When does it start to get “easier”?
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That’s a hard question to answer. It’s never “easy” but with time and work we can gain the tools needed to deal with life on life’s terms. I personally felt more at ease about 6 months in. But as I worked the steps, and kept a positive attitude I felt better. I still get moments when I really want to pick up. So I call a sober buddy, my sponsor, walk away… do anything to keep myself occupied in that moment. As time goes on those episodes are fewer and less time consuming. You will get there. Believe in yourself!
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Thank you for that advice. Knowing that there’s support out there really helps. I am a very impulsive person so when my mind is on something, it’s hard to get it off that track. Numbing feelings felt so much easier and better than actually feeling them. I struggle with cravings everyday and I’m scared I won’t always have the strength to divert myself.
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Life is hard.. door and booze won’t help. We will though…
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That's the million dollar question, for me things got more bearable when after several meetings I became close to ppl in my home group and got to where I hated missing one, where else can u get an HR of therapy for a few bucks.
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I can only speak for myself. But it 100% does get easier. I don’t understand why someone would not say that it does. Your body adapts to a life without alcohol. And for me that started to happen between week 5 and 6.
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I had a year sober then relapsed really hard. I have now been sober for 4 months but I just don’t feel the cravings and the want letting up at all. Everyday feels harder than the last to resist.
I agree it was 6 months for me also the harder one works their program of recovery the easier it gets
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Being impulsive is all part of the addiction. I would bet most addicts are very impulsive. Learning to deal with the day to day is key. Brian said it, work the program and throw yourself into it.
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Time, money saved, stop caring about having friends. All things that made it “easier” for me.
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Every day it starts getting easier
First ten days were slow motion, and rough… day 30 was so much better. Day 60 even better. Sometime between 3 and 6 months I had a funny moment where I noticed I hadn’t been obsessing for a while. It’s like sobriety had almost snuck up on me. Just get through those first ten days one day at a time. I went to about 30 meetings my first 30 days. I got into a regular pattern and group of supporters and sober friends by then. Goal yourself for 90 in 90 if you really struggle with the obsession. Stick with it, sobriety is fucken badass. Higher power is a super power and you’ll be able to get into really addressing the deeper issues of our lives.
This is going to sounds cliché, but "when it gets easier" is totally up to you. If you let the demons of addiction keep laying eggs in your brain, then they will eventually hatch. The best advice I give to people with this question is this... Our perceptions are our own. The sooner we can learn to see life as beautiful and not look at sobriety as a "loss of addiction", the better. Some people grind through sobriety feeling resentment that they could never be moderate or recreation addicts.
Make peace with the past and start reminding yourself that the path you're on now is a good one. You'll start finding beauty in the small things again. Beauty that doesn't sparkle when we're lost in the fog. Eventually, the things you find joy and hope in will replace the white knuckles.
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I really like this post as I am at 31 days and finally starting to see the sparkle again. It's still challenging and tough, but good groups, good support and a good cup of coffee make me happy now! As a chronic relapsed I finally threw my hands in the air and totally surrendered.
To God or Higher Power, to the fact I can never drink and a good sobriety program, AA is my choice. Funny now I'm free😁
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It’s a good life if you let it. It gets easier when you decide you’re ready.
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One thing that I’ve learned is that life doesn’t necessarily get “better” or easier. Life is going to life. We are still going to have our highs and lows and trials and tribulations. In the beginning it may even seem harder because we are now not only dealing with the wreckage of our past but also all the emotions we had been suppressing that goes along with it. But you just need to ALWAYS remember that no matter what it is, “THIS TOO SHALL PASS.” The simple fact that we are on this app proves that we have a 100% success rate at everything life has thrown at us. We are strong, resilient people, who at some point lost ourselves. Sobriety is about not only returning to our true selves but growing and becoming evening better versions of that self. Growth only comes from discomfort. So embrace the uncomfortable moments and be grateful for the opportunity you’ve been provided to grow and learn. Life may not get easier or better but WE get better at life.
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Men and women drink essentially because they like the effect produced by alcohol. The sensation is so elusive that, while they admit it is injurious, they cannot after a time differentiate the true from the false. To them, their alcoholic life seems the only normal one.
They are restless, irritable and discontented
unless they can again experience the sense of ease and comfort which comes at once by taking a few drinks—drinks which they see others taking with impunity. After they have succumbed to the desire again, as so many do, and the phenomenon of craving develops, they pass through the well-known stages of a spree, emerging remorseful, with a firm resolution not to drink again.
This is repeated over and over, and unless this person can experience an entire psychic change there is very little hope of his or her recovery.”
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Hard question. Everyone is different. I am almost 23 months and I still can’t go to certain places or see certain people. I know this is the best way for me. Most of my family drink lots. So I just don’t see them. One day at a time only way.
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My sponsor tells me it takes two years but this is an individual thing depends on how much pain you have put yourself through
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Thank you all for your responses to this very hard question. I’m going to take a little from everyone and apply it to my life in hopes I can stay on track!
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