mistory5

im trying to get and stay sober again. For some reason this morning, for the first time I asked myself how am I ever going to stop drinking if every feeling I have from being angry to elated and every feeling in between triggers me to drink. If anyone who has some good sober time and understands my question to myself could share with me how they dealt with feelings being triggers I would truly appreciate it.

AAPJ

I think this may apply. I pulled this quote from another thread. When things get stressful we don't have the alcohol blanket to hide under any more. I don't have an answer but it's certainly a common challenge in early sobriety.

tomsteve

feelings didnt trigger me to drink. not knowing what my feelings meant and how to handle them is what triggered me to drink so i learned about my feelings- learned what made me tick and didnt allow my feelings to make my elbow bend.
everything boiled down to learning about me and how to live life on lifes terms

sugarbear1

Now is a perfect time to start a pencil to paper journal. There is something magical and cathartic when we write things on paper. Write all those feelings down now. See how you feel afterwards!

D122y

Mist,

I had to understand that I had permanent brain damage. It is there for life.

It doesn't really go away, I got used to it and then it got better.

I had to remember that each relapse makes it worse and worse and that eventually I will be clinically insane. I am drug free for now. I want to keep it that way.

I had to suffer now or suffer worse later.

There is no easy way out. It is a slow, up hill, slippery treck out of hell.

Reading posts like yours reminds me to not relapse or face the hell on earth over and over again.

Journaling, AA, working out, helping folks, meditation, CBT, etc etc etc are all tools to fill the gap left in my damaged brain that calls to me to relapse.

It is nothing personal. It is science.

From the earliest days of my new sober life, sr promised me it would get better. I had moments each day where I felt total serenity. Sr saved my life. The moments are now hours. It is amazing.

It took over 2 years with no intoxication for the happiness to really happen a lot. The dopamine has returned to an appreciable level.

As an addict for life this feeling is a trigger.

That is part of the brain damage. I have to remember a higher level of insanity awaits if I relapse. I don't want to go any more crazy than I already am.

Thanks.

ScottFromWI

For me personally it was a matter of growing up to be frank. I started drinking in my teens and drank daily my entire adult life until my early 40s when I quit for good. For many of those years, drinking alcohol was my "solution" to my anxiety, my problems, pretty much no problem a few beers wouldn't solve. But of course looking back it was simply avoidance and almost every problem I faced was still right there waiting for me when I quit - and a whole host of new ones that the alcohol created.

I wish I could give you a magic technique that would just make everything feel better, but there isn't one that I found. I had to simply learn that life isn't really about "feeling good" all the time. Facing adversity and being uncomfortable is a regular part of life and a necessary one. The way we learn how to do things we haven't done before is to do them - and over time they become second nature. And the best part is that you attain the satisfaction of overcoming those obstacles..that's the "feel good" part of it. You also gain the confidence that you can face those things again and succeed.

One thing that helped me was to put aside the idea that particular things were "triggers". The real crux of the issue is that anything can be a trigger...if you let it. If you instead recognize that your thoughts of drinking are simply your addiction trying to take the easy way out ( which it is not )....then you can focus on dealing with those issues instead.

Anna

I think it's about finding new and healthy ways to deal with the feelings. I didn't think I would be able to manage all the emotions either. But, I started walking a lot which really helped. I also depend on music and good books to help get myself into the right mindset. Try to figure out what will work for you.

Dee74

Almost everything was a trigger for me in the end so I had to learn to live life, with all its ups and downs, without drinking.

I learned that I could sit with the feelings, and as uncomfortable as that was, they went away without me drinking on them

It seemed like a very scary and immense thing before I started doing it, but the more I sat with my feelings the more I was able to handle it.

Maybe urge surfing can help? It works with feelings too

https://www.soberrecovery.com/forums...e-surfing.html (urge surfing)

D

Rose7788

I had to simply learn that life isn't really about "feeling good" all the time. Facing adversity and being uncomfortable is a regular part of life and a necessary one.
Wow! Thanks Scott