What Nobody Will Tell You About Early Recovery and Going to Meetings. And Why You Should Stay Clean and Sober Anyway

July 8, 2026

Your body is going to go through changes
You might gain weight
You might have trouble sleeping
You might be really clumsy
You might forget things...like all the time
Your emotions are going to be all over the place
You might need to go on medication - temporarily or for a while.
You’re going to crave sugar
You will have cravings to use/drink
You might feel lost and/or depressed
You might have drunk/high dreams
Your family and friends might not like it so much that you’re sober/clean
You may be bored
Meetings may not be enough
People might swarm you at your first couple of meetings
People are going to ask you why you’re not drinking
You’re going to be in situations where people are drinking, and might even pressure you to do so
People may annoy you by sharing too long
Your doctor(s) may know less about addiction than you do
You might feel like the sickest person in the room and want to run
You might feel like the healthiest person in the room and want to run
You might not understand what the hell some people are talking about when they share
If you are a woman, the men may feel creepy
You might not know why people are laughing
People who are on a pink cloud will annoy you
People who are miserable and share for a long time will annoy you
It might feel like a cult
Sobriety will often suck
The god stuff is weird if you find god stuff weird
You will romance the “good old days”
There will be cliques and you may not be in one

Why You Should Stay Clean and Sober Anyway

You should stay clean and sober anyway — it's the only way to find out how to live without being chained to a drink or a drug.

Once you learn to stay clean, the next part starts: how to live a life of joy, serenity, and connection.

The sobriety part is what makes that next part possible. And that next part will give you a life good enough that you won't want to mess it up by experimenting with chemicals again.