Feelings are rampant in early recovery. Fear is a big and powerful part of emotional imbalance. So are sorrow, anger, remorse, guilt, and general feelings of free-floating anxiety about what will come, what has gone happened during active addiction, and what is going to happen as a result of these situations.
It may seem that all of your emotions are present at once, making their presence known in different ways. It is possible that sleeplessness and tension will manifest because the calming influence of medication is eliminated in recovery. It feels like it will never end, but it usually does and it usually will. How does one get through the initial discomfort of emotional disregulation that is part and parcel of early recovery?
Learning to identify and talk about these feelings is the first step toward living with them. Historically, it was necessary to drown them in alcohol or shove them aside with drugs. It does not work, and now they have become overwhelming in their demands for attention. Talk therapy, even with an understanding and compassionate friend, is the beginning of welcoming feelings back into our experience. There is tremendous freedom in admitting that feelings are new to us and uncomfortable, even pleasurable ones. Learning to identify what is being felt can be an empowering and exciting new way of beginning as well.
Sayings in recovery settings, such as
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