When someone drinks excessively and they know it, they are under physiological threat because of the damage alcohol can cause to ones health. Also the nature of drinking too much requires you to make sure you always have sufficient alcohol on hand to feed your addiction. Throw in a mix of family obligations, employment or work issues, maybe even hiding alcohol etc. and you are under quite a bit of stress just to maintain your life with alcohol as its hub.
Heavy drinking takes a physical toll and wrings you out emotionally and it only gets worse over time. There are arguments with family, missed obligations at home and work, your career or job will likely suffer and financially you may be looking into a black hole. Depending on how long you stubbornly put yourself through this chaotic existence you change psychologically, and not in a good way.
You lose a piece of the “old you” with every drink you consume so obviously your life as you once knew it is vanishing fast. Sinking lower each day into a depressed state of mind, a feeling of loss is replaced by defeat and numbness; you plummet further into this addictive oblivion toward rock bottom. When you hit your bottom and help is imposed on you or you seek it out yourself, the emptiness you feel, the despair born of shame and disappointment in yourself, you wonder if you will ever be normal again.
Normal…you can’t even remember what normal was so you do as you are told and live one minute at a time in the beginning. The compulsion to drink is always with you and you hurt physically. You think about the loss of alcohol in your life as you would if you lost a limb. It was once a part of you and now it’s gone, just like that! So you need to learn to live without the alcohol. You rehab yourself and try to get back on track emotionally. You exercise your brain through discussion and fellowship perhaps at AA or in-patient rehabilitation. Slowly your sense of reality and cognitive ability returns.
Alcohol free days turn into weeks and you realize you haven’t worked so hard for so little result in your life. You still feel like a truck hit you only now you remember the accident. You still crave a drink when you think about it but thankfully not as much as you did initially so that’s something. Physically you are healed enough so you can return to work but you fear falling off the wagon. You realize that this is a good thing, more progress.
Returning to work is good for you since it keeps your mind occupied, it takes you out of yourself. It also throws you into a world you should be familiar with but now makes you feel uncomfortable. You’re told this is normal and you press ahead. Things begin to improve at work and though you feel like everyone is staring at you the rhythm you are getting into is good for you.
Things seem to be improving at home albeit in small steps. You have trust to rebuild and this will only happen with time served. It would be helpful if you didn’t have nagging thoughts about drinking, if you could only get on with your life and leave the past behind. Time is the great healer so you are told repeatedly but patience has never been a virtue of yours. Now you have no choice.
Your group meetings seem to revolve around emotional healing and you took your time coming around on the steps. You were never very spiritual before but now you decide to follow the program as it was designed since you see the results in other long term members and you want what they seem to have. You find yourself praying more often for help to overcome the troubles you’ve created.
You find a sponsor in your group who you think seems to have it together and decide to emulate them. You continually hear how others are achieving personal contentment and you wonder if this is myth. Nonetheless you carry on doing as you are told, trying to be a better person. You are getting frustrated and your behavior is often indicative of your drinking days, you are all over the map emotionally as you pray for stability in your life.
One day when you are well into your sixth month of sobriety you wake up feeling unusually refreshed, like you just had the best sleep of your life and excitement is in your heart. You feel energized as never before and you feel confident and comfortable in your own skin. It’s like someone switched bodies with you through the night and you got the better deal! You have been waiting to feel this way for a long time. You’ve been praying hard for this feeling of calm and serenity, worked at the program and followed all the advice. What you feel like today is what you’ve been seeing in others for months now.
This feeling of rebirth and energy is just what you needed and you are feeling more like the person you used to be but without the angry hole burning in your stomach. Even though you are middle aged you feel like you’ve finally become an adult. There is a new sense of calm that has blanketed you and your outlook has become focused and composed. You are able to smile again and feel it in your soul.
Since you haven’t felt this good in a very long time you desperately want to start living again with a sense of urgency to make up for lost time. The urgency you feel is a source energy that has replaced the emptiness you once felt. Your depression has been replaced by optimism and certain clarity of vision for yourself and your future. Not only do you want to recapture what you once had before alcohol slyly took your life but you want to improve things and accomplish more. Your unbridled enthusiasm for the future is the beginning of your life free from the burden of alcohol.
To set up an appointment with Michael Pearlman, M.D.,
Call 1 (866) 285-3400 toll-free or (617) 620-2230,
Or complete and submit our
Appointment Form
For further information about Michael Pearlman, M.D.’s proven treatment program
follow this link now.
Learn more about the FreedomFromAlcohol Method.
