18 Days of Sober Takeaways: Day 9
Emotional Sobriety
At first, I thought getting sober meant learning not to drink. That was hard enough.
Then I discovered that all the feelings I had been trying to manage or silence with alcohol were still there.
I could be angry and have nowhere to put it. I could be lonely on a Saturday night or disappointed by someone I loved and not know how to ease the internal ache.
I could have a terrible day and still have to wake up the next morning and deal with it.
There was no drink waiting to change the temperature in my head. So, I had to learn how to sit with what I was feeling without immediately trying to change it.
It didn't happen perfectly or quickly.
I learned that an uncomfortable feeling could be just that - uncomfortable, without it being an emergency.
I learned I could be angry without acting on every angry thought.
And I discovered that, sometimes, the best thing I could do was simply wait until the feeling passed.
That was the beginning of my emotional sobriety, although I didn't have that language for it at the time.
Watching television reveals a new recovery discovery tomorrow - Day 10 in my 18 Days of Sober Takeaways from #NationalSoberDay to #SoberOctober.
If you’d like to start on Day 1, you can find it here: 18 Days of Sober Takeaways - Day 1
To further explore any of the topics raised in my 18 Days of Sober Takeaways, or if you’d like support in stopping drinking, please visit:
Substack: Sally Cardy - Transformative Recovery Solutions