Alcoholism recovery…I remember it well. I stopped drinking suddenly and experienced several days of utter hell, made tolerable only by a prescription of Diazepam.I felt all over the place. My emotions were going crazy, I felt paranoid and insecure but at least I was off alcohol. I tried AA and thought they might help, but I was sadly disappointed and therefore had to handle recovery on my own. Recovery by yourself isn’t as daunting as it seems though and you get an overwhelming feeling of achievement for being strong enough to do it on your own.

I think the things which kept me sane were meditation, reading about cognitive therapy and having lots of activities to fuel my time. I was particularly impressed with MindfullnessÂ

There is a lot to be said for running with the tide and not fighting against it, it is possible to make changes gradually and accept the consequences of change. Whilst in recovery I learned a lot of things about myself and the importance of achieving a balance in my life.

I think if you can crack alcoholism then you really begin to understand how much you are capable of.

When you stop drinking you’ll miss it for a while, but it doesn’t take long before you can tolerate being with people who are drinking and even find it mildly amusing to see other people making fools of themselves, repeating inane points every couple of minutes and talking nonsense. When you see alcoholism from the outside you’ll see that it isn’t very attractive. I love the fact that I never wake up with a hangover anymore, or suffer from acidic heartburn, how I can be relied on anytime, If someone needs me I can be there. I no longer risk losing my driving license on a daily basis…it truly is blissful.