Alcoholism Support Group

Julie....our worse enemy is anger.

Julie,

You already won half the battle. You said 'I don't want to be that person anymore!'. Sounds to me like you have already changed. You are now choosing who you want to be instead of letting the alcohol decide for you. It's no easy battle but It sounds to me the odds are in your favour and the alcohol doesn't stand a chance. Nice to be calmer ain't it? Nice to be in control!

Anxiety for me was pretty bad. My mind kept racing, and I didn't know what to do. My sponsor said that I would learn to quiet my own thoughts. He reminded me that I have no power of what thoughts come into my head but I had the choice of how long I would let it rent space in my head. I could think of good thoughts like places I want to go .. Or a good time I had with family and friends where there was no alcohol involved. Remember meeting makes make it. Go as often as possible make friends you can have a wonderful life. This is just the begin of the greatest journey in your life. It has it's up and downs but it is the greatest.

Good Advice Bjardine,

I can't add much to that as it is spot on! In time one can learn to manipulate your own thoughts and pull out of the anxiety quicker. 'Chosing how long you let it rent space in your head' is a very good way of putting it!

We need to quit letting people that irritate us stop renting free space in our head. This keeps them from pushing our buttons.

Does that include the boss at work? I think I'm gonna alow myself a little anger towards him. It's almost become a guilty pleasure!

LOL..yes it included the boss at work. I had a boss from hell and dealing with her was horrible to say the least. She was on my back all the time. I would bring my work home with me and that was a big mistake. I was lucky. She finally got tranferred to another unit and she gave them hell too. They finally fired her because of her management style.

Post edited by: Bangbang, at: 07/26/2012 01:52 PM

Wow.. This is really great advice. Guitar... Thats the only thing that has been bothering me. My anger! I dislike it. i have to control it better. I have ao much on my mind. I'm starting a new chapter in my life without my ex-partner. And I think with the no drinking, that it adds to my anxiety. I've tried diverting myself away but it keeps coming back. My ex supports my sobriety and is happy I took the next step but its just my panics and anxiety that I need to control.

To bjardine49 and Bangbang... Keep the helpful advice coming. I want to beat this. I'm halfway to my 30 day coin .

Julie, the anxiety and anger will ease more and more as each day passes. What you do have to realise however is that alcohol is not always the cause of the anger. Life is full of frustrations that make us angry. I used alcohol to numb my senses. Once you stop using you have to deal with life's problems without that emotional crutch. You may have to think of what really makes you angry. I feel alcohol only heightened however I felt at the time. If I was happy and drank I'd become happier. If I was angry and frustrated and drank then I became a mean aggressive, moody guy even more. Sometimes we end up having to deal with more than just the addiction!