dredg

Hello, I travel quite a bit for my job and had to travel to a location 3 hours away from house. Yesterday my family and I were going to travel to this location so we could all stay in a hotel room together. We had some really bad weather yesterday so we decided to get a hotel room just in our town. We had a great time, I have 2 young boys, 5yrs old and 1.5 yrs old. We went swimming and just layed around the hotel room and had a lot of fun.

Anyway, I usually do a lot of my drinking when I go on these business trips alone in a hotel room. I really let loose because my kids and wife aren't around to watch me destroy myself. It is almost scary how much I drink and have started cracking open a beer in the morning which is something new and scary for me. I went to an AA meeting last Friday and one of the members said to give the program a try and not drink for a month. Just to see what happens, then take it from there. Well right now I am taking his advice and at least for today I'm stone cold sober but I'm feeling really bummed. I am realizing right now that I feel sad because I miss my family, and I'm also realizing that it's ok to feel this way. I'm just not used to feeling this way because when I'm blasted I just don't feel. It is a raw emotion, small, but still something I haven't really had to feel much because It's rare that I'm not drunk by now.

Just wanted to put this out into cyberspace and see if others have experienced strong emotions when trying to quit drinking.

hollowx

today is my first day sober too. keep your mind busy with other hobbies in the meantime. I hear the new Batman comic is pretty sick.

artsoul

I went through the same thing.... lots of emotions, and it was hard at first just to accept them and not want to change them. Over time it got a lot better, though. I learned that I really could get through the tough days, and they became less intimidating. In a way, it's times like this that make us stronger.

Hang in there!

freshstart57

That was a huge revelation for me, that it is OK for me to feel sad or angry or frustrated sometimes. Feelings may be unpleasant, but they are not bad or good per se, they just are. I am learning to observe them without getting pulled in with the story line.

Your feelings are ok, you are ok to have them, and you are ok too. You are OK, and things are going to work out.

Dee74

Absolutely. I studiously avoided feeling too much for 20 years.
With sobriety it all came back - not so much in waves but tsunamis...

It does get better tho - and I learned, like Freshstart and others, that it was ok to feel things - they weren't actually an imperative for me to 'do anything'...

I could just sit and go 'oh feeling X....ok...it'll pass...cool...'

I like feeling now - even the bad feelings, because I know it means I';m connected to my world and the people and things I love.

I'm alive again

D

dredg

Thank you for this.

sukosuko1

its natural for us to feel crappy when we're alone with 4 walls.. talking to people help... i always feel better after a meeting even if i just say hello to the person next to me. Make sure find the meeting you will attend when you have a nice internet connection before your business trip.