1 Month Sober
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Maryland
Posts: 16
1 Month Sober
Hi everyone,
Well, I made it to one month completely sober. This feels great. I've done a month before, but this month is different. Last time I told myself I would be able to resume "normal" drinking after the month was over, and I did. If you read my intro post you will see I was back to two pints of vodka in no time after this stint of abstaining. This time I quit forever. I'm still struggling with that thought. Forever is a long time. The AV inside me hates this, and is trying really hard to convince me that I can drink socially again (it keeps saying after 6 months to me). Slowly I'm starting to accept the forever part, but that has been the hardest for me. The cravings are getting easier to deal with every day. They still come, but are not so powerful, and further apart. I still think about alcohol on a daily basis, but am looking forward to the days I don't anymore.
Going to celebrate with a nice dinner with the wife tonight. Can't wait to post my 3, then 6 month milestones, as from reading here, I gather that after 6 months the cravings are a lot more managable. Life does get better.
Dive2deep
Well, I made it to one month completely sober. This feels great. I've done a month before, but this month is different. Last time I told myself I would be able to resume "normal" drinking after the month was over, and I did. If you read my intro post you will see I was back to two pints of vodka in no time after this stint of abstaining. This time I quit forever. I'm still struggling with that thought. Forever is a long time. The AV inside me hates this, and is trying really hard to convince me that I can drink socially again (it keeps saying after 6 months to me). Slowly I'm starting to accept the forever part, but that has been the hardest for me. The cravings are getting easier to deal with every day. They still come, but are not so powerful, and further apart. I still think about alcohol on a daily basis, but am looking forward to the days I don't anymore.
Going to celebrate with a nice dinner with the wife tonight. Can't wait to post my 3, then 6 month milestones, as from reading here, I gather that after 6 months the cravings are a lot more managable. Life does get better.
Dive2deep
Member
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Philly PA
Posts: 814
Hey D2D. Congrats. Right there with you!! It is good isn't it?
Hope you have a great dinner. And think if it thus way. We're not quitting forever. We're just non-drinkers now. It's who we are.
I'll be looking for those 3, 6, year posts etc.
Hope you have a great dinner. And think if it thus way. We're not quitting forever. We're just non-drinkers now. It's who we are.
I'll be looking for those 3, 6, year posts etc.
Snarf Snarf
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: ATL
Posts: 835
Great job D2D! A whole month is certainly something to be celebrated!
Don't get too caught up in worrying about time or milestones. There's a reason people in recovery use the saying "One day at a time." That truly is the only way to tackle this. When I stopped drinking I started driving myself crazy with thoughts about time. Like, "Will I really be able to stop drinking forever?" "What will I do at my wedding reception?" (Mind you, I didn't even have a wedding date at the time.) "What will I tell people at my 20-year high school reunion?" (I had only been out of high school 12 years at the time.)
All those types of thoughts can lead to anxiety and such. It can actually sort of trap you, because you begin to think that you'll never be able to get through some experience without drinking, so if you're gonna fail in the future, why bother putting in the time now? That's dangerous. Even at 20 months without a drink, people ask me all the time if I'm never going to have a drink again, and I usually respond, "I have no idea. I can't see the future. I could have a really bad day tomorrow and get absolutely wasted; I don't think so, but I guess it could happen. As long as when my head hits the pillow tonight, no alcohol has touched my lips this day, that's all I'm worried about." And that's pretty much the truth.
Don't get too caught up in worrying about time or milestones. There's a reason people in recovery use the saying "One day at a time." That truly is the only way to tackle this. When I stopped drinking I started driving myself crazy with thoughts about time. Like, "Will I really be able to stop drinking forever?" "What will I do at my wedding reception?" (Mind you, I didn't even have a wedding date at the time.) "What will I tell people at my 20-year high school reunion?" (I had only been out of high school 12 years at the time.)
All those types of thoughts can lead to anxiety and such. It can actually sort of trap you, because you begin to think that you'll never be able to get through some experience without drinking, so if you're gonna fail in the future, why bother putting in the time now? That's dangerous. Even at 20 months without a drink, people ask me all the time if I'm never going to have a drink again, and I usually respond, "I have no idea. I can't see the future. I could have a really bad day tomorrow and get absolutely wasted; I don't think so, but I guess it could happen. As long as when my head hits the pillow tonight, no alcohol has touched my lips this day, that's all I'm worried about." And that's pretty much the truth.
Member
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: VG, BVI
Posts: 294
Originally Posted by dive2deep 
Hi everyone,
Well, I made it to one month completely sober. This feels great. I've done a month before, but this month is different. Last time I told myself I would be able to resume "normal" drinking after the month was over, and I did. If you read my intro post you will see I was back to two pints of vodka in no time after this stint of abstaining. This time I quit forever. I'm still struggling with that thought. Forever is a long time. The AV inside me hates this, and is trying really hard to convince me that I can drink socially again (it keeps saying after 6 months to me). Slowly I'm starting to accept the forever part, but that has been the hardest for me. The cravings are getting easier to deal with every day. They still come, but are not so powerful, and further apart. I still think about alcohol on a daily basis, but am looking forward to the days I don't anymore.
Going to celebrate with a nice dinner with the wife tonight. Can't wait to post my 3, then 6 month milestones, as from reading here, I gather that after 6 months the cravings are a lot more managable. Life does get better.
Dive2deep
Well, I made it to one month completely sober. This feels great. I've done a month before, but this month is different. Last time I told myself I would be able to resume "normal" drinking after the month was over, and I did. If you read my intro post you will see I was back to two pints of vodka in no time after this stint of abstaining. This time I quit forever. I'm still struggling with that thought. Forever is a long time. The AV inside me hates this, and is trying really hard to convince me that I can drink socially again (it keeps saying after 6 months to me). Slowly I'm starting to accept the forever part, but that has been the hardest for me. The cravings are getting easier to deal with every day. They still come, but are not so powerful, and further apart. I still think about alcohol on a daily basis, but am looking forward to the days I don't anymore.
Going to celebrate with a nice dinner with the wife tonight. Can't wait to post my 3, then 6 month milestones, as from reading here, I gather that after 6 months the cravings are a lot more managable. Life does get better.
Dive2deep
Hope this is the first of many months. Today is Day number five for me. I have a loooooooooooong way to go.
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