I am coming to the end of my first month of Sobriety and I have been off work for 6 weeks with the accompanying anxiety and depression that brings. My current doctors note runs out on Sunday this week. I have started feeling a little anxious about returning to soon in to a high pressure enviroment. My bosses are not aware of my alchohol situation as note states just anxiety. I am also under financial pressure
Good job on your 1st month ... try to turn your 'anxiety' into a feel'n of excitement ... this is really just a situation of not know'n what to expect ... try not to expect how things will go, just let things unfold naturally ... you don't need to go into why you were gone, you know your job, just do it ... if asked, you may just tell others that you were try'n to avoid a nervous breakdown or something ... whatever, it's really not other's business anyway ...
Look forward to get'n back into your work routine sober ... and cherish be'n sober on the job ... it's a great feel'n to not be so 'strung out' from the night before ...
Have some AA members phone numbers with you if you need to talk to someone ... then if you do ... CALL THEM ...
Your do'n great ... say'n a prayer before walk'n in to work, for the strength and power to do a good job, always helped me stay focused ... give it a try ... and say the 'Serenity Prayer' as often as you need to throughout the day to help you stay calm ... (don't think I'd have made it back to work without the Serenity Prayer) ...
Take Care and God Bless,
Pappy
__________________
'Those who leave everything in God's hand will eventually see God's hand in everything.'
It is not unusual to be anxious ,I can identify, even being anxious myself when going back to work just after a long vacation( I am now retired).I could only suggest to see this as another new beginning and staying close to your support group and knowing the daily work we do in a fit spiritual condition takes us through each 24 hour period.I personally start each and everyday with strong meditation on our 3rd/11th Steps EVEN BEFORE MY FEET HIT THE FLOOR.WE remember,we are all "newcomers" to each day,some of us have just been treating ourselves a little longer than others..Way to go on your first month of sobriety,I would also suggest staying in the day,projections of the "what ifs" are deadly for us,especially early on in our journey of daily recovery..Keep your recovery first as WE are aware without it all else becomes sinking sand..What could be more difficult for US,then taking a 100% 1st Step AND REMAINING FREE OF ACTIVE ADDICTION DAY BY DAY? You can do this and WE can do it together.Trust in that Power greater than yourself,wind the tape all the way back to the beginning and know, returning there is a downbound train to oblivion.Keep sharing your concerns and follow suggestions from folks who are working daily in the Solution,based on the evidence of their actions,not just words...WE are here for each other..Have a blessed and productive day!!
__________________
Selfishness-self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles.
whatever you do, don't drink. If you're at work, and you start having an anxiety attack, just ask to go home. Don't use alcohol to relieve the anxiety. If you do, you'll fall back in the trap, and it will get worse, and be harder to get back out.
If that job is too high pressure, so much so that you need alcohol or medication to get by, then just quit. No job is worth losing your sanity over.
Thanks for brilliant responses and some really good advice I will take it day by day I must remember the what ifs gotta get shut of them out of my head
Well, I don't do enough of it like I should, but I hear exercise is a great way to relieve anxiety. That as well as praying to God to remove my anxious thoughts as soon as they creep/plunge into this head of mine. Since getting sober again, I have started to do more of the latter and have noticed a HUGE difference.....what I do as soon as some unwelcome thoughts about people, places and things --especially people in my case because I have always worried too much what others think, being a people pleaser, analyzing things said or I think "done" to me...anyway, what I do as soon as one of those thoughts pops in my head, I try to catch it and pray "Please God,
take this stupid thought out of my head" or I say to myself "I ain't going to worry about this right now" and even..."there I go again, now stop it!"
It is amazing what a difference that has made. Things which have made me so very anxious to even cause my heart to start racing, sweating, and other physical symptoms do not have the same power over me as I let them have--as long as I remember to do my best to stop them before they take over my mind and subsequently my whole day.
I realized that by dwelling so much on people, p's and t's, I was making THEM my Higher Power. I was not trusting God to take care of me and do what He knows is best.
I hope, Fenners, that you have a Higher Power in your life to lean on and depend on. It sure has helped me. For months and months before my relapse I was taking my will back and depression and anxiety was so overwhelming I started having suicidal thoughts. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. As Barney said in those old Andy Griffith shows, "You gotta nip it, nip it in the bud!" or it can and will kill you.
Pappy.... I think most everything I posted was said to me over and over by one of the MIP angels on this board who tried incessantly and lovingly to help me.
