(Part 2) Top products from r/alcoholicsanonymous
We found 8 product mentions on r/alcoholicsanonymous. We ranked the 26 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.
22. A Program For You: A Guide To the Big Book's Design For Living
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
Show Reddit reviews23. Not God: A History of Alcoholics Anonymous
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
Used Book in Good Condition
Show Reddit reviews24. Becoming Alcoholic: Alcoholics Anonymous and the Reality of Alcoholism
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
Used Book in Good Condition
Show Reddit reviews
What you’re experiencing sounds like symptoms of Post Acute Withdrawal Syndrome, or PAWS. Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant, and when your body becomes habituated to it, that same nervous system tends to go a little berserk until, with time and continued sobriety, it begins to act normally again.
Imagine that you’ve been holding down a helium balloon. When you let go, the balloon naturally goes up. Same as your CNS. It happens to pretty much everyone who’s been a heavy, daily drinker for a long period of time, and is perfectly normal. We’ve all been there!
There are some good things to know right now: first, after three weeks of sobriety you’re out of the danger zone of alcohol withdrawal, so there’s probably no need for medical detox. PAWS symptoms do linger for weeks or even months until your brain chemistry returns to a normal equilibrium, but they do NOT last forever. If you’re persistent with your recovery, in time you’ll likely feel fantastic. But what to do in the meantime?
For me, the anxiety, restlessness, emotional turbulence, malaise - all of which are totally normal during PAWS - were relieved by eating nutritious food, regular vigorous exercise, and plenty of good sleep, as well as developing a meditation/mindfulness practice. Pursuing creative interests also helped. Hobbies like music, writing, sports, video games, knitting, woodworking, all of these can help take your mind off the anxiety you’re feeling. I threw myself back into playing guitar, and lemme tell you - when I got deep into it, the last thing I’d think about were my PAWS symptoms or drinking.
Most importantly, I got involved in AA. I started going to meetings, got a sponsor, read the “big book,” and began taking the 12 steps. Having good orderly direction and a fellowship of encouraging, helpful, sober people really helped me stay on track and eased the craziness of early recovery in ways I never anticipated or imagined. I realize now that I never could have done it alone.
Hang in there! I know how rough those first weeks can be. AA has a great book about navigating sober life called Living Sober that I’d definitely recommend (you can find it here ). For more helpful advice, google Alcoholics Anonymous + your city/town to find meetings in your area. They’re free and open to anyone with a desire to stop drinking.
Good luck - wishing you well on your journey to recovery!
This a good book you might want to read from a non-alcoholic perspective. I find the dynamics of an AA meeting fascinating even though I am an alcoholic myself and actively participate in order to help others and stay sober myself. It's good also to see how it works from a psychological viewpoint.
https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Alcoholic-David-R-Rudy/dp/0809312441
Even without a sponsor, using a good guide to the Big Book like A Program For You is very helpful with the “hidden” stuff in the Big Book. A 12 step workshop used that book and I had great success working the steps from it.
Oh also you might want to check out refuge recovery. It's the 12 steps through the perspective of buddhism!
Book - https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0062122843/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1522865889&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=refuge+recovery
Community - they have meetings. It's not as big as AA but might be worth checking out
Before we got married, my wife had two "stalkers" like this. Annoying, creepy, but nothing criminal. One had a traumatic brain injury and the other guy had a different disorder. Subtle hints that she was not interested did nothing. She never tried the direct approach, and I'm not sure that it would have worked. Cognitive dissonance was big with these guys.
Gavin de Becker is a security expert, and in his book he says many of these types of guys are clueless, but harmless. Of course, some cross the line to harmful. His recommendation was to starve the stalker of any attention until they shifted their focus elsewhere. He found that threats or restraining orders were counter productive in most situations.