JQuick72

Or, I guess I "slipped".


I had gone 135 days without drinking. I'm so proud of myself, I never thought I could make it seven days without drinking, let alone 135.


Last Thursday, I slipped. I was bored, I had two days off work and I thought I could get drunk on Thursday, recover Friday and get back to work Saturday.

I relapsed hard. I drank Thursday, Friday during the day and night, Saturday during the day and night.


On Sunday, I stopped drinking. I then had a really rough week. I felt sick all week and guilty. I was feeling so good and happy sober, I had so much confidence and was excelling at work and this week I just felt like complete **** and tired and useless and depressed.


However, this Thursday, after being sober for five days, I started to feel better. And here I am, Saturday night, happy as a clam and now seven days sober again and feeling fantastic.

I never lost focus and I'm back on track and now can say in the last 142 days I've only drank three times.

Here's to staying sober ! I was having my doubts as to whether it was the life for me but after seeing the darkness this week that drinking brought upon me I've realized that I'm just a person that should never drink. Ever.

sleepie

Hi JQuick glad you got back on the right track- you will only benefit

ScottFromWI

Glad you made it back. A scary reminder of how quickly things can get out of control, but glad to hear you caught it before it got really bad.

zjw

Yeah sometimes that contrast and reminder that slip up offers us helps to cement sobriety into us.

I follow a strict diet and when I'm mad about it my wife might say go ahead cheat feel like crap maybe you need the reminder then I'm like yeah your right I'm better off just staying on the path.

Dee74

I'm glad you made it back
A great reminder to us all not to lose focus.

D

advbike

Good show, mate. Can I ask what you will do differently the next time you're bored, have a few days off, and that little voice starts telling you that you can have "just a few?".. because, trust me, it will talk to you again.

GhostFace

Good job getting back, I'm 5 months sober and that thought of having one drinks keep coming to mind. Good to see that you bounced back

lein

One drink ghostface? If you are like me, one drink wouldn't have any effect at all except to make the craving for another and another a thousand times worse

Trees39

good for you. great that you are back

chrcarlson

Lesson Learned

least

Glad you're back, working on recovery again.

waynetheking

You're lucky to be back. This disease kills. Don't ever forget that. And thank you for sharing your story. It helps everyone here.

tomsteve

im glad ya made it back but please dont minimize it by saying, " i guess i slipped."
posted in this thread
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...s-relapse.html
"A slip is simply a relapse with a "feel good" marketing spin."

Jsbodhi

Glad it didn't last long xo

2muchpain

Good for you that you got back on track so quickly. I can relate to your thinking. Many times, I have planned my relapse. I could drink today, maybe tomorrow, then stop, get my act together and move on. Sounded like a pretty realistic plan. Easy to do. Well, that plan would fall apart real fast. I was just trying to do the impossible. It would seem that once you have a decent amount of sober time, like you, that it should be no problem. Amount of time means nothing. Four days or four years, always ends the same. John

doggonecarl

Actually, you lost focus for three days. Careful how you frame your return to drinking. We don't lose our sober days, but I'm always concerned when I see people put their drinking days in terms of a ratio against sober days. Yes, 142 sober days vs 3 drinking days is good. Beware the thoughts that four drinking days doesn't look bad against xxx number of sober days.

Jack465

I agree. I used to look at it this way and I don't anymore. I don't know if this applies to everyone but even one drinking day is enough to make me go right back to the start of the recovery process.

advbike

I'm not trying to minimize his relapse, however we all are different. There's an all or nothing emphasis among most recovered alcoholics (and members of this site) for good reason - a single drink can lead to carnage. There are some people however, who don't get to that point right away. It takes a few, or even several attempts. But it can be done.

Making too big a deal of a slip, or discounting the significant accomplishment the OP made in 4 1/2 months is to do him a disservice in my opinion. The important thing is to keep coming back and keep trying to quit permanently. Good job, jquick72. Make a plan, seek additional resources like meetings if necessary, and don't give up.