By: Chris Alvarez
Yesterday one of my cousins died and I feel nothing. I don’t feel sad and I don’t feel depressed. I just don’t know how.
However I do know how to feel nothing. Well, I know how to feel this physical manifestation (being continuously out of breath like being punched in the stomach) of what I think is grief.
Luckily I can feel this “grief” and be sober. This isn’t the first death I have experienced in my 11 months of sobriety it’s the third. It’s strange what sobriety does to you. If I were still drinking I would “appear” to feel so much more. I would cry, I would mope, and I would act out. But the amazing thing about sobriety is that I am exactly where I am supposed to be and if it means not expressing my feelings then that’s ok. I can accept my inability to express and feel my feelings.
The acceptance of something I cannot change is a big part of sobriety and dealing with grief. Mortality is something that cannot be changed. As a sober person I am forced to accept that. Just because I can’t feel my feelings doesn’t mean I’m a bad person. It just means that I am human and have to eventually learn to deal with them.
Right now I deal with grief by not feeling. You might be different but that’s the beauty of being human. We are all unique and we deal with life in our own different ways. Feelings don’t make you who you are. And that’s the beauty of being human.
If you have any stories about dealing with grief let us know.
I love you Chrissy!! This is beautiful
Sometimes grief develops as time passes and its not necessarily an immediate reactionary response loke cause and effect.
I remember having to look up the definition of “feelings” and “emotions” when first entering recovery because I had no way of describing either. Well said Chris!