I woke up with a huge craving this morning. I NEVER drank in the morning during my drinking days.
What's that all about? Have others experienced cravings at times when they didn't normally drink? It passed after a couple of hours and I'm fine now but that was weird. I wanted to crawl out of my skin.
The part of your brain that tells you to drink is still alive and well. We have to get used to it. My alcoholic brain doesn't care what time it is... if it feels stress coming on, even if I'm not consciously aware of it, that little 'light' can go off, and the loud buzzer along with it, saying "It's time for a drink!!"
Pick up the phone, and TELL ON IT!!! That will take the fire out of it.
A big huge part of recovery for me has centered in stress management. (Even though my life is UNMANAGABLE, I can indeed learn how to reduce stress.) This can be as simple as cutting noise down, getting more sleep, eating better, drinking more fluids... and then there is a whole wealth of spiritual and psychological stress-management found in the Big Book and at meetings. All that emotional and mental stuff up there in the head cycling about can make my body react also. I believe that is why the Big Book says, "when the spiritual malady is overcome, we straighten out mentally and physically"... not the other way around.
You mentioned that 'it is time for a meeting', and I sure can identify with that one. While me and God and my sponsor are busy working through my 12 Steps together, a meeting is a really good way to get 'centered' again and re-focus. Again, Pick up the phone and TELL ON IT!!!!
Know that you are not by any means 'losing it' because you had a craving in the morning. Alcoholism doesn't work on a time schedule. It does work OVERTIME, though. What you are experiencing is par for the course, and it gets better, as long as long as we don't pick up.
Thinking of you and saying a prayer for you tonight, Happy.
Exactly the same thing has happened to me a few times and I never drank in the mornings, either. I put it down to being worried about something or having dreamt about alcohol. I always picked up the 'phone and just talked it through with somebody else in AA. Facing it and talking about it always got rid of the craving for me.
Hope the rest of your day is good. Take care,
Carol
__________________
Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. ~Dr. Seuss
When I started drinking in the morning I thought no big, I'am retired. I live my own time zone. I asked a friend, "how can you tell you have a drinking problem? Is it bad to drink in the morning?" He said, "I wasn't going to say anything but I thought you were and yes; it means you do have a problem". It struck!
