Hi Badlove,
I am on day 4 and I am really looking forward to positive changes in my appearance. I used to like the way I looked: slender, fresh, well-groomed. Drinking turned me into an overweight, puffy, bloodshot-eyed, tired 28 year old who goes into public place disheveled.
I agree with Mimi. The physical changes are enough to keep me going. Aside from the detrimental health effects, believe me I know what those are, I ask myself these questions to keep going on my sobriety:
In three months, do I want to be at my goal weight?
Do I want my appearance back? I'm 28 now. I won't be in my twenties much longer.
Do I want to wear my old, fashionable wardrobe in a few months? Or do I want to continue wearing the one pair of 36' dockers I bought at Target a few months ago, keep wearing them every single day as the only pair of pants that fit even though they have a hole in the crotch? (I have refused to buy another pair because I can't bring myself to spend money on pants that I "deem" to big for "me." LOL
Do I want to wear my contact lenses again? Or keep wearing my glasses everyday because my eyes are bloodshot in the morning and only get worse if I put them in.
Like I said I get that my sobriety is a matter of life or death, happiness or sadness, but I think that focusing on the positive changes in our appearance is a HUGE motivator.