What is your single biggest motivator in staying sober ?
 

Friday night is messing with my head.

Need a few "Reasons to Stay the Course " boost from those in the know.

With gratitude...

Hi alpha. It is kind of hard for me to explain but once I finally got sober in 2011 (after a horrible 4.5 year relapse) I was just so damn thankful to be alive. I now feel my life is a wonderful gift and for me to go through it as a drunk is complete disrespect to self and utter BS. I have lots of down times and a few ongoing issues but they are things I am working on & improving.

Keep going forward. Visualize, read, write. What is something good you can do for you? Sobriety is worth it :)

Me.

I used to hate myself, not figuratively - literallly.

now I like who I am and I love what I do with my life.

getting and staying sober was the first part of that whole process.

stay with it AO :)

D

welp, gratitude for the little things helps.
ya may want to sit down with pen and paper and make a gratitude list.


reasons:
alcohol never solves anything
i remember what i was
sobriety rocks!!!

Thank your for your kindness !

It's almost as if there are too many hours in the day all of a sudden. Before there were only two times of day, drunk or sick. Now there's time for just about anything I can think of. Today I was off so I meditated, excercised, found a local sauna I could detox in, had lunch with my daughter, cleaned the garage, fixed by bike, played with the dog, gardened, got out in the sun to get a little vitamin d, took a power nap, meditated again, did a little retail therapy, went for dinner.

I guess I should be tired, ;)

I supposed now that the inexplicable anxiety has somewhat started to pass there is almost a false sense of security. I'm able to function far better but then the, dare I say, BOREDOM kicks in ? What a sick, self absorbed, baby brat of a disease this is. I want to slap myself upside the head - you poor thing, your BORED ??? So go play in a bottle.

More than half the world wished they could have the luxury of boredom.

I need to get over myself. Seriously.

When I was drinking I wanted to die, I mean I really did, I thought I had nothing to live for. I was miserable. I drank because I wanted the pain to go away but all it did was make the pain worse and make any semblance of joy unseeable to me. I drank because I wanted to sleep and I ended up never sleeping for more than 4 hours. Now I wake up at 5:30 AM to run and I wake up feeling refreshed and ready for the day not still drink, or reaching for the bottle or with my face in the toilet. Now I can see I do have a lot to live for, I have great family and friends and even tho I've made a lot of mistakes and have lot of work to do sober I can see good things about myself that alcohol made me blind too...I am more dependable, more motivated and overall I am happier. Alcohol drags me down into the depths of hell
More than a single reason, sorry but I couldnt just pick one. Thank you for posting this...it helped me! I hope some of this helps someone else as well

EDIT
I guess the single reason would be alcohol/drugs were killing me, clean and sober I am actually living my life, what I was doing before was just a way to die, slowly and painfully

Alpha, maybe start a blog because you know how to write. In the early days I spent a lot of time on SR, and contributed to the discussions.
Just because you're new doesn't mean you won't have a heap to contribute.
I'm not much help on boredom because a book usually deals with that.

I have recently come around to being grateful. For me, health is the main reason I quit. They say that "if you have your health, you have everything." I have been unhealthy in the past (not due to alcohol). I don't want to add alcohol-related health problems to my list.

The fact that I have more energy and have stopped making excuses for not making changes to my life, attitude, and behavior are also positive benefits of not drinking.

that's OK....you're allowed to be a brat on a friday night in early sobriety.

one of my biggest motivators in sobriety is SLEEP...real restful restorative sleep.

i am the world's worst insomniac....natural healthy sleep in sobriety is the best thing in the world..my poor tired mind and body soak it up. it never gets old to wake up feeling good and rested in the morning...like a normal person

My motivator is I am not ready to die. I almost lost my life trying to control my drinking.

My single biggest motivator is the fact that I like my life and who I am now. This was definitely not the case while I was drinking, and though I have not relapsed I am convinced that if I were to pick up it would be a very quick ride back to where I left off.

Control over my actions, behaviour, safety and commitments to my self.

could be a good time to look into some hobbies. i find em to be very valuable

Peace of mind

Teenage daughters
Anxious Dogs
Moms
Rabbit holes

The possibility of happiness. Not there yet. If I don't stay sober I have no chance.

What is your single biggest motivator in staying sober ?

If I don't stay sober I will go back to where I was ... and then it gets worse.

All the best.

Bob R

My biggest motivator? I guess it would be to be the best me I can be. I also want to feel like I'm living the way I'm supposed to be today. When I was drinking and using I knew there had to be more to life and that I wasn't going along w/the plan (God's plan) for my life. When I die I want to know I've been the best me I could be for myself, my family, community etc. and have no regrets!

I no longer have a problem with alcohol. The problem has been removed. It does not exist for me. I have been placed in a position of neutrality, safe and protected. I lost the power of choice in drink and now I don't have to choose - that debate is closed. I cannot drink and that's all there is to it.

In the same way I cannot fly. I don't wake up each morning and make a choice not to fly. If you found me at the edge of a cliff thinking I had a choice of whether to fly or not, you might well question my sanity. Actually, I could probably fly alright, it's the landing that would be problematic!

Health issues that were developing but of that primarily the deteriorating thinking and memory. I could know I had a bunch of things I needed to do, but couldn't wrap my head around how to stay focused enough to make a list, or decide where to begin. I would just feel overwhelmed at the slighting things.