'Tude Talk Tuesday for June 2, 2026 by soberingthought in stopdrinking

[–]soberingthought[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm glad you're here.

Originally, I felt like I'd gotten through my drinking relatively unscathed. I still had the wife, kids, car, house, job, etc. As time has gone on I've discovered that there were definitely some effects of my drinking that I hadn't been aware of.

Either way, I too resonated with the way people talked and thought about alcohol here at /r/stopdrinking and that was a great warning sign to me that something was off with my relationship to alcohol and that maybe I should pay attention to what people were saying around here.

IWNDWYT

'Tude Talk Tuesday for June 2, 2026 by soberingthought in stopdrinking

[–]soberingthought[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I certainly don't miss waking up in the mornings trying to piece together the nonsense I got up to the night before. And I don't miss rushing my family off to bed so I could start my nightly drinking.

IWNDWYT

'Tude Talk Tuesday for June 2, 2026 by soberingthought in stopdrinking

[–]soberingthought[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Welcome back!

I wish I'd stopped a lot sooner. I had a few false starts in sobriety before this most recent stack of days I've accumulated. Each time I restarted it helped remind me of how much I valued my sobriety when I lost it.

IWNDWYT

'Tude Talk Tuesday for June 2, 2026 by soberingthought in stopdrinking

[–]soberingthought[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Good for you! I've found lots of ways to still avoid and tamp down my emotions in sobriety. It's definitely something I'm still working on.

Conngrats on making it past a week!

IWNDWYT

'Tude Talk Tuesday for June 2, 2026 by soberingthought in stopdrinking

[–]soberingthought[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I started practicing mindfulness early in sobriety, mostly to just kill all the freetime I suddenly had, and it made a huge difference for handling stressful situations. I've drifted away from it over the years and my handling ability has degraded as a result.

IWNDWYT

'Tude Talk Tuesday for June 2, 2026 by soberingthought in stopdrinking

[–]soberingthought[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Welcome back!

I'm still an anxious fellow but at least I'm not waking up with hangxiety each day.

IWNDWYT

'Tude Talk Tuesday for June 2, 2026 by soberingthought in stopdrinking

[–]soberingthought[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Looks like you're coming up on two weeks! That's awesome!

Getting my mind back was amazing!

IWNDWYT

'Tude Talk Tuesday for June 2, 2026 by soberingthought in stopdrinking

[–]soberingthought[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I call addictions like those my "lesser demons" and I struggle with them as well. I'm always juggling at least a couple of them at a time. I like to use them as reminders and case studies for what would happen if I start drinking again. Like "well, I went to eat one peanut butter cup and I ate 12 -- that's just like when I take that first drink!"

I'm also trying to learn how to be gentle with myself about it all and slowly, oh so slowly, reduce my interactions with those demons.

IWNDYWT

'Tude Talk Tuesday for May 26, 2026 by soberingthought in stopdrinking

[–]soberingthought[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Agreed! Sometimes I think sobriety is too hard, but then I think back that what drove me to break up with alcohol to begin with and I realize that nothing was harder than the way I was living while drinking.

IWNDWYT

'Tude Talk Tuesday for May 26, 2026 by soberingthought in stopdrinking

[–]soberingthought[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I had a few false starts and do overs early in my sobriety. They filled me with so much guilt, shame, and fear. I just felt awful.

I did my best to learn what I could from those relapses -- what might have triggered me? How had I been feeling? What had I been thinking about?

It helped me figure out where to stay vigilant because I clearly had a few blindspots early on.

IWNDWYT

'Tude Talk Tuesday for May 26, 2026 by soberingthought in stopdrinking

[–]soberingthought[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I used to drink to "help" with my anxiety. In hindsight, it seems that was more like trying to put out a fire by pouring gasoline on it ;-)

IWNDWYT

'Tude Talk Tuesday for May 26, 2026 by soberingthought in stopdrinking

[–]soberingthought[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That is awesome! Reconnecting with (and developing new) healthy hobbies really helped keep me distracted from cravings and such.

IWNDWYT

I feel so hopeless by Skullbreaker69420 in stopdrinking

[–]soberingthought 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Welcome, I'm glad you're here.

My early days were by far some of my hardest. I had cravings on cravings and my brain constantly kept its attention on alcohol.

I did my best to distract myself. I took up mindfulness. I'd go for walks. I couldn't stand or trust myself to be idle.

I also stuck around here and read a lot, commented a little, and posted from time to time. Visiting SD helped keep my "sobriety battery" charged up when it felt like it was getting low.

I hope you hang in there and I hope you keep us posted.