Love these ideas, Ed! I’ve come to enjoy and even savour delayed gratification - especially knowing that the outcome will leave me feeling better, not worse.
I dedicated time to observing impermanence in the earliest days of sobriety. I found that if I could just sit long enough, wait long enough, then uncomfortable feelings that I wanted to run from would pass on their own.
Over time, that allowed some distance between an impulse for immediate gratification and acting on that impulse. Eventually, the latter followed less often.
Love this practice, Taishin Michael. Annie Grace, whose work helped me get sober, spoke of riding the waves of craving - they’re so predictable, really. These days, I don’t experience those waves around alcohol at all - though I’m still riding them in other areas!
both: Fully agree with both of you that there are going to be triggers. To tag onto Dana's comment about 'the waves of craving'... I think of replacement habits as surfboards.
You don't have to white knuckle it and swim over every wave. Use a surfboard.
Have alternatives available for when the waves come.
Love these ideas, Ed! I’ve come to enjoy and even savour delayed gratification - especially knowing that the outcome will leave me feeling better, not worse.
I dedicated time to observing impermanence in the earliest days of sobriety. I found that if I could just sit long enough, wait long enough, then uncomfortable feelings that I wanted to run from would pass on their own.
Over time, that allowed some distance between an impulse for immediate gratification and acting on that impulse. Eventually, the latter followed less often.
Love this practice, Taishin Michael. Annie Grace, whose work helped me get sober, spoke of riding the waves of craving - they’re so predictable, really. These days, I don’t experience those waves around alcohol at all - though I’m still riding them in other areas!
both: Fully agree with both of you that there are going to be triggers. To tag onto Dana's comment about 'the waves of craving'... I think of replacement habits as surfboards.
You don't have to white knuckle it and swim over every wave. Use a surfboard.
Have alternatives available for when the waves come.
Love that, Ed!
Having a non-alcoholic beverage in hand is one of my go-tos for social situations! It helps with the anxiety. Love these tips, Ed.
Thanks Kaitlyn!
Great tips, Ed! I use many of them - I always carry my own tea bags in my purse and prefer driving myself, always.
Thanks for sharing and commenting!