Some days I miss being able to take a break by drinking or getting high. Can’t drink or smoke anything or take anything anymore but the urge to do it still comes up.
Even if it was like caffeine or cough syrup or whatever it’s just like an old reckless habit that pops back up. Sometimes just feels like a void.
I usually go mountain biking or play guitar or something in place of it.
How do you guys deal with that?
I just remind myself that it is only a temporary solution. So don’t do it. 
Still trying to figure it out. Keeping busy definitely helps
I never abused alcohol or drugs.
Really proud of myself.
You can do this @anon31257746!
I would often walk in nature, read, and make music in sober places. It helped me to be around people. Boredom is a big trigger. I dunno how I’d do it without caffeine and nicotine in those sober places. Everyone was just nonstop doing it. And those legal stimulants take the edge a bit off my cravings.
You don’t even consume caffeine these days??
I once was in a sober house and I had an urge to gamble. So I drank a cup of coffee and the gambling craving went away. Weird. Guess I’m an addict for life. It’s just minimizing the damage of which substances/behaviors/etc I use. Right now I’m trying basketball tooo. Maybe that’ll get my mind off weed at times.
Staying away from joe Rogan and Terence McKenna has drastically reduced my cravings for those “other drugs”
You’re doing better than me. I’d love to quit coffee and vaping.
im just trying to replace my old drinking habits with more productive habits like working out. working out is addictive and helps my physique.
last time I drank was like 2 weeks ago, I had a whole bottle of wine but I didn’t get any of that old euphoria to entertain myself. drinking is not the same on meds, it just doesn’t do much for me.
bottles of 0.0 % beer
I didn’t have caffeine for the last 5 months cuz I wanted to be super clean doing this rTMS treatment. I didnt even have caffeine from pop. But now I have ocassional coffee. It was so I could more easily tell if the treatment is helping without other things in place.
It’s hard but replacing negative with positive is good. I still get the odd urge to have a cigarette but know if I have 1 I’ll have 10 and I’ll be addicted again. That is good enough for me to get over those feelings. I’m not sure you ever totally get over such thoughts but it does get easier with time. This september it’ll be 10 years for me without a smoke. I’m proud I’ve made it through to the other side!
I’m so proud of you! You are someone I revere on this site!
I miss it too. I just throw myself into my passions like making music.
It also helps to workout when you get the urge, the dopamine rush you get from it can kinda replace the feeling you get from drinking/getting high when youre missing it
Thanks 
151515
me too i used to drink alot (5+ drinks) every weekend when i realized i could drink on meds without dying, before the meds i would smoke weed daily and take basically any drug i could get my hands on, i also stopped smoking cigarettes around the same time i started playing piano, now i dont use anything even tho sometimes i feel like it i remember all the negatives and do stuff to keep me distracted
When I first got serious about getting clean in AA, I had a month or two sober but one night, I was laying in bed and the disease came back to me full force and I made plans to borrow money and get some crack in the morning. The feeling was so strong, and I had what some people call an “anticipatory high” from just knowing I would have crack the next day. I woke up the next morning and the first thing I thought was, “That was crazy”. And I didn’t smoke or drink that day or any day since. That was about in January of 1990.
And the craving and obsession to use was lifted from me and has never come back. I never feel tempted to drink or do drugs.
This is what AA did for me.
Yeah, the mountain biking or playing guitar is a good idea. Just doing something to distract you until the feeling to use passes.
I haven’t done any drugs in years. I still drink sometimes, but it’s not the same after antipsychotics. If someone did offer me something I’d be too afraid it would interact. I even heard on the radio that CBd interacts with antipsychotics.
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