Steely

No pink cloud for me either. Felt so depressed and physically depleted that feel I'm in the pink just by being sober. That'll do me.

MLD51

I'd say around 90 days things started to settle down and my emotions (good and bad) began to even out. I'd say that's when the pink cloud started dissipating. That was when it really hit me that I had a lot of work to do, and, like Midnight Blue said, I got a bit depressed that the world hadn't thrown its gifts at my feet, that I was going to have to go out and get the gifts. Nothing wrong with that, though. Once I got over feeling a bit cheated, I realized I needed to figure out a way to be grateful on a daily basis for the simple things in life - family, health, friends, recovering financial security - but most of all, an increase in self-esteem and faith in myself. If I ever begin to wonder if it's all worth it, I think about the fact that I get up feeling good every day, I go out into the world and do the next right thing, and go to bed sober every night. Then I get that pink feeling all over again.

Mizzuno

I am not aware of any pink clouds. I feel level and able do deal with my life, which is a far cry from what I was doing previously. I am more productive in many ways. I am more thoughtful and less reactionary. I have more time. A general sense of well being, as i am not sick off of wine.

That being said, life is life. Life is up and down and sometimes takes detours. Being free from alcohol doesnt make the detours stop or the ups and downs. I am dealing with them without the saturation and mental dependence on a substance. We are supposed to experience moods to varying degrees as we deal with all this "stuff" of life. Humans are quite interesting to say the least.

Keep moving forward!

red3215

I still get on it . Not much time passes before I feel this quiet joy over sobriety all over again.

Outonthetiles

Sobriety is not a miracle solution for all life's problems. Some of the same problems I had before are still here, but being sober allows me to work on other problems and tackle them. I couldn't do that while drunk, and in fact, I see now that drinking is just an attempt to defer deeper problems and not deal with them, until everything comes roaring at you at once and you have to face up to things. So I've kept my pink cloud by being realistic--I still have many many flaws, but at least I can participate in a real life now.

MissPerfumado

I'd say for me about a year into sobriety the pink cloud started to dissipate. I am now dealing with the issues that used to bother me greatly years ago and helped me down the path of active alcoholism. Essentially for me it is the search for the larger meaning of life. With this search comes a tendency to question what I do for a living and why I do the things I do.

But importantly I won't numb the existential dread with alcohol now.

It just means there is proper work to be done now on my inner self. That's okay. That's growth. It's a big part of why I gave up drinking - to evolve properly and not run away from it.

SoberLeigh

It took me a long time before I felt better and began to experience the 'pink cloud' but once I experienced it, it has stayed with me.

I wake up each morning so very, very, very happy to be sober and free of that beastly alcohol. That happiness and gratitude stays with me during the day and is with me as I fall asleep.

Is my life perfect - no. Do I still have challenges - absolutely, many of them.

But sobriety rocks and makes my life exponentially better!!!!!

change72

I have over 200 days of sobriety, and I still feel pink cloudish. When I was drinking I felt constantly anxious and depressed, I didn't realize it then, but being hungover most days was the predominant cause. After 200 days, I still feel thankful daily for the gifts sobriety is bringing.

I hope my friends here that are struggling start to feel better soon, and I hope that the pink cloud feeling can continue for those of us experiencing it.

CreativeThinker

It's reassuring to know that the PC doesn't go away with long term sobriety. Whew! I think that remembering how sh***** I felt every day when I was drinking will help sustain this feeling of freedom from alcohol.

notgonnastoptry

Not one here, either. Was forced quit in the hospital. dealing with all the devastation (physical, financial, and emotional) after this didn't leave much room for bliss, whether real or not. I don't have a support system, either, so after my hospital, I was faced with a bunch of angry wasps who blamed me for being weak, immoral, yada, yada, yada.

So, it was get right back to business and try and clean my life up. That's been going relatively well, I guess, but I still have my days where I am sad. Anxiety and depression cleared up immediately.

wheresthefun

I'd say I had an actual, legitimate, yet elusive "pink cloud." It started a couple days after I stopped drinking and lasted about a week, to week and a half (maybe two weeks, can't remember). It was awesome!!! I saw life as... wonderful!!!! "Things" just rolled off my back, and not drinking felt... normal!!! As someone mentioned, it was a glimpse of what life without drinking could be like, only on steroids (I added the on steroids part). That will have been six years ago, this July, and life has been and continues to be... wonderful (sans steroids).

FBL

At nearly 8 years sober, I'm happier than I've ever been in my adult life. I personally don't use the term "pink cloud", I'm just enjoying the ride.

notgonnastoptry

I guess, having read this thread in its entirety, I don't understand how anyone could have a pink cloud. I'm not saying it doesn't exist, but don't most alcoholics, but the nature of what is happening while they are drinking, sober up to find their lives need severe tending to? I mean, I was extremely high functioning at my job (hmm, my performance better then, than now, not by much, but still), but I had a personal mess to clean up that included lots of bills, health care, you name it.

Also, almost immediately, it dawned on me that I had gotten us into a financial mess. Since my husband doesn't deal with the bills, I let all of that slip. Things like knowing the bill was due, but rather than getting up off the couch while drunk, I'd rather have paid the late fee. 25 dollar medical bills went into collection. I'm talking utter nonsense. It's not that we couldn't have afforded to pay any of this.

It took me the last year to just get things semi-caught up. Credit was down to 565 at entrance to hospital and mostly, for reasons that were totally within my control. Just three days ago, I got the nerve to join one of those free credit sites. My credit has gone up 10 points a month and I'm at 629. Found out that one of the things that was really pulling me down was a bill I didn't pay for my first hospital stay of a mere 150 dollars or something. A copay that I completely ignored. After my first hospital stint, I went back to drinking within 2 months, so I spent another year drunk during which time, I managed to ignore most of the mail and blow off bills. That's now a derogatory mark.

To be fair, though, my husband was not/is not an alcohol and was functioning fine during this period. He should have really picked up the slack. He's too good for that, though.

wheresthefun

Trust me, it DOES exist, and I experienced it. I guess it might be a chemical thing. Maybe I was even predisposed, as I have a brother who is bipolar. The only way I can describe it, other than feeling happy and content -- on steroids, maybe it's like being in a manic state, without going too far. I almost felt like I could fly, only I was still sane enough to know, that it would be nucking futs to try it, know what I mean?

Also, other than the need to stop drinking, my life didn't need "tending to." Well, my life actually DID need tending too, bigly, but I had already done all that heavy lifting (psychologically speaking) before I stopped drinking. And, our financial life's (mine and my wife's, she's one of us too) were in great shape, ALTHOUGH, we knew if we didn't stop drinking, that could/would be in jeopardy.

Basically, we're all different, maybe that's why some experience the pink cloud and others don't. Hell, I didn't even know what was happening to me, at the time of my pink cloud until I started reading a lot.