![\"energy](\"http:\/\/www.nashville.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/energy-drinks.jpg\")
<\/a>\u201cIn early recovery, I was drinking probably five of those Five-Hour Energy shots a day, probably a gallon of unsweet tea,\u201d says Diane W. of Hillsboro Village, a recovering alcoholic with \u00a0two years sober.<\/p>\n\u201cI went from a half a pack a day to three packs a day,\u201d she said. \u201cI smoked really fast. But they were ultra lights. In my mind, that justified it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Woah! All that caffeine and all those smokes\u2026. Dang girl, you was wired! But that really is so common for us.<\/p>\n
Jonesing for a drink or a fix in early recovery? How \u2018bout three Monster energy drinks instead? Or a few Starbucks? Or an extra pack (or two) of cigarettes a day? Or desserts at every meal and a few snacks in between?<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s not just substances. Heard about that new TV series on Netflix? How \u2018bout watching the entire season in a night?<\/p>\n
Anyone ever play video games from 8 at night until 8 the next morning? Have you seen guys hit the gym so hard that you don\u2019t recognize their Hulk bodies three months later?<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s not even get started with sex and\/or romantic relationships.<\/p>\n
If we\u2019re the least bit uncomfortable, we addicts\/alcoholics LOVE to change the way we feel. And we\u2019ve done that for years \u2014 or decades \u2014 with substances and\/or unhealthy behaviors. So yeah, we get that drugs and alcohol don\u2019t work for us anymore. But it\u2019s really hard to break that habit of immediately looking outside ourselves for something, anything, to make us feel better.<\/p>\n
- \n
- Mark H. of Bellevue, with a year clean, says he uses lots of retail therapy, mostly used CDs and trips to Costco. \u201cI was there easily five or six days a week,\u201d Mark says. \u201cI figured out when they started giving out better samples.\u201d<\/li>\n
- Fellow Bellevue resident Tiffany C., with three years clean, says, \u201cMy early recovery obsession? Boys.\u201d<\/li>\n
- Oh, and one more thing for Tiffany: Binge TV watching, especially\u00a0Gossip Girl<\/i>,\u00a0Games of Thrones<\/i>and\u00a0Dexter<\/i>. \u201cIt took me outside of my own life,\u201d she said. \u201cIt gave me other people\u2019s lives to focus on.\u201d<\/li>\n
![\"Ice-Cream-with-Brownies\"](\"http:\/\/www.nashville.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Ice-Cream-with-Brownies.jpg\")
<\/a>Brett G., of West Nashville, who has 19 years sober, says he turned to sweets. \u201cI never ate sweets before. I immediately found affection for sweets. The old-timers talked about replacing the sugar in the booze,\u201d Brett said. \u201cLunch and dinner, I would always find a way to get a cake or a pie in there.\u201d<\/li>\n- Amanda P. of Donelson, who has two years clean, did the caffeine-tobacco twosome. \u201cI didn\u2019t know what to do with myself; I feel stressed, I didn\u2019t know what to do,\u201d she said, \u201cso I\u2019d go to get a coffee and smoke cigarettes on the way there.\u201d<\/li>\n
- Ed M. of Franklin, with three years clean, turned to running, eventually started doing marathons. \u201cIt feeds into compulsive, obsessive behaviors and my need to take things to the limit,\u201d he says.<\/li>\n
- Rich V., of West Nashville, who has seven months clean, started going to the gym six or seven days a week, to the point where he would injure himself lifting weights. \u201cIt comes with some sense of validation from looking good and feeling good,\u201d he said. \u201cI also use it as an outlet to get rid of anger and anxiety.\u201d<\/li>\n
- Billy D. of Bellevue, with five years clean, turned to video games after a year and a half, playing up to eight hours a day at the peak of his new addiction. \u201cIt began to affect my meeting attendance, my step work, my relationship with others,\u201d he said. \u201cIt caused me emotional pain, just not to the extent or gravity of the drug addiction.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
And there\u2019s the rub. Few things will destroy our lives or kill us quicker than drugs and alcohol. So we justify and tell ourselves that our new obsessions are OK.<\/p>\n
Truth is, these new obsessions ain\u2019t that healthy either, and some will definitely kill us, just more slowly.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s celebrate putting down the substances. And let\u2019s acknowledge that the road to balance and serenity can be rocky.<\/p>\n
Think I\u2019ll have a smoke \u2013 and a grande coffee, five cinnamon rolls, a shopping spree and a\u00a0Big Bang Theory<\/i>\u00a0marathon \u2013 to contemplate that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I spent $35 for a sushi lunch the other day. That\u2019s $35, just for one lunch, just for me, a guy who \u2013 very grateful for it, mind you \u2013 is making a non-profit agency salary. And it occurred to me \u2013 sure, I\u2019ve put down alcohol and drugs. But man, I sure do still […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}