One Thing that REALLY surprised me about recovery is: ________
Member
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 1,572
One thing that I have been discovering is how many vast and varied problems and troubles I had were alcohol related. Little and big things that I thought I would have to deal with are all resolving themselves since taking alcohol out of the equation.
In short, I thought alcohol was helping me deal with problems, and ironically, it was the cause of them.
In short, I thought alcohol was helping me deal with problems, and ironically, it was the cause of them.
Reach Out and Touch Faith
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: On a Sailboat
Posts: 3,871
After all this time I'm still surprised at how many little things I missed that I now notice. From the weather to the dog food bowl being empty to the flowers starting to peak up from the rain.
Member
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 465
The enormous role that nutrition and vitamins play in recovery. They make a huge difference in the way that I think and feel every day. Skip a meal-I'm more anxious. Skip my vitamins-no energy at all. I've always known that nutrition is important, but it really surprises me just how crucial a good balance is in my recovery.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: East Coast, The States
Posts: 12,162
One thing that really surprises me about recovery is: after 14 months, I continue to change and grow, spontaneously. The sober me keeps evolving and keeps surprising me.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: East Coast, The States
Posts: 12,162
One thing that really surprised me about recovery is, the discovery that being avoidant, ashamed and secretive, did not only apply to my drinking.
Being avoidant, ashamed and secretive is the way I have learned to run away from taking charge of my life. But drinking helped me deny that.
Being avoidant, ashamed and secretive is the way I have learned to run away from taking charge of my life. But drinking helped me deny that.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: East Coast, The States
Posts: 12,162
One thing that surprises me about recovery is:
How much my life was going to ruin....
And how much other people without addictions live their lives!
They don't watch it go by like it is someone else's life..... like I always did.
How much my life was going to ruin....
And how much other people without addictions live their lives!
They don't watch it go by like it is someone else's life..... like I always did.
Member
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: San Diego
Posts: 4,451
A big surprise for me was how much easier everything became once I put drinking behind me. I thought life would be more difficult and stressful without the booze, but it turns out even hard times are more manageable this way. 
Member
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: California
Posts: 236
One thing that surprised me last night is that it feels so much better driving up to a dui checkpoint and not panicking about whether or not I drank too much and if I'm screwed. Felt good to reply to the officer, "no, I don't drink"
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: East Coast, The States
Posts: 12,162
What really surprises me about recovery is my entire life is changing.
All those years of stagnation when drinking
have now accelerated into some kind of warp speed change.
All those years of stagnation when drinking
have now accelerated into some kind of warp speed change.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: East Coast, The States
Posts: 12,162
What really surprises me about recovery...
is that even after 17+ months, the veils of delusion are still being lifted.
There's so many... and they keep peeling off one after the next, even now.
is that even after 17+ months, the veils of delusion are still being lifted.
There's so many... and they keep peeling off one after the next, even now.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: East Coast, The States
Posts: 12,162
One thing that surprised me about recovery is how supportive the large majority of my friends are.
Even though they didn't know I had a problem (because I drank a severe amount secretly) they trust I did what was needed by quitting... and are very proud of me as well as comfortable with me just like before. Maybe even more comfortable with me now, because I don't have secrets now which creates greater trust, openess, and intimacy.
Even though they didn't know I had a problem (because I drank a severe amount secretly) they trust I did what was needed by quitting... and are very proud of me as well as comfortable with me just like before. Maybe even more comfortable with me now, because I don't have secrets now which creates greater trust, openess, and intimacy.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: East Coast, The States
Posts: 12,162
One thing fhat really surprised me about recovery is that even though in the beginning I was an emotional invalid -and sometimes I still am inside- slowly I relearned how to identify and express what I feel. What surprised me is how regressed alcoholism made me.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: East Coast, The States
Posts: 12,162
What surprises me about Recovery is, it is giving me the confidence to change my life. Quitting was so enormously hard for me that if I can do that, what else can I do that I didn't think was possible?
Member
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Canada
Posts: 164
What has surprised me about recovery is the realization that I in fact needed to recover. I didn't think I really had a huge problem but I have grown so much and learned so much about myself (and continue to do so) since the day I quit in February that now I KNOW without a doubt that I had a drinking problem. I now have to rely on myself and not the bottle. Its scary at times but it is very empowering too.
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