Terrified Newbie - What now?
Administrator
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Dancing in the Light
Posts: 61,567
Janine, good job on Day 9. I hope you're starting to feel better. What now - for me it meant planning and making lifestyle changes to support my recovery. I am someone who likes routines and I found that setting up a daily routine helped me a lot. A good place to start is to come up with some ideas for specific things to do when you would have normally been drinking.
Have faith you can do this.
Have faith you can do this.
Member
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: NSW - Australia
Posts: 14,664
Congratulation on Day 9 Janine.
Similar to Anna in that I kept putting other behaviours in the place of the drinking behaviour.
Sounds tedious I know, but when you wake up next morning after having done that very thing you will be so happy with yourself.
And so it goes.....and it's gets easier. Second nature. It's good.
Similar to Anna in that I kept putting other behaviours in the place of the drinking behaviour.
Sounds tedious I know, but when you wake up next morning after having done that very thing you will be so happy with yourself.
And so it goes.....and it's gets easier. Second nature. It's good.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2021
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 22
Originally Posted by RecklessDrunk 
What surprised me the most about AA was how much I had in common with other alcoholics. I went in thinking I'm different, my anxiety and all, im pretty messed up in addition to the drinking. Sure people drank in different ways, all day every day drinkers, every so many days drinkers, functioning, people that like to drink & drug, but we all have a somewhat similar alcoholic mind.
Many of us had some kind of anxiety and depression before drinking alcoholically. So there can be this illusion that drinking will get rid of anxiety and depression. It can be like the chicken or the egg. Do we drink because we have anxiety and depression or do we have anxiety and depression because we drink? Alcohol is a depressant and a poison. We always remember the ease and comfort but its not only the hangover its the following days. That depression and anxiety can just hunker down and linger. We can take a drink for some instant relief. After the instant relief the anxiety and depression grows again on the base it solidified with the last binge.
My first my thought was I will need some kind of medication or something, I just can't live in me! I underestimated how much of a role the alcohol played in accelerating this and what the 12 steps could do.
Many of us had some kind of anxiety and depression before drinking alcoholically. So there can be this illusion that drinking will get rid of anxiety and depression. It can be like the chicken or the egg. Do we drink because we have anxiety and depression or do we have anxiety and depression because we drink? Alcohol is a depressant and a poison. We always remember the ease and comfort but its not only the hangover its the following days. That depression and anxiety can just hunker down and linger. We can take a drink for some instant relief. After the instant relief the anxiety and depression grows again on the base it solidified with the last binge.
My first my thought was I will need some kind of medication or something, I just can't live in me! I underestimated how much of a role the alcohol played in accelerating this and what the 12 steps could do.
I'm trying to find a psychiatrist that takes my insurance so I can start regaining control of my brain.
Stay sober and bit by bit, day by day, you'll notice improvement. 
Currently Active Users Viewing this Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