When someone drinks excessively and they know it, they are under physiological threat because of the damage alcohol can cause to ones health. Also the nature of drinking too much requires you to make sure you always have sufficient alcohol on hand to feed your addiction. Throw in a mix of family obligations, employment or work issues, maybe even hiding alcohol etc. and you are under quite a bit of stress just to maintain your life with alcohol as its hub.
Heavy drinking takes a physical toll and wrings you out emotionally and it only gets worse over time. There are arguments with family, missed obligations at home and work, your career or job will likely suffer and financially you may be looking into a black hole. Depending on how long you stubbornly put yourself through this chaotic existence you change psychologically, and not in a good way.
You lose a piece of the “old you” with every drink you consume so obviously your life as you once knew it is vanishing fast. Sinking lower each day into a depressed state of mind, a feeling of loss is replaced by defeat and numbness; you plummet further into this addictive oblivion toward rock bottom. When you hit your bottom and help is imposed on you or you seek it out yourself, the emptiness you feel, the despair born of shame and disappointment in yourself, you wonder if you will ever be normal again.
Normal…you can’t even remember what normal was so you do as you are told and live one minute at a time in the beginning. The compulsion to drink is always with you and you hurt physically. You think about the loss of alcohol in your life as you would if you lost a limb. It was once a part of you and now it’s gone, just like that! So you need to learn to live without the alcohol. You rehab yourself and try to get back on track emotionally. You exercise your brain through discussion and fellowship perhaps at AA or in-patient rehabilitation. Slowly your sense of reality and cognitive ability returns.
Alcohol free days turn into weeks and you realize you haven’t worked so hard for so little result in your life. You still feel like a truck hit you only now you remember the accident. You still crave a drink when you think about it but thankfully not as much as you did initially so that’s something. Physically you are healed enough so you can return to work but you fear falling off the wagon. You realize that this is a good thing, more progress.
Returning to work is good for you since it keeps your mind occupied, it takes you out of yourself. It also throws you into a world you should be familiar with but now makes you feel uncomfortable. You’re told this is normal and you press ahead. Things begin to improve at work and though you feel like everyone is staring at you the rhythm you are getting into is good for you.
Things seem to be improving at home albeit in small steps. You have trust to rebuild and this will only happen with time served. It would be helpful if you didn’t have nagging thoughts about drinking, if you could only get on with your life and leave the past behind. Time is the great healer so you are told repeatedly but patience has never been a virtue of yours. Now you have no choice.
Your group meetings seem to revolve around emotional healing and you took your time coming around on the steps. You were never very spiritual before but now you decide to follow the program as it was designed since you see the results in other long term members and you want what they seem to have. You find yourself praying more often for help to overcome the troubles you’ve created.
You find a sponsor in your group who you think seems to have it together and decide to emulate them. You continually hear how others are achieving personal contentment and you wonder if this is myth. Nonetheless you carry on doing as you are told, trying to be a better person. You are getting frustrated and your behavior is often indicative of your drinking days, you are all over the map emotionally as you pray for stability in your life.
One day when you are well into your sixth month of sobriety you wake up feeling unusually refreshed, like you just had the best sleep of your life and excitement is in your heart. You feel energized as never before and you feel confident and comfortable in your own skin. It’s like someone switched bodies with you through the night and you got the better deal! You have been waiting to feel this way for a long time. You’ve been praying hard for this feeling of calm and serenity, worked at the program and followed all the advice. What you feel like today is what you’ve been seeing in others for months now.
This feeling of rebirth and energy is just what you needed and you are feeling more like the person you used to be but without the angry hole burning in your stomach. Even though you are middle aged you feel like you’ve finally become an adult. There is a new sense of calm that has blanketed you and your outlook has become focused and composed. You are able to smile again and feel it in your soul.
Since you haven’t felt this good in a very long time you desperately want to start living again with a sense of urgency to make up for lost time. The urgency you feel is a source energy that has replaced the emptiness you once felt. Your depression has been replaced by optimism and certain clarity of vision for yourself and your future. Not only do you want to recapture what you once had before alcohol slyly took your life but you want to improve things and accomplish more. Your unbridled enthusiasm for the future is the beginning of your life free from the burden of alcohol.
To set up an appointment with Michael Pearlman, M.D.,
Call 1 (866) 285-3400 toll-free or (617) 620-2230,
Or complete and submit our
Appointment Form
For further information about Michael Pearlman, M.D.’s proven treatment program
follow this link now.
Learn more about the FreedomFromAlcohol Method.
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