9 month blues?
 

In Augusten Burroughs's "Dry", I remember a specific section where he talked about people struggling around nine months in and theorized that it had something to do with the gestation cycle.

Whatever the reason, I've been chugging (no pun intended) along just fine for eight and a half months and now all of the sudden I am having a hard time.

Has anyone else gone through this?

Hope everyone is doing well! Nine months this Friday!

Hi Beeraholic,

There are always posts about similar issues at any point, be it 1 month, 7 months, 9 months, etc. There will be likenesses but I think something else comes into play. At least it did for me when the time came.

If I saw posts about struggles at a certain point I think in my own mind I set myself up to mirror what I had heard. So since I created the expectation in my own head and anticipated it I helped it to happen.

I don't know if you can attribute certain points but planning ahead of time will never be a bad thing. I'm sorry your struggling but for as far as you've come, you know this passes. I'm glad you posted.

Hey B,

I'm on a similar timeline in my own recovery, 262 days today - so I'm in the middle of this too.

Over the past 9 months I've experienced the PAWS, memory issues, sugar cravings, and the general physical, mental and emotional "unwinding" of someone escaping a major drinking problem.

I can't say that I'm struggling now - but I have noticed that I'm entering a very "cerebral" phase of my recovery. I am now starting to analyze my motives for drinking, my past issues, my childhood, my anger, my family tree, etc.

It's almost as if I'm now healthy enough to start dealing with some of these issues. I can also see how that could cause some depressive thoughts, anxieties and emotional trouble.

I wish I could shed some more light on this - for the benefit of BOTH of us. All I can say is to hang in there. Every day you are healing, getting stronger and healthier.

Take care.

I can totally understand hitting a nine month milestone and not getting the baby to show for it. But you get a chip right? A chip won't puke on you or get you thrown out of the McDonald's play place.

Way to go on 9 months!

Congrats on your upcoming 9 months B. I went through the same struggles around my year anniversary. Not sure why, but at about month 11 I was having a tough time again.

Keep pushing through. Not every day is going to be easy, but every sober day is 1,000% better than a drunk day. Keep reminding yourself why you decided to get sober, why you are better by not drinking, and what drinking will bring you back to.

Fantastic job on 9 months, you're doing great.

Hear hear! Lol LB!

Omg! I just posted that Im struggling at the moment.... Guess what I too am approaching nine months too.

Oh yeah, 8 or 9 months is when I found SR googling "sober 9 months and depressed". Just keep at it and keep learning, I chalk it up to PAWs but everybody is different. Good job btw!

Congrats on your sober time!

Gonna be 9 months in 5 days myself... Can definitely relate to the way you're feeling.

Blueberry just started a thread on the very subject, too.

Let's stick together, we've got this.

I'm right there with ya'll. Let's just stick together and support each other through this period. It's only temporary.

I was in aa when I was month 8 when I warned that some people fail around this time I saw a lot of friends fail and it was worrying but I brought it back with do I want to drink - no

will drinking make my life better - no

End of - sobriety

Hang in there guys, 9 months is Fantastic, but keep pushing through!! :You_Rock_

Yup. I had a nine month slump too. I was really, really ANGRY that I was alcoholic and could not drink. I felt hopeless and didn't want to live if I had to stay sober. I kept putting one foot in front of the other because I knew that if other people stayed sober and got to have happy lives...well then, so could I! It has gotten so much better since then. Tough times come and go...they always will. But you have no hope of happiness if you drink or use. Keep going...you owe it to yourself to come out the other side...whole, sober and happy!

are you feeling a little better today beeraholic?

D

Thanks everyone for the reason see. Does seem like this is semi common.

Interesting that blackberry posted something similar. And so excited to see other people at nine months too!

Feeling a little better. It's not an obsession, just a mental game of convincing myself that maybe a beer would be fine and then realizing how not fun resetting 270 some odd days of sobriety would be.

I'll get through it. Thanks for asking!

I have had a few of those slumps along the way. It's usually when I start examining something from the past or have some sort of realization about myself I don't like so much. It makes me really uncomfortable for a while. But I know that if I drink, those things will all still be there and all I will have accomplished is making myself feel even worse. So I work through whatever is bothering me, and come out still sober on the other side. It's not all rainbows and unicorns in recovery, the tough times will come and go. But tough times come and go for everyone. That's just life. Nothing sucks forever.