What is emotional sobriety?

What is emotional sobriety? Short, simple, and sweet… it’s being able to regulate your emotions and your mood. Upon entering recovery, we first learn to function in a physical sobriety…short, simple, and sweet….its being able to physically move about without being under the influence of drugs, and Yes alcohol is a drug.

Emotional sobriety, learning how to regulate those emotions, and moods that have been kept hidden, disguised, or ignored…that right there is a sentence worth repeating. Before recovery our behavior desperately needed our own self regulation. After all we had been left to our own demise while under the influence, and it left us with certain behaviors, described by our own families as “compulsive”, “obsessive”, “self centered”. Our emotions and behavior were erratic at best and was often compared to that of an insane person.

Emotional sobriety calls for us to rewire our thinking, and reactions that were out of hand. We learn to stop and think before we speak, before all we could do was blurt whatever lie would get us out the door to go find more, more of our drug of choice. Simply said “we lived to use and used to live” while becoming spiritually bankrupt. We have to rewire our thinking to be able to stop our destructive behaviors that had become deeply ingrained in us, often to the point where we were a slave to the drug.It’s very possible for a person to be physically sober, yet not sober emotionally. The terminology, there is always a label for everything is called a “dry drunk”, as they are still unable to handle their emotions in a healthy way. They just seem like a sober person with an attitude..

The best part of emotional sobriety is that once we start obtaining it, it’s like being reborn. We gain insight into what made us a human slave of bondage to the drug. We learn about people, places and things, and how once again to interact with them all. We learn how to embrace our emotions and display them in positive manners with a positive outcome. Gone are the tantrums, as well as part of the intense sadness. As I have heard it said in the rooms “pink clouds and rainbows” are everywhere, your entire life becomes a miracle, as the feeling of goodness in the world returns.