Paul..i rather think it woud depend on what period of time I am looking at, and from what distance...
I mean i do not expereince my recovery as being a steady forward movement...seems to me i have periods where i seem to be slipping back. Part of this is probably because when i become aware of an area in which i really haven't progressed at all...i am far more likely to loose some of my progress in other areas...i fall back to old behaviors and thoughts when i become frightend or frustrated in any area. Or i may just "feel" like i'm sliding back cause my perception of myself becomes more negative...
If i look at where i was in 85 to now i see huge progress despite the fact that some drinking occured between then and now. If i look at my progress over the last 22 months sober...right now it looks like i took a huge dip in progress at about 15 months thtat hasn't really righted itself...but i think that may be an ilusion. I expect when i look back from 5 years from now it may seem like a very almost invisable squigle in the line of progression.
Wow...i overthought this one
