Life management

[Fred_The_Cat]

Hello all, I have been more active on the medication forum, but having crossed the magical switch point I am at a total loss as to what to do next.

At 75 mg of baclofen daily I am uninterested in more than half a beer anymore. This has been going for two months and I am just now realizing the depth of the crater I have to crawl out of.

Rather than publish a litany of why my life is pathetic, I would like to ask what people's life management strategies are in sobriety. Specifically, I'm looking for a book I could read in the span of a week to get started. The emptiness is so overwhelming that I don't know where to start.

Thanks!

[Sunbeam]

Life management

I don't know your skills, but volunteers are needed in the world. There is nothing more healing than helping others.

[odat1234]

Life management

that is a big question, you could try AA unless you have a higher power issue, which I do, or you could volunteer, or you could try a counselor. Do you have a spouse, children, animals (a cat at lease right). You could get more involved in your families lives. Do you work? Or go to church? Hospitals love volunteers or nursing homes, the elderly need someone to hang out with and talk to as much as you do I'm sure. Basically you have been waiting for so long you have to figure out how to stop waiting and start living. Life won't find you, you have to go find it. Open your front door and walk outside and don't stop, go do something, anything. You will get it, just stop waiting. Good luck!

[nurdl]

Life management

Exercise! It's amazing!

[odat1234]

Life management

Fred_The_Cat;1358724 wrote:

I ask because I have a lot of goals/interests that have gone unfulfilled because of my alcohol cravings. Once I have even two beers (I'm on Zoloft and Abilify so my tolerance is very low), I feel worthless and unable to get anything done but eat and sleep. Hopefully, once my BAC arrives and I get on a dosing schedule I'll have the motivation to work on other things, but it's become abundantly clear that until alcohol is out of the picture that's not going to happen.

What "other things were you talking about here? This was 8-2-2012, your first post. Do you remember what you had in mind?

[Lavande]

Life management

Here's a great list

This was posted on another thread by Mario.

101 Things to Keep You Clean & Sober
Use a few of these great tips in helping yourself --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Don’t underestimate your disease. Every single person does at first.

2. Take care of yourself spiritually. Be mindful of your connection to your higher power today.

3. Ignore the dismal relapse rates. You are creating your own success.

4. Make a zero tolerance policy with yourself concerning relapse. Don’t even allow your mind to go there.

5. Avoid fundamentalism, even in recovery. Rigid thinking and dogma can undermine your sobriety.

6. You are creating a life of recovery and you are responsible for ALL OF IT. Yes, others can help you. Their “help” is mere advice. It is up to you to recover.

7. Don’t confuse enthusiasm for action. Figure out what you need to do to stay sober and then do it.

8. Listen to what the relapsing addicts keep preaching. Then do the opposite.

9. Take care of your social network. Reach out to others in a meaningful way.

10. Figure out a way to help other addicts or alcoholics.

11. If you attend 12 step meetings, find one to start chairing. Consider H&I meetings (taking meetings into jails and treatment centers).

12. Use mindfulness and a heightened awareness to overcome ego. Use meditation to overcome self.

13. Practice forgiveness. Forgive all your past transgressors. Forgive yourself. You must do this to get long term relief from resentment.

14. Be aware of diminishing returns, and spread out your recovery efforts (i.e., don’t focus on just “spiritual” growth).

15. Rearrange all the furniture in your house. Anything to get through the night sometimes.

16. Clean your house from top to bottom. Same as above.

17. Go for a long walk.

18. Buy a pet and care for it.

19. Eat a gourmet meal.

20. Cook a gourmet meal.

21. Practice the arts. Paint, draw, sculpt, sing, dance. Etc.

22. See a therapist.

23. Work on a puzzle.

24. Connect with someone else who is hurting.

25. Start a project that is bigger than yourself.

26. Revisit an old hobby.

27. Teach someone something. (Anything!)

28. Learn something new each day. (Anything!)

29. Write in a daily journal.

30. Stretch yourself spiritually by suspending disbelief for a day.

31. Write a letter to your addiction where you say farewell to it.

32. Join a recovery forum online.

33. Start a free blog over at blogger.com and tell the world about your progress in recovery. Figure out your own tips on staying sober.

34. Reconnect with your family and spend time with them.

35. Go back to school.

36. Learn a new skill or trade.

37. Sponsor a newcomer.

38. Make a commitment to chair a meeting each week.

39. Celebrate the recovery of a friend.

40. Spend time with your family.

41. Email the spiritual river guy and tell him your problems.

42. Celebrate your clean time with a cake.

43. Write out a gratitude list.

44. Read through your old journal entries and see how much you’ve changed.

45. Try a new form of meditation (or make up your own…there is no “wrong” here). Some of the best tips to stay sober come from within.

46. Write out a to-do list and cross each thing off as you accomplish it.

47. Always have a big goal in the back of your mind that is challenging for you, but would make your day if you met it.

48. Practice balance. Challenge your daily habits.

49. Practice humility. Always be in “learning mode.”

50. Forgive yourself and move on with your life.

51. Sit down and write 2 goals out for yourself: one big one and one little one. Keep the paper in your pocket.

52. Inspire someone else to grow. Challenge them to be a better person in some way. Encourage them through your own success.

53. Learn to relax. Find your quiet place of rejuvenation and return to it often.

54. Elevate your consciousness. Watch your own mind and see how it responds to events. Repeat often. Learn.

55. Find the beauty in life. Appreciate all of it. Be grateful for beauty itself.

56. Ask yourself with each decision: “Is this the healthiest choice for me right now?”

57. Quit smoking cigarettes already.

58. Be grateful for existence.

59. If you go to the same AA meetings all the time, switch it up and go to a completely new meeting.

60. Write a poem about how you are overcoming addiction.

61. Turn off your television and read a book. Better: read recovery literature. Best: write your own recovery literature.

