Now that you have quit drinking or using other drugs, are you feeling more touchy or cranky? Do little things bug you? If this is happening, don’t worry—feeling more angry or irritable as you start your recovery is natural.
As you get some clean time in, you will find that the feelings you tried to stuff down by using drugs are starting to come to the surface. Sometimes these feelings show up as anger. Why anger? Because after using drugs for a while and stuffing down feelings, it can be really hard to figure out what you are feeling. The feelings come out in a big jumble, making you feel angry or moody.
When you get angry or moody, it can be hard to be patient around other people. Sometimes what they say or do can really bother you. If you’re starting to feel this way, it’s important to give yourself some time to sort things out. Sometimes you may need to talk to someone about how what they said or did made you feel. Other times you may realize the reason you were upset had nothing to do with someone else.
Learning healthy ways to deal with your anger will help you make healthy choices. Sometimes you may find that if you aren’t in control of your anger, it can be harder to make the choice to stay away from drinking and other drugs. Drinking or taking other drugs may have worked for you in the past by letting you take a “time out” from your feelings. Usually, though, when you were sober or straight again, you felt worse. Now that you want to stop abusing alcohol and other drugs, you will need to find some new ways of dealing with your anger.
It’s OK to be angry. It’s not OK to hurt yourself or others while you are angry.
