I am a little over five months sober. I have

Recovery
#1

I am a little over five months sober. I have not had an urgency to drink however in this chapter of sobriety I am finding myself very emotional to things I have never been towards in my past. Any advice on how to navigate these emotions? Thanks friends!

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#2

Congrats on the 5! That’s awesome. As far as navigation of emotions… feel them. Think about why you are feeling them. Look at the situation is it the appropriate emotion? If not let it go. I don’t know about you but I felt nothing for so long, I want to feel the emotions. I also had to learn what to do with them. I’m sure you will get it. Good luck

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#3

Thank you so much!

#4

I keep a cheat sheet to help me remember the spiritual principles that counteract the seven so called seven deadly sins. I have a copy of this list taped to the back of my phone, taped to the window of my car by the oil change sticker, and on the mirror in my bathroom. Whenever I start to spin out, I pray to my higher power to help me channel the appropriate spiritual principle.

Pride➡️Humility
Resentment➡️Forgiveness
Anger➡️Acceptance
Greed➡️Charity
Gluttony :arrow_right:Self-control
Lust➡️Integrity
Envy➡️Brotherly/Sisterly Love
Sloth➡️Action

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#5

I have always had a hard time with emotions. I wasn’t raised to handle them very well, and expressing them was never taught. I never bothered to learn how to do it later in life either.

Fast forward to my early 40’s, and severe alcohol abuse just to keep anything other than happiness at bay.

Since becoming sober I’ve adopted a few mantras. One of them is taught in my career field, but applies to my sobriety well. “Get comfortable being uncomfortable.”

No matter what I feel, I won’t deny myself the ability to feel it. I did that for too long with alcohol. Strong emotions are still tough to feel and hard to express, but I find it’s better to work at that than to my work at stuffing them down any longer. That didn’t go well for me. Figuring out the “why” is definitely a challenge. But a road worth going down.

Stay strong!

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#6

I journal in the moment. The moment something happens that changes my mood and spirit, I sit and put pen to paper. The last place those thoughts need to be are in my head. I have found that writing it out almost as a share is incredibly freeing.

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#7

Thanks for sharing this. I really like it!!

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#8

Proud of you for the 5 months …. I write stuff down and it helps me get to the core of the emotion and why it is coming out at this moment :raised_hands: