DJSid

Today is my third day without drinking and my emotions are up and down. For the most part I am feeling good but I am easily irritated sometimes. Ill feel really good for a while then for no reason feel depressed. I know that after spending so many years numbing myself with alcohol and marijuana this is common. Its definitely better that the first day so that is a positive, proof that it only gets better. One of the things I'm noticing is its really hard to concentrate. I used to love reading and have been trying to read again as a way to stay distracted and pass the time. I have been having allot of difficulty concentrating. My brain is all over the place, not just trying to read but in most aspects of daily activities. I know this is common but Im wondering how long before my brain starts to work again.

Mizzuno

Your brain will do its "thing" for how ever long it needs to. I was able to refocus and get with the program after about a week. You are doing well. Keep walking forward. Everything levels off after awhile.

PurpleKnight

In the early days I couldn't concentrate to read, but after a few weeks I could manage a chapter of a book, before then being incredibly tired and needing to go to bed for the evening, I'm now up to a few chapters and not going to bed as early, all these things will take time to adjust but will come eventually.

For the first few days I just zombied out playing online games and watching tv shows to pass time!!

jaynie04

One of the things that helped me the most was having a realistic timeline and set of expectations about early sobriety. I think a lot of us get tripped up early on because we feel resentful that we can't (don't) have something we want so we want a reward, a prize for our efforts. That is why the early days and weeks are so hard because often it isn't within our grasp immediately.

I had to trust other people who assured me that it would get better…and it did, and it continues to improve. Not seeing immediate results is not a reason to get discouraged, if anything you should be proud of yourself, because you are managing a difficult emotion, disappoint, without anesthetizing yourself…and that is the key to sobriety. It is learning to see ourselves and our reactions, and our anticipations, without blurred edges. And for each emotion and reaction you experience now you are adding power to your sobriety muscle. The terms "keep it simple" and "easy does it" played through my head often in the very early days.

What you are doing is enormous, it is a feat, I didn't understand how much energy I was expending in just processing life until I had some time to look back. Your body learned to compensate for the fact that chemicals were being introduced constantly and now they are gone…this affected your body and your brain. It is going to take time for your own systems to start connecting the dots. Patience is really hard in early sobriety…but it can be one of the most important lessons in helping you stay sober. Not being able to do things is a good sign…things are changing, and your body is adjusting. You just have to give it time, every time you do something simple that you used to do drunk you are changing your behavior. A lot of us used alcohol for a lot of mundane things…there was a whole thread here a few weeks ago about how many of us only cleaned the house while we were drinking. Don't underestimate your accomplishment…baby steps my friend!

Inca

I was out of it for awhile but it does get better every day. At first I had no short term memory and would forget little things, like where I was going when I walked out the door. I heard it can take up to two years for your brain to fully recover. Definitely notice a big difference though between the first few weeks, 30 days, 60 days, and now. The ability to concentrate is slowly coming back although I've always been a little flighty so not sure how much of my "symptoms" are because my brain is recovering or that's just who I am. Guess I'll see as time goes on.

EndGameNYC

Beautiful comments, jaynie.