Early in rehab, the alcoholic/addict may be plagued by a variety of uncomfortable and challenging feelings that can overwhelm their ability to cope.  Post-addiction for me was marked by significant swings in experienced emotions.  Early in my recovery, as my mind was reawakening, I was sober, but I found myself experiencing extreme anxiety with a sense of tremendous fear.  Sometimes I thought about the things in my past, sometimes of my consequences, and my uncertain future.
    My best friend, whose gone through her recovery with me, had a re-emergence of painful memories of trauma in her childhood which spilt out in the form of deep and pertaining sadness, hostile and aggressive feelings of anger and shame. 
    We were both extremely prone to relapse, but in recovery, not all emotions of sobriety are negative.  The first days of sobriety were like pink clouds with feelings of euphoria because we were so happy about our sobriety.  Even after years of chemical numbing, the alcoholic/addict can develop the capacity to feel. 

Are you sober now? If you are how do you feel about your sobriety after being sober for quite a while?
I was depressed at first I hated not drinking I felt like life was so boring at first especially when it seemed like thats all what people talked about. But now I love being sober, even through my worst days I'm just glad I'm sober and I can conquer anything without a bottle.

Don't you just love it!  I can't believe how far I've come and I too feel like I don't have to rely on stupid drugs to keep me happy.  I'm more myself than I've ever been before and that makes me happy enough to keep me going.  I consider myself fully recovered, I'll think about having a drink here and there, but it's just not worth it to me.  I know I can most definately handle it, but I don't even want to be that person that drinks once in a while.  I am absolutely straight edge, captain sober all the way!

I'm proud of both of you guys for getting sober and absolutely loving and appreciating the feeling. Most people dont know what they're missing out on by drinking their lives away and all the amazing memories they  are losing.

bcoolio said:     Early in rehab, the alcoholic/addict may be plagued by a variety of uncomfortable and challenging feelings that can overwhelm their ability to cope.  Post-addiction for me was marked by significant swings in experienced emotions.  Early in my recovery, as my mind was reawakening, I was sober, but I found myself experiencing extreme anxiety with a sense of tremendous fear.  Sometimes I thought about the things in my past, sometimes of my consequences, and my uncertain future.
    My best friend, whose gone through her recovery with me, had a re-emergence of painful memories of trauma in her childhood which spilt out in the form of deep and pertaining sadness, hostile and aggressive feelings of anger and shame. 
    We were both extremely prone to relapse, but in recovery, not all emotions of sobriety are negative.  The first days of sobriety were like pink clouds with feelings of euphoria because we were so happy about our sobriety.  Even after years of chemical numbing, the alcoholic/addict can develop the capacity to feel. 

Does your friend still think about her painful memories? Or after being sober for a while is she over it and a happy sober person again?