Dreaming About Drinking
Last night, I had a dream about drinking. For someone who’s sober, like me, these dreams are never pleasant.
The details of the dream are already fading, but I remember sitting in a bar and quickly downing two shots. It was a particularly odd dream because even when I was a heavy drinker, I rarely drank at bars and almost never took a shot.
Within the dream, I felt awful — the guilt of breaking my sobriety was absolutely crushing. After I woke up, the feeling of guilt stayed with me. Even though I hadn’t actually done anything wrong, I had trouble shaking the feeling that I had somehow messed up.
It took a few minutes before I felt sure that it had all just been a dream, and another hour or so before the guilty feelings finally subsided.
Dreams about breaking sobriety are always frustrating. It can feel like my subconscious is punishing me, no matter how good a job I’ve been doing avoiding alcohol.
When I first quit drinking (about two years ago), I used to have dreams like this several times a week. It’s a common experience among people who quit drinking, and people in recovery for other addictions have similar dreams.
The dreams from earlier in my recovery were far worse than the one last night. They were more vivid and they were harder for me to separate from reality when…
