Need words of encouragement

Sober 9 days from alcohol, drugs and cigarettes. It's been tough but just now I'm getting really bad cravings. What helped you other than meetings?

keeping busy has helped. i do puzzles, knit and just started working with horses a few hours a week and its helping. i still have my bad days but thats why i download these apps and podcasts and when thats not enough i reach for my phone list.

what is something you want to learn about or learn how to do?

I guess what's holding me back is simply excuses. I keep saying I don't have time with work and a family but really I can find me make time. Maybe learning something new will help knitting. Puzzles sound like a really good idea. This is my first post here and your response honestly just made me feel better right away....like someone out there understands. Thank you for your advice 🙏

We are with you Rossie! Really encourage you to go to AA meetings as soon as possible. You don't have to pass any tests there. You can just be you. I felt so at home there and I never liked groups before! AA saved my life. Keep checking back with us too.

I know what you are saying!! I am now 10 clean off pills and the cravings came back like a sledge hammer after about 5-6 days! I have no real words of wisdom to offer except one minute, one hour, one day at a time. That’s how I’m doing it. I’ve been told (see my post below) that this happens and can take a bit for the brain to regulate, but I believe it will happen. I have to believe because if I am going to feel the deep desperate depression and overwhelming sadness I am in now I might as well start using again. That feeling is what lead me to stop. So keep doing it. Minute by minute and BELIEVE it will get better!

One of the things that really helped me get through the first few weeks was simply being around others who were staying on track, usually through AA. Not isolating myself was super important, even though I wasn’t super excited about being around others in early sobriety. It not only kept me distracted from cravings but it kept me in touch with reality. And I realized it was okay to be uncomfortable as long as I kept taking it by the hour and keeping my mind active in recovery.

Meditations and being in nature sometimes help when I have cravings. I'm really trying to identify my negative thoughts sooner, before i feed them.

Negative thoughts hit me like a sledgehammer, especially inthe morning. Seems like I wake up and say Uh oh, what terrible stuff is going to happen today. That's why I look at SoberTool, use this forum, focus on gratitude and perspective. For example, "the rest of the world has problems too." And I am grateful I don't have a hangover. The Serenity Prayer and the SoberTool Sanity Poem are big for me to just repeat over and over again. A gratitude list works too. I think of five things i'm grateful for. I do what I can about a problem and let go.

This forum is really overwhelming...in a good way. I will seek AA meetings in my area this week but what I love most about this forum is the ability to get help and encouragement in the palm of my hands 24/7. I don't have to leave work or my family to go to a meeting. I really appreciate all of you so much. I'm still clean! 🙏 Yesterday was so hard for me and your words helped me get through!! Xoxo

We are all in this together Rossie!

Thank you and yes! I'm so glad I came across this app and have you guys!🙏

Thank you and yes! I'm so glad I came across this app and have you guys!🙏

Try welcoming the craving. When you feel it coming on, stay with it instead of trying to push it away. This doesn’t mean giving in to it, no far from it. It just means watching the craving. Guess what happens? It doesn’t get stronger, but quite the opposite. Eventually it becomes a fun game.