chump

Hi there

Now I am on Day 20... Really chuffed. Each day i am thinking... that's another...

Am just wondering if counting the days up is a good idea for me. I'm just thinking that if I relapse after achieving a big number of days. Will I feel worse about losing all those days and relapse for longer and be less likely to want to go back to day 1...

Does that even make any sense? just wondering if i shouldn't be so focussed on counting up the days...

Thanks for any help

tommyk

If you got up this morning earlier than I did - you have more sober time than me,

Today is all that matters.

Aysha

Yea..Today is all that matters.
I dont keep track of days. It is too stressful for me. I know the round about time I have been clean. But I couldnt tell you exactly.
I just know I am clean right now.
Good job on your 20 days.

TryingSoHard

I go back and forth on this. In the early (earlier - lol - I'm still early) part of my sobriety I was almost obsessed with counting days. That was not good. It put so much extra pressure on me, and it made the days last FOR-EV-ER. By the time I made it through one day it felt like I had been through a whole week. So, I wrote down my sobriety date and said you know what, feck it. If I think about it on any given day, I can calculate it if I want to. Otherwise I'm done thinking about it.

It was just too hard to have to make it through the day without drinking AND worry about how many days it had been. So yeah, I can tell you when I stopped and I can even add it up if I stop and think about it for a minute, but I'm not obsessing about it like I used to. It's a relief.

Just worry about today. The others are right.

Iggy1966

Right now I'm still counting days (I'm on 8 right now) because it's been so freaking long that I went even 3 days in a row without a drink that it's still an achievement. I've wondered the same thing, though, at some point do I want the focus to be on my life overall and how I'm living it, and not just THE NUMBER...

As I sit here today, however, I'm pretty damn happy about the number, lol...

yeahgr8

my counseller said that counting days was important, although i have to count them up, im on either 106 or 107 today, when it gets to a year ill stop counting and then go into years and months, then after a decade, just years:-)

i think it comes down to whatever you prefer to do as long as you do not drink?!

SummerSkye

Hi Chump, somebody else from Scotland, that's good!
I've been thinking about the same thing myself. I don't want to put too much pressure on myself about number of days and am just going to look at it as I've been sober/clean since January 2009

Sara9009

I just took the date down as well and don't count the days. Well, after the first three days where I was counting hours... minutes.

flutter

My counselor advised me against counting days.. I did count, for a while.. but then I got to the point where my mind shifted from "I haven't drank for.....xxx long" to.. "I don't drink.".

Mariposa18

Hey Chump =) To tell you the truth I"m so over the whole counting thing! At first I held on to those days for dear life, seeing it go up made me feel better, it was like I NEEDED those numbers to validate what I was doing. But you know what? Having more time doesn't make anyone better and having less time doesn't make anyone any less serious about their sobriety. I don't drink, simple as that. Days no longer matter to me.

You take it one day at a time my Friend. That's all any of us have =)

shaun00

I think it a personal thing..

Some count days........weeks...months....years..

I cant really see counting days as a bad thing......as long as your not galloping ahead and projecting what your be next week.

I agree it is important to "live in the day" and sometimes my wife thinks i live in the day too much...lol.

But i also remember when i was a new comer it was hard to comprehend "living in the day" And my mind would gallop all over the place.

Living in the day......takes practise.....imo

As long as when you get up in the morning you know in the pit of your stomach.... that you are alcoholic..and i cannot drink safely..

Its what i would say to myself.........until in was ingrained in my soul.

Thats my opinoin anyway................trucker

KindBird

Good thread. I have never tried not counting days and that might be a relief. So far I have liked getting one more day, then one more day, etc. And when I blew it I really felt bad that I had "lost all that time" when I know for sure that I really learned a lot in my first attempt and it is helping me now to have that learning.

I want to try to not count for a while and see how that feels. I will probably still post in the "under___ days" threads because I am getting a lot of support there.

four812

counting the days can be a way to give myself a good pat on the back, but as others said i also have to be careful to not obsess with how many days i got. I try to practice just staying in today. counting days can bring me to "resting on my laurels" and I find that dangerous; I try to wake up each day and create a whole new day of recovery, opening my mind to the moment.

Fubarcdn

I posted this somewhere else today when the same subject came up. Counting the days has it's pros and cons. I am counting right now and it is a motivator for me right now.
The biggest con I see is if someone stumbles and obsess on the days lost they might go on a binge and really lose the progress they have worked so hard to gain.
I doubt this would happen to me because I don't view that count as anyhting important.

TryingSoHard

That's actually a reason I've tried to back off focusing on how many days I have. Back before I got serious about quitting it would about send me off the deep end if I went 9, 10, 11 days and then drank. 10 days seemed like such a freaking eternity to me and it felt like I'd NEVER go 10 whole days without drinking again. It was kind of a catch-22 back then because as much as counting days stressed me out, I couldn't NOT do it.

I'm glad I'm more relaxed about it now. I still want to know how long it's been, but I don't think about it non-stop anymore.

Isaiah

I stopped counting. I have this thing with numbers. It's hard to explain but I have a tendency to obsess about them. I didn't want my recovery progress to get wrapped up with that oddball part of my personality.

I am always impressed though when people just whip out their sober days in triple digits. I give anyone kudos for keeping up a count!

Rusty Zipper

hey chump...

just dont forget your clean date...!