BackandScared

I run and i listen to books with the audible app. And sometimes I allow myself to just feel whatever it is I am trying to escape from. When the anxiety starts taking over, my natural instinct is to do something to stop feeling that discomfort. Exercise works most of the time but I cannot exercise all day. However, I have discovered that identifying where the discomfort comes from (physically) and allowing myself to feel it for a few minutes, focusing on it, is sometimes my best way of dealing with it. It allows me to acknowledge that it is only a feeling/emotion and I can deal with it. it may not be pleasureable but it will not kill me and it will pass.

lessgravity

Lots of things - exercise, meditation, sex, reading, healthy deep sleep - but on the other hand I want to address something that was a part of getting sober for me. Drinking eliminated the present moment for me - it was a terrible, life destroying practice - but it did work, while I was drunk, to make me forget about life's pressures and obligations and concerns. Drinking is a means of tapping into oblivion - "the state of being unaware or unconscious of what is happening". For some people who don't have drinking problems, they taste a little of that state of mind, forget their worries and leave half a glass of wine unfinished at dinner (was always shocking to me!). For those of us who can't control our drinking, the oblivion was fully immersive, fully addictive. As I get more sober, (year 3 here), I have become more aware that the practice of drinking was, at root, the practice of avoidance. It was the quickest, surest and easiest way to avoid.

Therapy, sobriety, self-reflection - I have come to believe that my tendency to avoid may be the chicken before the egg of my drunkenness. And dealing with that habit, that obstacle to self-actualization, fulfillment, happiness, stress-free life, is still part of me now that I don't drink.

SO - I am saying that part of my coping mechanism is confronting, accepting and trying to improve my tendency to avoid. The peace and satisfaction doing so brings me is better than any drunk I ever had.

Free2bme888

Hiking and getting out in nature in summer, or skiing in winter. Reading all year. Finding a new series to watch. Gardening for sure! Making breakfast. Eating and savoring really yummy food.

Reading SR.

😍

Bodhi02

I like to talk my dog for a walk when I get stuck in a thinking spiral. I’ve also found meditation and breathing exercises to be helpful. Just going back to the my breath and thinking about what is here and now. When I get really really really stuck on something I write it down and all my feelings/thoughts about it. It helps to get it all out and put things into perspective. All of the above sometimes used together or one off has helped me a lot!