This time, I think I finally "got it"! (with me...it has been "sometimes slowly"). Move forward--don't look back as they say...and better late than never, and most certainly better late than dead! There really is some sick kind of thinking going on and which convinced me not so long ago that I wanted to die rather than try. It took a tremendous amount of mountain oysters for me to walk back into the rooms after I picked up again...and especially when I kept picking up and had to face those people again. I almost didn't. I was still worried what others thought of me. I was placing their behavior and words towards me when I did (or even things I thought they were thinking...) above my own sobriety!!!!! IDIOTIC THINKING!!! I go to meetings now knowing that God really wants me in those rooms. He wants me to stay sober. I live for HIM and not others. Since I have decided to live my life that way I have and feel a wonderful sense of peace. I love living now. I don't have to live my life feeling anxious and worried. I am happy now. I don't have to let my emotions rule my head and my heart anymore. I let God rule them. And although there are things in my life which are not perfect, nor will they ever be, I am content in knowing that as long as I live my life asking for God's direction what He wants for me, it is certainly good enough for me. Heck, I really feel like the way I am right now, if someone told me to go to Hell, I could reply...."Well, if I do, I'll send you a postcard if my pen and paper don't melt while doing so". LOL. As long as I treat others as He wants me to treat them, there is less remorse, less guilt and also a heck of a lot less amends to have to make. And this wonderful peaceful feeling can stay with me always.
Thanks Pappy! So very much. Your love and patience in helping me I can never pay back and am extremely grateful for! I had just about given up all hope, and now I am really and truly a very "hopeful one". Love you too, man! H1
(and sorry if I get a bit long-winded--I am just really feeling great and want to share if I can go from feeling lower than whale doo-doo and change this much, ANYONE can and am so very grateful to God as well as people like Pappy and others who have been so supportive and treated me like an alcoholic who fell rather than the alcoholic from Hell....LOL! Ok...I am rambling and getting silly so will stop here...You're welcome.)
-- Edited by hopefulone on Friday 4th of December 2015 10:21:18 AM
I go to meetings now knowing that God really wants me in those rooms. He wants me to stay sober. I live for HIM and not others. Since I have decided to live my life that way I have and feel a wonderful sense of peace. I love living now. I don't have to live my life feeling anxious and worried. I am happy now.
As long as I treat others as He wants me to treat them, there is less remorse, less guilt and also a heck of a lot less amends to have to make. And this wonderful peaceful feeling can stay with me always.
I think it was 'He' that taught us 'to treat others as WE, ourselves, would like to be treated!' ...
great post!!!
__________________
'Those who leave everything in God's hand will eventually see God's hand in everything.'
Your advice is really spurring me on to continue on the right path. I am allowing to creep back in to my head thoughts of anxiety and I know what that will bring so I will use all the tools and advice I am given to improve those thoughts and stop them. I am not a religious person but this week I have started to pray every morning and every night for me to stay sober and thank him at the end of each evening for giving me the strength to battle this horrible illness. Wow is all I can say it has definately helped me
I had lost most all the faith I had when I came into the rooms.....the praying every morning and thanking God for keeping me sober the day before and to please help keep me sober "today" is what I started doing early in recovery--well, before I screwed up and took my will back again, that is. . Gotta be honest...which is the best way to be if I want to stay sober...I don't do it at night like I should, just in the a.m. I do pray throughout the day to Him.
Good for you, Fenners, and so glad it is helping you! You are helping many people by continuing to post here on how you are doing. You may never know some of them--this board gets alot of folks who come here and read and never post. They need to hear from people who are newly sober and your experiences. You may even be saving one or more lives by your postings...well, most likely so, because when they read how you are staying sober despite your daily trials, and getting through them without picking up, then it can inspire others who otherwise lack the courage and faith to give AA a chance.
(Now me...well, I have lost some credibility by picking up again, I know. And right now you are one of my role models because I had to start over myself. I was at the point where I didn't think I would ever stop drinking and almost gave into it and gave up. I continued to come here everyday, read posts from oldtimers and newcomers and it has helped me. I picked up my 30 day chip today, so you and I have about the same amount of sober time :)
Just want to remind the newer folk that the holidays WILL bring on a kind of stress and anxiety that we do not normally see ... what with all the parties come'n up and the year's end and the start of a new one ...
For what it's worth, my sponsor had me go to extra meet'ns and participate in all the AA groups 'special' events or meet'ns ... it worked for me and I should think it would help others out there who are struggle'n ... for instance, we had two or three groups in the area that held hourly meet'ns on New Years eve until 1 or 2 o'clock in the morn'n ... those were some fantastic meet'ns too ... (it kept me out of the rooms where the booze was flow'n freely ...) ...
Just say'n ...
Love youse guys and God Bless, Pappy
__________________
'Those who leave everything in God's hand will eventually see God's hand in everything.'
