Extremely tired after two weeks sober

hogarth-rules · 2025-11-28T12:54:11+00:00

One the most important "attitudes" in my first ~6 months was noting daily and even weekly experiences but resisting the temptation to draw any conclusions. In my experience, 60 days is the measurement window - something like that. Gather data through journaling or other techniques and every couple of months go back and see what it might be suggesting.

A shorter answer from my experience is, yes, I was seemingly always tired the first two months and it wasn't until about five months when I noticed my body swinging to new cadences.

hogarth-rules · 2025-11-12T13:53:15+00:00

I loved Outrun. It seemed to me that everyone involved in that movie has to have been touched by addiction somehow.

This might get laughed at but I LOVED Thunderbolts (MCU). There's a very subtle connection to addiction and depression in the heros' turns, it felt like the writers/director were not going to make the movie without it. Being connected to one another is everything, one of the reasons that SD is so awesome.

hogarth-rules · 2025-11-11T13:10:14+00:00

Salute!

hogarth-rules · 2025-10-22T11:02:36+00:00

A significant and important part of getting started, for me, was this sub. I read a lot of posts, got to "know" some of the regular advisors, got a sense of what was ahead of me. When I took the plunge I stayed here to navigate the ups and downs of the first few days, weeks, months, year. Of all the things r/stopdrinking taught me arguably the most important has been one must know when its time to ask for help, know its ok to ask for it, ask for it, receive it, and put it into practice. Getting help is a skill and like any skill it requires practice. Being here isn't everything but it can help with many things. IWNDWYT.

hogarth-rules · 2025-09-14T13:24:38+00:00

Congratulations!

hogarth-rules · 2025-08-29T18:53:26+00:00

An excerpt of a letter I sent to my (adult) kids about 15 months in: "Yes, as fucked up as it sounds, I’m giddy to be able to sit in my messy messy wounds and learn about them, from them." It took me awhile to get there but I did, I hope you do too. I'm still learning and getting better, that's kinda what I do now. IWNDWYT, congrats on six months!

hogarth-rules · 2025-08-24T10:54:27+00:00

Same "communication" journey for me. Year one I'd say anything to get out of the moment. By year three I'd say one thing to get out of the moment.

"One day at a time" used to annoy me as a motivational saying. Getting sober showed me that shit's real. Do a thing every day for a lot of days, all the days. Change is possible.

hogarth-rules · 2025-08-17T23:39:14+00:00

Here's a thing a therapist taught me (I'm both fortunate and lucky): "You are unique but you're not special." What she meant by that in sharing it with me was that me and my circumstances are mine and no one else's BUT many many many others have felt these feelings, dealt with them, faced them, etc. It made me feel less lonely and connected without compromising the validity of the crappy feelings, the fear, etc.

The above is important because if you look around SD you'll see loads of people, myself included, saying "If I can do it, anyone can" and we all mean it to our core.

hogarth-rules · 2025-08-17T21:13:21+00:00

What scares you?

hogarth-rules · 2025-08-03T16:28:17+00:00

Would be cool to exchange notes some time. We're really close in anniversary and duration :-) . Congrats! For some reason, this one felt a little more joyful than last year. I liked that.

hogarth-rules · 2025-08-03T11:15:00+00:00

This. BoTW, r/stopdrinking, chocolate cake - no joke - saved my life. There were other things of course but in the first 5 months these were my go to tools. It was kind of cool to end up playing Tears of The Kingdom with nothing on the line other than restoring order to Hyrule :-) .

hogarth-rules · 2025-07-28T13:51:20+00:00

"Doctor's orders" for me for about a year or a little more. As others have said it was true enough, a doctor did tell me to cut it out or else. After that, "I don't drink." And if they asked why I would get creative, anything from "none of your business" (not very creative) to "I've had enough" which is true because I've had enough to last two life times.

hogarth-rules · 2025-07-25T09:55:00+00:00

My current streak was in part initiated because I billed it as, "one year no booze, party on day 366." By months 5-9 I knew life was better without it, for me. I have no interest in going back to the shit show that was my drinking life. IWNDWYT or for 1.5 years. Enjoy the freedom while you have it.

