fantail

Yes! It's amazing. A week is a really substantial period of time now, that I can spend doing lots of different things. I often find myself doing double takes at the calendar when I realize that something happened just a week ago, just a month ago, etc. Whereas this time last year I missed an entire week of work on a binge, and it felt like a blink of an eye. Even before that, I was living somewhere without seasons and I would regularly forget what time of year it was because time moved so quickly for me. What a relief to get off of that ride.

ilovedogs666

I would say that I started to feel pretty satisfied with my life and emotionally balanced at 9 months

At one year I started to really appreciate my life sober and everything I gained from sobriety and truly do not want to drink alcohol anymore.

PixieD

3 months i was feeling calmer about the whole living sober thing. By 7 months i forgot what i was doing, meaning alcohol no longer fazed me when being around it or talking about it, so i actually felt normal. By 1 year living free from alcohol has just become a positive daily habit.

Grungehead

I chose 6 months in the poll although it was probably a little sooner than that. When I started working the 9th step in earnest and started practicing the 10th step daily things really started to smooth out for me, which was at around 4-5 months.

I had 2 other stretches of long-term sobriety before this current one and I'm having a hard time coming up with a time frame for those. The first 2 times I got sober I went to lots of AA meetings early on and things definitely got better, but I never worked the steps. After my experience this time I have a hard time saying my sobriety the first 2 times ever reached the level of contentment that I have now after working the steps.

GnikNus

I can relate to this. Ie been sober for a year and a half, but it feels like at least 2 or 3 years. To answer the question of the original poster, I took to sobriety right away and recognized and enjoyed it's benefits. Having said that, things felt "established" around the three month mark.

Mountainmanbob

I wish that all that got sober would give sobriety at least a three month try. Us drunks seem to be so impatient at times, expecting all to be near perfect within a short waiting period.

After 25 years of heavy drinking that effected his wife greatly the man asked of his wife, "what's wrong with you, I have been sober for a whole month now, you should be happy."

M-Bob

ThatWasTheOldMe

I am on day 26 today, and I feel the same way.

Kudos to you on your continuous sobriety.

steve-in-kville

Thanks for bumping this thread! Very encouraging.

Ionray

This. Rang so true for me when I read it because it was a key turning point for me as well. I'll be three years in October and I'll say I didn't really settle in till the 1 year point.

Loekken

I'd say 'sobriety' (not drinking) is smooth enough after 6 months, it's also the point where your life begins to get back together a bit. Just staying sober a few months isn't enough, that's what I know now. You need to go longer, especially in terms of not risking an immediate relapse.

Mountainmanbob

The question is asked so often by those entering sobriety that this seemed to be a needed thread. Naturally after some reading of the thread we see that there is no set time for each person but, a common pattern is shown.

Those first days, weeks and for some months of not drinking can be very rough but, we sober ones wish to share with the newcomer that the payoff is a great one. For most sobriety offers the relief for the mind, body and soul that we yearned so long for.

Keep the plug in the jug
and you will indeed be free.

M-Bob

CajunPrincess

Also want to thank you for bumping this thread. I was having these kinds of questions in my head tonight...

steve-in-kville

Not sure why, but always seemed like Day 3 was the toughest, and right around week 3 was almost as bad.

WhiskeyBent

Im still waiting for the smoothness. But it is good to read about how it is working for others.

Delilah1

I have 8 months sober, and I feel like each month has gotten easier, and the six month mark seemed to be when things felt smoother. I have something in my head about getting to the one year mark because I will have made it through every holiday, every season sober.

I stopped obsessing about alcohol after about 3/4 months and that was also a big step.

If you are just starting out know those first few difficult days/weeks are worth getting through. Life is so much better without alcohol in it.

Mountainmanbob

Yes, that first One Year Sober is such a very special thing.
Proves to us that we can truly do this sober way of life.
Of course that first week sober was also a big deal.
You are well on your way Delilah.

A nice sober day wished for all,
M-Bob

Mountainmanbob

As I'm looking back today (these thoughts change over time).

When Did Sobriety Start To Run Smoothly ??

Seems that at around the 3 year mark of sobriety I was out of most of the trouble that I had gotten into while drinking. Many, many troubles with self, family, courts and neighbors.

This sober road has been a long trip with many sober learning curves. Seems that while out there drinking for so many years my growth in many areas had been stunted.

Things I have noticed here at the 9 year sober mark are really smoothing out here lately. Giving most all matters better thought and only acting out in (most) cases in a loving and caring manner. If done properly, that does slow one down into a greater sense of serenity.

MB

sean0621

I spent my first 15 months of sobriety trying to change all the wrongs in my life. I tried to get that self-esteem that eluded me my entire life and thought I could get it through righting wrongs.

I was half right. I just had it backwards.

I thought I would feel better if I had more money(better job), better romantic relationship, better looking body(weight lifting, tanning), better clothes, and then things would be better.

I spent a lot of that time trying to save my addict ex-girlfriend as well. I remember having a nervous breakdown and becoming suicidal at about 6 months sober. The attempted perfecting came while I was working on my ex-gf rather than on myself.

I broke up with my gf around 12 months. Eventually maybe 13 months into sobriety I realized that I was looking at myself for flaws and trying to correct what was wrong with me. Instead I started looking for what was right with me and accepted that I was not perfect and never will be but there were a lot of good things that I wasn't focused on. I started to appreciate what I have and who I am.

Then at 15 months I started looking for deeper things such as peace and serenity, and I worked on spirituality, I switched from weight lifting to running and I ran with other people in recovery and had been attending meetings regularly for about 2 months at that time.

As I worked on making myself emotionally balanced and stopped caring so much about a better job and better girlfriend and having material stuff, I found that it left room for personal growth. I finally found that sense of self-esteem when I stopped chasing it and focused on the moment.

I think time had little to do with sobriety running smoothly... it was all about attitude. Once my attitude changed; what was white knuckled recovery for 13 months became natural after 15 months. But I think it could have been attained much earlier if I would have put myself around positive sober people sooner.