I use to handle anxiety with alcohol. Now I've tried to remove it from my life but when stress comes up my gut reaction is to drink... I won't ever allow myself to but I hate that initial flash second thought process.
How do you handle stress and anxiety?
That is a great question. As a full time student with a full time job and the consequences of a really bad drinking problem, the stress and anxiety can be almost overwhelming at times. In addition to living one day at a time, I budget my time by breaking my day into smaller chunks of time, or small goals throughout the day. I do a lot of inventory, helping me accept progress over perfection. When I go to sleep before going to work, my goal is to know that I did the very best I could with what I have to work with, and the rest is what is beyond my control. And that's the stuff I have to give up to my HP, among other things.
Jeez, I can really relate to this. I have dealt with anxiety my whole life, and the only thing I ever found to take the edge off was to have a drink.
That being said, I am absolutely committed to never drinking again. As it turned out, the results from drinking alcohol were much worse than the problem of the anxiety! So, I've learned to just deal with my anxiety on my own. The anxiety is rough here and there, but knowing that drinking is worse for me actually calms me down.
I think that is a great way to break up your day. I struggle with putting things out of my mind that could go wrong. I've made mistakes before I became sober and have this huge fear of reliving them. I will definitely try that 
That is a very good point. Thinking about how alcohol changed my life often though just sends me plummeting though... sometimes I just can't
Mistakes, ya I know… Lol, I probably wouldn't offer this as advice to anyone, but… I've messed up so many times now that I've gotten used to it. As an analogy, when I stand on the first tee now, I don't really fear slicing it into the woods like I used to. I just swing away with confidence, go find my ball, and hit it from there. That's my approach to fear with life in general now.
I definitely understand what you mean. And for myself, I did many things I wasn't proud of when I drank. But each day, week, month and year that I've stayed sober, has put more and more distance between the things that I have done. And as cliché as this may sound, time does heal....
So I'm a very anxious person..and alcohol killed that part of me but then I always sobered up and still had all the same problems along with a hangover. Now I take a deep breath and figure out what needs to be dealt with that's making me anxious then face it. Once I'm done the anxiety calms down. It's a process and dealing with life on lifes terms isn't fun but it does work. The knee jerk reaction of taking a few swigs has gone away too. Hope that helps.
It's never goin away, can't control uncertainty.
I just try to remember i can can somewhat control how i react to anxiety.
Dont get stuck n the moment.
I dealt with severe anxiety for several years. One thing that has since became very clear to me is that the alcohol was the biggest driver of the anxiety. Though it’s still there, I can deal with it now by exercising, and just giving myself a 10-20min break from work every now and then. Best of luck to you, it’s (anxiety) no joke.
Well Anxiety used to drive me up the wall after my divorce at least that's what I thought but I've always had it and Alcohol had a lot to do with it I say. I made a lot of mistakes when I drank and I used to put myself down and felt embarrassed. UNTIL I stopped drinking and started Loving myself and I started going for long walks or hikes or exercise and treat myself to something like a movie or treat. IT HELPS ME..I haven't felt any anxiety..too tired I guess....hope it helps