11daysin

Hello people. I'm 12 days in tomorrow. Decided to quit cold turkey and do 30 days. Maybe it will turn into something good. So far, sleep is ok, with some z-quil. Feeling ok during the days, nights are difficult, but overwhelming my biggest issue is feeling... SAD. Really sad. I can't seem to look forward to anything. Drinking made me (or made me think) happy.

I am hoping I can feel happy again.

ScottFromWI

12 days is fantastic, keep up the good work. It's normal for emotions to be all over the place, have you been doing anything to keep yourself occupied? Sometime even just going for a walk to clear your mind can help.

hayley86

Welcome, congrats on 12 days! I felt very sad after i stopped drinking and i didn't know how i would be feeling from one day to the next. Keeping busy and finding new activities to fill my spare time really helped. After a couple of months things started to improve and i started to see the many benefits of sobriety. It will get easier. Glad you've joined us.

Buggirl

I felt like this at roughly the same time in. I am now 29 days and I can assure you that it has passed as far as I am concerned, so just hold in there!

Well done on 12 days!

SonomaGal

Sorry you are down! Luckily with time the sad feelings will pass. Keep yourself busy and do things that feel good. The first few weeks can be tough -- keep your eye on the prize and your feet moving forward.

Dee74

Welcome aboard

I think it's perfectly normal to feel a little down. My relationship with alcohol was the longest relationship I had with anything outside of family.

It's normal to grieve for even a toxic relationship, I think - but it gets better.

I really hope when you hit 30 days you'll decide to continue with sobriety...each to their own, but in all honesty there's not much to be said for the kind of dysfunctional relationship I & many others here had with alcohol.

D

DisplacedGRITS

I think many of us felt sad or depressed after stopping drinking. I think that when we quit drinking, we feel lost. For me, i didn't quite know what to do with myself. So much of my life had revolved around drinking. More of my life than i had realized. I felt lost. What was i now? I was no longer hiding alcohol, hiding empties, hiding and lying about being drunk, sneaking out for liquor runs and hiding all the evidence. I felt empty. I didn't know who i was. I couldn't even tell you my favorite color.

Quitting drinking doesn't guarantee you happiness. In fact, i found that whenever i've just quit drinking, i was pretty miserable. For me, not drinking is a tiny part of my sobriety. Much of my sobriety is based on me developing and having a spiritual connection with my Higher Power. It's based on honesty, acceptance, service, humility and willingness. I have had a complete psychic change and it's relieved me of the desire to drink. I have had to trust the advice and guidance of other sober alcoholics. I've had to take direction and willingly turn my life and my will over to my HP. Basically, i've had to turn away from my old way of living and thinking.

It hasn't been easy and i held onto many negative emotions for a while. Anger was a hard one. Still is. I used to protect my anger. Justify it. I didn't want to forgive people who had wronged me and i didn't want to admit to any part of a conflict. I felt like my anger was my only way of protecting myself. If i was angry at someone, i was better than them. It took me realizing my role in my anger with my sister to finally free me from anger. I realized that it wasn't up to me to judge someone. It only hurt me. Instead, i looked at the person i was in conflict with and i figured out how i could help her. I found it hard to be angry at someone i honestly wanted to help. I was freed from my judgmental attitude and that freed me from my anger. I still get angry every now and then, but i no longer coddle my anger and use it as a shield.

Abstinence from alcohol is simply the result of my new way of life. I hope this helps someone or makes sense and sparks contemplation about living a fully sober life. Sadness doesn't have to last forever so long as we are willing to try new paths in our lives. We can let sadness go though honesty, acceptance and willingness. It's not easy but it gets easier with time. 30 days is only 1/12th a year. It's a tiny portion of time in our lives. I hope you give sobriety a little more time. I hope you look to help from sober alcoholics. I hope you don't give up sobriety before the miracle happens.

Soberwolf

I hope and am rooting for you to get to 30 days because everything will start to balance out

Amazing on reaching day 12 it really is amazing keep posting and keep it up your doing fantastic

Mountainmanbob

I would just be concerned with staying sober at this time

all that comes later

MM

yankeedoodle

I am 12 days too!

11daysin

OMG. I really didn't expect anyone to see my post. Thank you all for sharing. I think it does help a bit. I just want to feel normal (?) again...

Today is day 15. I've kept on, and made it through labor day weekend, what is usually a drink fest for me.

Has anyone ever kept a diary, or a video diary. I think it might help me a little. I kind of look forward to posting the day's victory. I don't know...

Thanks again everyone!!!!!!!!!
11daysin (now 15 days in!)

VikingGF

I find that journalling really helps me keep track of my progress and the ups and downs. It also helps me figure out why I feel the way I feel and in general, I find it a helpful tool for everyday living, not even necessarily for sobriety's sake. Give it a try!

Congrats on 15 days. Took me several weeks to feel "normal" but every day was a little better after days 8, 9 & 10.

Inchworm

A video diary? Great idea! Congratulations on day 15.

Soberwolf

That's a great idea to film it 1 for the archives

I also done a seriously brutal honest journal

Mags1

Congratulations on 15 days, you're maybe gonna want to change your name, 11daysin, if this carries on, lol.

Brilliant achievement, keep it up.

I do know my emotions were all over the place when I stopped drinking. It takes a while for our equilibrium to sort itself out, after all we've been indulging it with poison for long enough.

least

Congrats on fifteen days sober. It will get better, I promise.

SuperMega

ZZquil is the bomb. Hopefully your feelings of sadness will lift soon. Our poor abused nervous systems go awry trying to stabilize again when we stop drinking. It does get better. SO MUCH BETTER. Congrats on 12 days. 2 more and you will be at 2 weeks!! =D