The buzz of early sobriety
 

I've found that early sobriety can by energizing- sometimes euphoric. Your family and friends are 'proud' of you. You wake up clear and are more productive.

In this early state I must remember that family/relationship problems that resulted from (or were independent of) drinking still remain.

For me, maintaining sobriety when 'reality' hits and you 'come back to earth' is where the work starts.

How have people maintained sobriety during this transition?

Thanks

Commitment. Commitment to sobriety, no matter what. Sober through good times and bad. Like marriage...through health and through sickness.

Be married to your recovery.

I guess I would respond by saying that you can and should utilize the times when you are feeling great to prepare you for the times, which are inevitably coming, when things aren't so good or are downright awful. I use my 'happy' time (which, by the way, is most of my time even after 21 months) to prepare for the challenging times by really working it into my conscious that there is nothing and nobody and no event and no stress that will ever be allowed to take my sobriety from me. I, and only I, hold the decision as to whether I stay sober, and I will never allow anyone to take it from me. The flipside of this is to also not allow myself to get overconfident in my sobriety.

Good luck to you! I'm glad you're feeling great. Always celebrate your sobriety!

^^^^ this 100%. Put in the preparation work now so your ready in case the AV appears or you get into a risky situation. Great to hear you feel so good though

Great advice!

From personal experience, I'm just as much at risk to drink when things are good as bad. When feeling euphoric, it's easy to say "oh I'm not that bad, I can handle a few". The responses hit home for me - you have to be committed in good times and bad. Alcohol is a sneaky bastard and will use every trick in the book to get you to fall prey to its charms.

In AA they call it the "yets". I haven't gotten a DUI - yet. I'm not homeless - yet. Some of us are hard headed and done believe it can happen to us until we see it first hand. Thanks for the post

I'm on day 35 and I have yet to feel any kind of euphoria. I felt a bit elevated a couple of days ago but that always makes me nervous since I'm bipolar.

Mostly I just feel anxious and dysphoric and on the verge of tears all the time.

I've read on here and heard people talk about how energized and excited they are early on. Its understandable. I didn't enjoy that luxury, I knew that the drinking had gotten dangerously serious and I needed to put and end to it. I white knuckled for awhile and even had a couple slips in the first few months. I had a slip 2 weeks ago after 22 months. As others have said, being on guard 24/7, every single day gives us a good chance at succeeding.