I have a friend with long term sobriety describe the process of learning to deal with emotions as "Staying with the uncomfortable, until the uncomfortable becomes comfortable."

I really like it because for years I used alcohol to numb myself from any negative feeling, because there was a part of me that believed that the uncomfortable feelings would overwhelm me. What I've learned, through a combination of counseling, CBT, meditation, and participating in Women for sobriety, is that emotions don't last forever and feelings will pass, you just have to learn a different way of reacting to them and coping with them. Now I know that's much easier said than done, but it's true.

A big thing for me, was finding distractions that worked when ever I got a craving for alcohol. For me, my go to is knitting. But everyone's different. Do you have any hobbies? Is there something you wanted to do but didn't because you were using drugs? If so investigate it.

Another big thing for me, was learning grounding techniques to help me sit with and pass through the negative feelings. Ask your psychologist to teach you some grounding techniques.

Good luck on your continued work on learning to manage feelings.

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