Day one.
Noro, something I used in early sobriety whenever the cravings hit was to bring up a mental image of one of my worst withdrawals, make the image bigger and bigger, feel those horrific feelings again and ask myself if I really wanted to go back to that. It did seem to help.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 145
Noro, something I used in early sobriety whenever the cravings hit was to bring up a mental image of one of my worst withdrawals, make the image bigger and bigger, feel those horrific feelings again and ask myself if I really wanted to go back to that. It did seem to help.
Thank you for the advice!
Noro, I carried that whole idea one step further, I had an imaginary control panel in my mind and when I had the cravings I pulled the lever that brought up the vivid images of the horrific withdrawals. If I was depressed I pulled the lever that brought up images of the happiest times in my life. If I was unmotivated I pulled the motivation lever. This sounds incredibly stupid to most people but to a degree it did help elicit the thoughts and feelings that I needed in a given situation. My control panel got pretty big after a while!
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 145
Noro, I carried that whole idea one step further, I had an imaginary control panel in my mind and when I had the cravings I pulled the lever that brought up the vivid images of the horrific withdrawals. If I was depressed I pulled the lever that brought up images of the happiest times in my life. If I was unmotivated I pulled the motivation lever. This sounds incredibly stupid to most people but to a degree it did help elicit the thoughts and feelings that I needed in a given situation. My control panel got pretty big after a while!
I could sit here all day and dwell on my regrets over the past few months. I have more regrets than I can handle, when I think about it. It is inspiring that you have learned to take control of your emotions and your cravings. It's something that I've found very hard to do. For me, the closest I felt I could come to pulling that lever, was pulling back a bottle. And that HAS to change.
Currently Active Users Viewing this Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)