Originally Posted by SereneEdition

Hi all -

Tomorrow marks my 500th day sober.

After trying for years and years, I am still in disbelief that I made it this far, and grateful that I kept trying and it finally took.

I believe the difference for me leading up to this success was a shift from viewing failure as shameful, to recognizing failure as deficit in my skills of living sober - and skills are learnable by asking myself 'what could I do differently next time. I'd like to recap the 3 part act of the journey so far in case it helps someone with their journey. SR has been my only recovery tool.


1 - 6 months
The first 6 months were pretty rough for me - I was constantly tired, and although clarity started to return, my brain was quite foggy. The physical rebound, and a new motivation to get things done were the first to bounce back though - and it was much better than while I was drinking. I decided to start caring for myself - and mostly took it easy & focused on self discovery and building awareness of my own needs. Vitamins helped.

6 - 12 months
The next 6 months I returned to school, and this increased my stress levels greatly, tested both my energy and mental processing. I felt great quite effective in my daily tasks again, and was getting feedback that I demonstrate a high level of self awareness, but not yet emotionally or interpersonally. By the end of the year, I realized a new insight: that alcohol wasn't about alcohol - it was just a vehicle for me to manage my emotions - and I have a lot of emotions.

12 months - now
Arriving at the year mark, I finally understood that recovery is different than sobriety. Recovery is all about learning the life skills that I skipped out on developing in my 20s. So now I'm focusing on emotional growth - both managing and expressing my emotions, how I communication, and how I connect with people. I've started a relationship with someone for the first time in 5 years.

Going forward
I feel like the past 500 days have been the best of my life, and this is a journey that is only just starting and it will continue to get better and more fulfilling.

A big thanks to SR for being an invaluable community that has been an invaluable companion on this journey. You guys are awesome!