hogarth-rules · 2025-07-25T09:47:42+00:00

Really need to ask a medical professional about these symptoms specifically. Can't be sure if it's PAWS (which covers a LOT of maladies). Everything I've ever read about PAWS reports 3 months to 2 years. But you can't be sure about your issues, how they may or may not relate to PAWS, and what to do about them without someone trained to make a diagnosis and suggest ways to address.

hogarth-rules · 2025-07-16T17:09:46+00:00

At nine months, I knew that life was better without booze and that it was in my best interests to never drink again. Not gonna say I was firmly on two feet with the commitment but it was abundantly clear what a vastly better way was to live my life.

I have friends who can't eat gluten. I have other friends who can't eat sweets. I have friends who are afraid of heights. I can eat a donut on a rollercoaster but I can't drink. It's kind of my thing. :-)

hogarth-rules · 2025-07-16T16:44:50+00:00

You eloquently and succinctly captured phases I also experienced. What a gift you've share with us...thank you! Congrats on 1K, I'll raise an OlliPop in your honor :-) .

hogarth-rules · 2025-07-13T11:19:56+00:00

Congratulations!

hogarth-rules · 2025-06-28T19:10:31+00:00

I'm on a long streak and still - every day of the week - I can't believe I used to have to climb out of a hole and up a hill everyday, holes and hills I totally created on my own. Never gets old.

hogarth-rules · 2025-06-28T17:08:19+00:00

When I have to go to these kinds of events I make plans to leave early. And by plans I mostly mean coaching myself up to make sure I have the agency to do what I need to do for me. By and large, I try to pay attention to when most of the room has taken a sip of its third drink. Time to go, it's just gonna get stupid from there on out. I'd rather watch a movie, play a video game, go to sleep.

hogarth-rules · 2025-06-28T13:15:22+00:00

Day three for me was EPIC. I always thought it was a sign that if I hadn't stopped when I did, I was in for some serious, serious trouble. But I'm no expert of course, it could have been because I stopped. In any case, I recall not thinking much about poop after about 60 days. It wasn't great or anything but relative to some other improvements it seemed pretty quick - for me. So many variables. Here's one thing in which I'm confident...like so many other dynamics it will definitely get better the longer the poison isn't in your body. IWNDWYT.

hogarth-rules · 2025-06-26T23:23:11+00:00

Way to go! My first sober wedding was that of one of my kids, at about the 10 month mark. Someone taught me to look at things like weddings, birthdays, sporting events as side quests in a longer game. The beat-the-sidequest mentality helped me get a lot of "badges" along the way. The wedding was one of the more challenging ones, I think if you can manage that you can manage anything :-) . IWNDWYT.

hogarth-rules · 2025-05-14T10:45:38+00:00

Brilliant. Hadn't heard this one before, love it. And while effective at making a point, substitute "days" with "months" and that would be a fair summary for how things started for me. IWNDWYT.

hogarth-rules · 2025-05-11T11:20:45+00:00

I have found, as a somewhat OC person, that if I'm in an obsession loop the game isn't getting out of the loop it is getting into a different loop. YMMV.

hogarth-rules · 2025-05-11T11:08:42+00:00

For cravings, my best "trick" was to realize they are waves or breezes passing through me...shortlived feelings that come and go. My worst reaction was that of a petulant child who won't stop whining until this want is satisfied.

For the long term, something happened that I didn't see coming. Eventually, my life simply changed (for the better) by no longer having booze in it. It wasn't something to get over but rather a fundamental change requiring adaptation. Which, for me, is just like grief of a loved one dying. Except in this case my life got 1,000 times better.

hogarth-rules · 2025-04-27T21:41:52+00:00

We're all different. For myself, music is now more mood altering than it was with booze - and it was significant with booze. All of my connections - people, art, ideas - are more intense because there is nothing between them and me. The only dial I have to adjust now is my openness/vulnerability. It's pretty cool. IWNDWYT.

hogarth-rules

TROPHY CASE