LionOfJudah

What can you attribute to your success with being sober? what has helped you? Thank you for all of your responses... it helps me. I think I'm posting too much in my sobriety. oops.

Della1968

Posting and reading others struggles help me. That and I wrote down every painful thought and feeling during my last detox just to make sure it stayed my last.

huntingtontx

There is no such thing as posting to much. Post away. If anyone does not want to read it, they don't have to. We are all here for you, and you need to do whatever helps you. For me, I made a decision. I meant what I said about not drinking and one day I a time, I can do it. I don't worry about drinking. I just don't take the first drink. It works for me. I come to SR and the support here has been amazing. I like to be at the chat meetings on Tuesday and Friday, and I read posts here every day. Remember, you are never alone. We are all here for you.

sugarbear1

Keep posting, recovery depends upon us reaching out and doing it now is awesome, if you really need support, you KNOW we are here!!!!

AA and SR and I haven't changed that in almost 4 years. Never thought I could do one day sober

biminiblue

Post away, friend. That's what this site is for...some threads get more traffic than others. It's all good.

Success came when I was so miserable and desperate that I ended up on my knees in tears next to my bed in the middle of the night one night, saying, "Help me."

Now I say, "Thank you."

ru12

Not drinking.


No, really. I attribute my sobriety to not drinking regardless of how I feel about that at any given time. I've learned to just sit and be with any thoughts that i have about drinking. Eventually these thoughts leave and I get in with my life.

Also reading here helps me too... Well most of the time it does.

Justincredible

SR has been a game changer for me. Reading, posting, and checking in daily on the "24-hour Recovery Connections" thread has helped in a MAJOR way. I don't have many people who understand what a recovering person goes through.

A few other points for me are exercise and nutrition. Solitude and time with healthy people and family is also good. Still getting the hang of interacting with people while sober. Uncomfortable at first for me anyway, but it gets easier with practice.

Post as much as you like!

airwick

I feel my success in staying sober is believing in myself.

End of Story

tomsteve

The program of alcoholics anonymous.

gaffo

I quit for thirty days several times, mostly to prove to myself that I could do it but I never even thought that I could make the decision to never drink again. Then I became a father and got into my forties and got the feeling that I was wasting my life. I wanted to be a good role model for my kids and I wanted to appreciate all the good things that have been given to me. I wanted to channel my inner badass but the drinking made me feel weak and stupid. I was also getting bad hangovers on a pretty regular basis. I'm blessed to be strong and healthy but I could feel a lifetime of drinking taking its toll. When my best friend quit drinking in the middle of a bad divorce, I took the plunge. That "one day at a time" deal is what really got me going. Once I had a couple of days in I decided that I never wanted those days again and thus the cycle began. I discovered SR early on and it has been very helpful, it has given me faith. Now I have almost four years of sobriety and I love it. Life is hard but so much better without being an active alcoholic! Good luck LionOfJudah, you can do this, it just gets better.

Mountainmanbob

God
church
AA
making a firm decision to abstain
a desire to keep the Queen happy
a desire to keep the parents happy
not wanting to visit the courts again
it's nice having a drivers license
just to name a few
MM-BOB

Nonsensical

The long overdue comprehension that just because I feel like drinking doesn't mean I must drink.

least

My dogs helped me a lot at first. I used their well being as my reason to stay sober, so I'd be taking good care of them instead of the slip shod care they got when I was drinking.

TheNatural

For me, it's the little things, if I do those then I usually stay sober.

Things like keeping my apartment clean, cooking meals, keeping up with laundry, exercising, even if it's just a brisk walk or some pushups, journaling, doing things I like, etc. Once I stop doing these things and let dishes pile up, or neglect some basic responsibilities, it's usually a precursor to taking that first drink. If I say "F*** it" to my basic responsibilities, then I am not to far away from from saying "F*** it" and drinking.

bigsombrero

The main struggle for me in early sobriety was trying to fit my new sober life into my old drunk world. For example, I used to agonize about how I would be able to go to bars and stay sober. Or how I was going to fit in with my old crowd at parties. Or how I'd be able to chat up women while staying up past midnight at weddings...essentially, I wanted to keep all my old habits, and just lose the alcohol.

Then a light bulb went off. I realized I didn't need to play those games anymore. I put all of my old habits in the garbage and tossed it out the window. Started over. It was like jumping into a cold lake: scary at first, but after getting used to the water I'm so glad I jumped in. Life is fun again.

Instead of worrying how the new "sober you" will fit into your old life, work on creating a new life that's built around the person you want to become.

totfit

Really, I have been sober for the most part for many years, but have had many slips. I have been sober for over a year now completely "again" and honestly I think what has helped me this time is not dwelling on not drinking. It is really like, "well, drinking is nonsense, so live life". I check in here via Feedly Reader, but that is the extent of my, "not drinking" effort. I focus most of my energy on "life". Physical exercise, running, etc. is a primary part also. This is as much for my head as my body. That and a good diet are likely the two major other factors that have contributed to me having for the most part no issues at all with any compulsion to drink over the past year. I have found personally, that if I spend all my time dwelling on NOT doing something, that it is inevitable I am going to do it. So, I don't dwell at all on not drinking. For me it is nonsense, so I find much better things to do.

Dee74

No matter what happens, finding another way to deal with it besides drink and drugs.
No exceptions. ever.

D

esinger

Loosing everything that meant anything to me gave me the start. Realizing what a waste of life it is to be sick or sedated 24/7 (or even at all) has kept me sober. Gradually gaining back that what I had lost has been a plus. Being able to think (sometimes over think but oh well) has been a nice side effect of being sober. Getting acquainted with myself, learning to like who I am and not trying to be what I am not has helped to reduce the stress and anxiety that used to drive me to self medicate.
All I know is don't ever want to go back there.

GracieLou

Everyday I don't pick up a drink, is a success. I do this one day at a time.

The AA program helped me learn about alcoholism, learn about what it means to be an alcoholic, it lays out a sober way of living through the talking and the working of the 12 steps, it provides fellowship so I have others just like me to lean on that understand and it gives me an opportunity to give back to other alcoholics.

It not only keeps me sober, it allows me to live a life of sobriety that I can embrace. It is not a program to learn to stop drinking, it is a program to learn how to live because honesty, I didn't know how. I had to learn.

pulltight

Proving to myself I had a drinking problem and not a life problem.