to insert in your new life is probably going to change, maybe quite a lot, in the coming months of sobriety. I too am in the early months of sobriety (4) and am finding each week a little different, better. Isn't it great to have a life not pared down to the predictable goings and comings of alcohol abuse? Congrats on your time!

doggonecarl

Fifty-three days is awesome! But it is also very early in recovery. Don't worry about making huge changes in every aspect of your life.

Like Dee says, pick the low hanging fruit. When the time is right, set your goals, establish milestones, or measures, to track your progress to your goal, and hit it with vigor. Sober. Or none of it matters.

Good luck.

CaiHong

Hi Pippi and congrats on the 52 days.

My priority is staying sober and to do that I have the support of AA and SR. AA provides me with a program of living. When I am following the program everything else seems to fall neatly into place.

I am also listening daily to Eckhart Tolle, that man sure puts life into perspective. My point being when my ducks are lined up, a firm base for living, life is not so overwhelming and I can approach things on step at a time


CaiHong

cfm

"53 days sober. Now what?

....................................Day 54.........................................
Keep it simple

Itchy

Yep as already said a million times we all get that what next? hard. I had so many half-vast things I needed to redo that I didn't do right while drinking because I was in a hurry or drunk while doing it. Then all these things I wanted to do, and all of the projects I had on hold. Rather than run away and be overwhelmed I just picked one thing small and did it. Then the next smallest and so on. It was tempting to try to prioritize in order of the biggest things. It was funny but taking it from the smallest one minute thing, on up to the big things seemed to do something equally distressing. I felt caught up and that was scary because surely I forgot something terribly important. Nope.

"Serenity is just no fun until we are serene enough to enjoy it."
Itchy

Zube

Congrats on 53 days, Pippo.

Enjoy the sobriety. It's not a race.

Take it easy,
Zube

Natom

Congratulations on your 53 days Pippo. I relate. I remember being clean for several months and then thinking if that was 'it'. A very good friend of mine once said to me that no-one outside of your recovery cares you got clean. To the rest of the world it's not a big deal. Stuff doesn't stop or move quicker just because YOU got clean. You have to make stuff happen yourself.

instant

Well done on your time, great to get there. By the time I had got to one year I had come to regard the first 12 months as the beginning, or early. It's journey and it goes at it's own pace not ours.

Take time to breath, relax and reflect- go easy on yourself and let it find it's own way- I think it will. I have learned that for me the trick is to stay out of my own way.

freshstart57

Pippi, CaiHong mentioned Eckhart Tolle, and I suggest reading a book of his called 'The New Earth'. The subtitle is 'Awakening to your Life's Purpose'. The title is a little pretentious but give it a try.

Tolle teaches how to look for the calm center we have and to become 'the watcher', not just the thinker. The frantic conversations that make up our self talk can make us stuck, while the ability to observe these thoughts without judging them allows us to rise above them, freeing us to be all that our nature allows. We are no longer stuck.

The practice is called 'mindfulness' and you can find lots of sources of information about it around the web. I like it because it makes a great tool for thinking about and dealing with our urges to drink.