62. Use overwhelming force to conquer a goal.

63. Use the Sedona method to release emotions that are holding you back.

64. Write your bucket list. Then, act.

65. Figure out your life purpose.

66. Write out a fourth step and share it with your sponsor.

67. Take care of yourself physically. Exercise. Take a walk. No excuses.

68. Keep your priorities straight. Physical abstinence is number one. Simple and effective.

69. Keep a high price on your serenity. Don’t sacrifice it for just anyone and their whims.

70. Use a sponsor for stage 2 recovery. Let them guide you through holistic living.

71. Take care of yourself mentally. Go back to school. Get that degree.

72. Find your own path. It is your responsibility to do so.

73. Practice humility and stay teachable. Always be learning.

74. Go to long term treatment and be done with it. Best decision I ever made.

75. Don’t pin your hopes on a short stay in rehab. It takes more than that.

76. Call your sponsor.

77. Get a sponsor.

78. Use a zero tolerance policy when it comes to self-pity. Never allow it for yourself ever again. Ever. It is poison.

79. Read recovery literature.

80. Join a recovery forum.

81. Use outpatient treatment if that works for you. Take it as seriously as possible and connect with the others in your group.

82. Meditate.

83. Pray.

84. Go out for coffee with a friend in recovery.

85. Find your passion.

86. Work out.

87. Join a church.

88. Volunteer.

89. Take care of yourself emotionally. Don’t get knocked too far off your square.

90. Stay vigilant against potential relapse. The disease can find many routes (gambling, prescription drugs, sex, etc.).

91. Go to a meeting.

92. Don’t pin your hopes on long term treatment. It takes a lifetime of learning for alcoholics and recovering drug addicts to recover.

93. Use long term strategic thinking. Care for yourself, network with others, and pursue conscious growth.

94. Don’t ask “why me?” Instead, ask “how can I create the life I really want now?”

95. Call a friend in recovery.

96. Sit down and write out a gratitude list.

97. Don’t live in fear of relapse. I wasted 5 years on this. Embrace the creative life and know you are strong in recovery.

98. Get extreme. Figure out what you need to do to stay sober…then double it and add ten. That’s how hard you have to push yourself.

99. Raise the bar. Stop settling. Use your talents as a gift to the world and make a difference in some way.

100. Live consciously. Set deliberate goals and go after them with overwhelming force.

101. Embrace the creative life in recovery and live holistically.

SOURCE: Spiritual River | Addiction Help

[RingingCedars]

Life management

Great list. That's enough to keep anyone busy for a lifetime!

Welcome Fred's master! (or should I say slave?:H)

[FlyAway]

Life management

Hippyman;1434112 wrote: Lots of kitties need loving at local animal shelters. Helping the helpless gives me a sense of purpose!

A cat lover! I knew I liked you. :catroll:

[FlyAway]

Life management

Fred_The_Cat;1434095 wrote: Hello all, I have been more active on the medication forum, but having crossed the magical switch point I am at a total loss as to what to do next.

At 75 mg of baclofen daily I am uninterested in more than half a beer anymore. This has been going for two months and I am just now realizing the depth of the crater I have to crawl out of.

Rather than publish a litany of why my life is pathetic, I would like to ask what people's life management strategies are in sobriety. Specifically, I'm looking for a book I could read in the span of a week to get started. The emptiness is so overwhelming that I don't know where to start.

Thanks!

That crater in our lives can appear insurmountable, but just take it one teaspoon at a time. It didn't get dug that deeply in a week or two and it will take a while to fill in. I just posted a few days ago that I'm now over 10 months AF and really feel like I'm starting to come into my own now. Not to discourage anyone, just to let you know so you don't give up if you're not feeling spectacular after a month or two. It really is worth it to keep going. I'm not sure exactly what kind of book you're looking for, but a book to help with productivity and procrastination could be Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allan. A book that helped me change my negative thinking about things is Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life by Byron Katie. And another that is along the same lines for changing negative thoughts is Happy Yoga: 7 Reasons Why There's Nothing to Worry About by Steve Ross.

[sammynorm]

Life management

Here's a few books that helped me.
I do go to AA meetings, but I find the higher power thing difficult. I've found a Buddhist 12 step meeting that I like, they are more compassionate than the religious/blue-book-thumpers in AA (in my opinion).

12 smart things to do when the drugs and booze are gone; by Allen Berger
The Tender Bar; by J.R. Moehringer
Letting go of the person you used to be; Lama Suyra Das
Unhooked: how to quit anything; Susan Shapiro (actually she is just the co-author....I'm sure you can find the real author if you 'google' the book)
The Thinking Person's Guide to Sobriety; Bert Pluymen
Drinking: A Love Story; Caroline Knapp
The Easy Way to Stop Drinking; Allen Carr (helped me get sober in the beginning)
And....Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How Many Thousands of Men and Women Have Recovered from Alcoholism (The AA Fellowship Refers to it as THE BIG BOOK)
One more....The 12-Step Buddhist; by Darren Littlejohn

Guess one could say reading books has been a big part of my recovery.
Now I'm reading Powerfully Recovered; by Anne Wayman

Not sure if I'm recovered yet (I'm only a year and a half sober); but the book has some interesting ideas regarding the myths of the AA Fellowship.

Good luck hope one or all of these books help you.

[Supercrew]

Life management

What did you do before you started drinking?