Mrsbee

Especially early on in your recovery, what were some of the things/activities that comforted you the most???? I say comfort bc for me that's one big feeling I relied on wine and whiskey for....replacing that type of comfort has been both difficult and rewarding.

Here's my list of warm and fuzzies currently...
Gilmore Girls reruns on DVD
Husband teaching me how to play old Final Fantasy games
Doing laundry then putting on a change of clothes while they're still warm
Bubble baths
Listening to the trains that pass (I live about two blocks from some tracks) roughly every 30 minutes
Visiting my dad's cuddly cat Jack
Foot rubs

It's funny because I did all of these things before I quit drinking (except for the Final Fantasy thing!) but they take on such a different importance now!

OpioPhobe

Final Fantasy was awesome! Which version are you playing?

Music is probably the biggest comfort. When I am feeling depressed and fatigued it is the one thing that I can do passively to help.

Exercise has also been a big help. The first few steps are the toughest, but once I get moving it is one of the few times during the day when I honestly feel "normal". I am not sure if exercising would be considered comforting, but it definitely has been a huge help to get out of a slump.

Mrsbee

Opiophobe I'm Starting with Final Fantasy VI...love it so far!!!

Music is a good one...I play violin also and hope to get back to that...really kinda slacked off when my drinking got serious so getting back into playing is a huge goal for me.

As for exercise, I think it will help me too...my big thing is that I prefer outdoor exercise like hiking and where I live it hasn't gotten nice enough for that quite yet. I bought some yoga DVDs last week but have yet to try them out!

MariahGayle

Lavender oil drops into coconut oil as a facial moisturizer before bed - great for the skin & lavender promotes a good sleep

Mrsbee

Definitely trying this!!! As expected, I'm having trouble sleeping in these first few weeks of sobriety and I'm all about anything that might help my skin!

Hope4Life

MUSIC! I LOVE watching concert DVDs and running the audio through my stereo! Dancing around the living room, signing at the top of my lungs!

Great release of energy with positive vibes floating all around.

badatbooze

Getting organized. For the first time in my life I'm organized. I love it! Makes me feel good and in control

nigey1

I can relate to this. And because I am organized I keep busy and get onto matters as they arise rather than pro crastinate.

bizzybee

Cleaning my kid's apt! Might sound strange but I get comfort knowing its nice and clean!!

Taproot

I'm on Day Eleven. Already noticing that waking up without a hangover is GREAT. This might seem obvious to the non-drinker. But over these last few years I had gotten so accustomed to having a hangover, be it mild, medium, or extra-crispy, that the concept of not having a hangover seems like some radical miraculous discovery.

This has been my greatest comfort over these first eleven days: NOT wakinging up and thinking, "Oh, no, I did it again. How am I going to get through the whole day feeling like THIS. Oh, I wish this would just stop." And every night I go to sleep sober I get to wake up the next morning without a hangover *again*. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

badatbooze

That says it all taproot. I feels like a miracle to me as well.

MythOfSisyphus

I was worried that I wouldn't enjoy music sober at first. I've been a pretty hardcore audiophile for almost 30 years, but for about 25 of them I did much of my listening while drinking (to various degrees). Luckily I still find music to be a great sober comfort. Ditto for movies- my HT rig is pretty nice and I enjoy watching movies and a few TV series from Blu-Ray.

Cooking is a big hobby, along with sharpening knives.

But honestly one of the great pleasures of sober life is waking up in the morning and feeling great right away!

wackybunny

Hot milk or better yet hot chocolate became the weed replacement for the first couple weeks. Every night we had some like a ritual, got all excited about it. We never really drank it before but once we decided it was our new weed, it gave us something to crave and prepare and enjoy. Even when I was at my friends and they were smoking weed right in front of me, I said to myself "I gotta get home right now and get me some hot chocolate" as it if actually was something.

LadyinBC

Reading definitely comforted me as it was something I always did before my drinking got really bad.

I also found an online farming game (not Farmville) that truly saved my sanity some days. It just let me be silly and took away some of the stress. I found comfort in setting up my farms and collecting things.

hopefulinAus

Reading, bubble baths, tea, chocolate, ice cream. Music is a trigger for me so that's ruled out at the moment.

GracieLou

Many episodes of Law and Order with some NYPD Blue thrown in. Not sure why. I guess because I watched them before my drinking had taken hold and it reminded me of a simpler time, even though back then I felt it was SO complicated. Oh if we only knew then what we know now.

25 years later and I am in simple times again.

Thursday is my "ME" day. I have nothing planned other than work. I usually eat and just watch some TV. Catch up on my shows and go to bed early. Gets me in a rejuvenated mood for the weekend.

Mrsbee

That's funny, because since my husband and I quit, we've been absolutely obsessed with chocolate milk!!!!! We used to never drink milk and constantly would throw out half full gallons because we didn't finish them on time...now we get through an entire gallon in like four days!!!

toddle118

Im like hopefulinaus, music is a trigger for me too, I play silly computer games, drink hot drinks, read, watch comedies on dvd (love only fools and horses)...and chocolate and ice cream of course

wackybunny

Mrsbee, definitely something strange about the choc milk thing. I felt like there was something in it that I needed when not smoking weed. Wonder if there is some science behind it.

DoubleBarrel

Good coffee, music, long hikes with my dog, discovering sober sex, quality time with kids, working in the yard, meditating. Yeah all good things.