Day 3 in recovery

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12-15-2019, 11:12 AM

# 1 (permalink)

Stable

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Join Date: Mar 2019

Posts: 230

Day 3 in recovery

now past 48 hours and into day 3 once I last drank. After the horrid anxiety which still lingers I crashed and slept a lot.

Been reading a lot from the big book today. Have to be honest I have started to have a few cravings. We alcoholics have such short memories.

I have alcohol and gambling additions and mental health problems there is a lot to sort out.

Had to call in sick on Friday and the boss knows I was drunk so not looking forward to going in tomorrow.

I find getting off alcohol hard but staying sober much harder. I am drawn to alcohol packaging and have a romantic view of it. That lasts until I’m drunk and the horrible morning after the night before comes home to roost. Committing even though I don’t really need to to just deal with the anxiety.

Early sobriety is so hard I just want to fast forward to one month sober when I am sitting on that pink cloud.

AA I find very difficult and I don’t know if I will be able to make it work for me.

That decision to pick up a drink end of August was a very very bad one. Getting sober hellishly difficult.

12-15-2019, 11:24 AM

# 2 (permalink)

DriGuy

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Join Date: Nov 2018

Posts: 5,164

I would expect bearish cravings on day 3. That was the worst day for me. I suppose there is some romance aspect in cravings. Even when we know it's going turn out bad, there is a desire to experience the enjoyment we once got from it. I tend to think cravings are just your body telling you it wants alcohol. But no matter the cause, they become manageable with time, and eventually go away altogether.

12-15-2019, 11:25 AM

# 3 (permalink)

Anna

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Location: Dancing in the Light

Posts: 61,476

I think you're right that staying sober is much harder than stopping drinking. Staying sober requires lifestyle changes and that can be difficult. And, if you do find the pink cloud at some point, it's likely that it won't last too long. Life gets in the way and we have to learn to deal with the difficult times.

Can you think of things you can add to your daily recovery plan that will help support your recovery?

12-15-2019, 11:33 AM

# 4 (permalink)

Stable

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Join Date: Mar 2019

Posts: 230

Well I need to get through the first week and things will become easier.

i find the time between leaving work and getting home the most difficult part of the day. Those panic attacks I was having on Friday were not nice. I went the shop 30 mins before it closed on Thursday and got a bottle of whiskey as I was scared of running out of booze.

We only have a choice over the first drink. Now I have that choice after 48 hours sobriety whether to take that first drink or not. I got off lightly this time things could of been much worse.

Staying close to SR posting everyday is my main plan at this point!

12-15-2019, 11:46 AM

# 5 (permalink)

silentrun

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Join Date: Mar 2013

Location: St. Paul Minnesota

Posts: 4,359

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stable

Well I need to get through the first week and things will become easier.

Good attitude and very true.

Quote:

i find the time between leaving work and getting home the most difficult part of the day. Those panic attacks I was having on Friday were not nice. I went the shop 30 mins before it closed on Thursday and got a bottle of whiskey as I was scared of running out of booze.

It was for me too. I had a pattern set of stopping and getting a pint of whiskey every night after work. That was the habit part. The addiction part was fighting off having alcohol between 7 and 10 pm. The more distance I put between me and that last drink the easier it became. Eventually being a non-drinker became my new normal.

Quote:

We only have a choice over the first drink. Now I have that choice after 48 hours sobriety whether to take that first drink or not. I got off lightly this time things could of been much worse.

Staying close to SR posting everyday is my main plan at this point!

It's nice to have choices, isn't it? When I was using I didn't feel like I had any. I was caught in a whirling poopstorm and was just trying to survive.

12-15-2019, 11:51 AM

# 6 (permalink)

PhoenixJ

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Join Date: Jun 2016

Location: Adelaide, Australia

Posts: 28,647

Support to you

12-15-2019, 04:29 PM

# 7 (permalink)

DriGuy

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Join Date: Nov 2018

Posts: 5,164

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stable

[left] I went the shop 30 mins before it closed on Thursday and got a bottle of whiskey as I was scared of running out of booze.

For a couple of years, before I finally quit, I went through this ritual of half halfheartedly promising myself I wouldn't drink that night, but I would buy emergency alcohol in case I couldn't make it. It was a good thing I bought it too, because I never could make it. lol Looking back at it now, that actually seems comical, except that it was actually pitiful, rather than comical.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stable

We only have a choice over the first drink. Now I have that choice after 48 hours sobriety whether to take that first drink or not.

It will be that way for the rest of your life. Eighteen years from now, you will have that same choice. There was a woman I knew that said, "I used to have to drink, but now I have a choice." I struggled to understand that because if you want to avoid the symptoms of alcoholic 'drunkenism', it's not really a choice if there is only one choice that allows you not to be a drunken alcoholic. I used to think, "Some choice!?"

But it's true you will have to choose for the rest of your life. Eventually, it will be your habitual default choice not to drink, but there was for me, a scary transition period where I no longer feared that I would drink. Then I realized something important. I would have to intellectually choose that decision, every time the thought of drinking came up, at least until that time when it no longer comes up.