jade123

Hi Everyone,

I'm back on track again after being out of the program for quite some time and I have a question.

I recently heard Alec Baldwin reference having 30 years of sobriety and then I read online that he says he has 30 years of sobriety with a few slips here and there.

What do you think about that - the idea of counting time from the date you initially decided to get sober, versus counting time from the last drink you actually had?

SoberinSyracuse

How about counting both?

Pedro1234

Jade
Here is a post i made after a relapse in 2013. I count all that time as part of my recovery but i dont think you can really count the days!
"Well here i am with my tail between my legs. I was going so well in recovery. I climbed so high and it was a massive stumble and fall when i relapsed. I didn't get right/totally back into the drinking but touches of my old form started to show through and it is enough for me to know which direction i need to go in my life. In hindsight and looking back over my posts i was struggling in the last few months prior to relapse. Then I stopped posting here which turned away the very help i needed. I stopped talking. I stopped counting days. I stopped the 24 hour club. In essence i stopped recovering.
I have started a new sober date (18th November) but my recovery date will remain back in April as i have learnt so much since 8th April and i know the experiences (all of them) along the way will help me towards eventual peace and total recovery."

CAPTAINZING2000

I think, I'll keep my continuos.

Dee74

What other people do is none of my business

I know I need to be honest.

Got sober in 2007. If I was counting myself with 10 years sobriety right now and, say, 102 slips that wouldn't be me being honest with myself and my inner addict/AV would love that....

whats 103 104 or 110 slips between friends then?

D

Delilah1

I started working on sobriety in October of 2012, and had lots of sober times between then and NYE 2015. However, my sobriety date is 1-1-16, and I am planning on keeping this one!

fantail

There really ought to be a succinct way to say it. My first sober date is coming up in a couple of weeks and I'm looking forward to it as an anniversary, even though it's not a sober anniversary. That was the day I stopped giving up. It means a lot to me.

I can understand that if you've spent 30 years on this path, even if you haven't been perfect, that's 30 years that are very different than the years before. I'm definitely not 3 years sober, but I'm 3 years not-just-a-drunk.

Andante

I have 30 years of sobriety too!

Well, as long as you don't count those 1,207,599 little "slips" I had between 1986 and 2013.

ZeldaFan

I decided to get sober in the fall of 2013 but my sobriety date is 1/17/16. I count continuous days for myself.

Soberwolf

This

least

For me, I count continuous sobriety. So if I were to drink, I'd start the count all over again.

Nic233

I restart with each slip,or relapse too. My sobriety date has been changing for the last couple of years- this one is hopefully my final sobriety date. 11 Jan 2016.... Has a nice ring to it X lol

StrongBird

My first quit date was 12/13/08. I had almost six years of sobriety when I decided to test the wasters in Nov 2014. It went okay for a while, then I started to lose control. My new quit date is 1/19/16. But I will tell you, it is very very different this time around.

My truth is I've been predominately sober for the better part of seven years. I've learned to negotiate a lot of tough times and a lot of happy times without alcohol. That knowledge isn't just gone because I drank, which means I have a lot more confidence that I can get through these early weeks as well as a lot better idea where my Achilles heel is.

It feels more disingenuous to me to claim, without caveat, that I simply have 11 days right now. I am a much different person than I was in December 2008, the first time I had 11 days. So to me, it's important to honor the whole journey that's brought me here today.

doggonecarl

Sounds like one way to minimize your drinking.

tomsteve

to thine own self be true.

IfYouCanDream

I say: I've been in recovery since Jan 2015. My sobriety date is Nov 16, 2016.

jade123

I stopped drinking in 1994 and stayed stopped for 12 years. I barely went to meetings and didn't get involved in AA or anything positive that altered me or my life and started again. I drank for another 10 years. I've been struggling to get sober again for many of those 10 years.

I have a great therapist now, I've made some much-needed changes in my life and I'm in a good space about sobriety. I'm ready to pick up the tools that I know I need and I've started adding positive elements into my days and weeding out the negative. I started my recovery on 1/1/16.

Since then I've slipped twice. I caved in situations that I shouldn't have put myself in in the first place- situations that I thought I could handle. I've learned and I've refused to go to those places and see those people again.

So I feel my recovery started 1/1/16. Obvi my sober date is now 1/23/16.

If you were me, which would you count as your anniversary?

Dad23

Admittedly, I'm a bit of a "data junkie".

Recently I installed an app that counts the number of days and calculates how much money I have saved since I quit. Not bad!

I wish the app was more advanced so it could tell me things like this:

67 - Days Sober
$3,765.32 - money saved
32 - Bottles of rum not consumed
5 - Arguments I didn't have with my wife because I was stupid drunk
22 - Evenings I didn't engineer around my drinking activities
47 - Bottles of wine not consumed
67 - Days I didn't wake up at 4AM with my heart and head pounding
3 - Times my kids weren't feeling embarrassed by my drinking
67 - Mornings I spent not hating myself
12 - Times I didn't try hiding the bottles in the trash - so no one would suspect me
18 - Pounds lost
3,582,389,032 - Brain cells I haven't killed
58 - Times I worried that someone else was thinking I was a drunk
524 - Hours I have spent being more productive and happier now that I'm sober

Now THAT's some statistics I'd like to keep track of!

Dropsie

I am with Fantail and Strongbird.

Each time you learn something, so to say you have a few days after long term sobriety seems off, but so does saying you have been sober 8 years, minus the few relapses.

So in my case, I have stopped for the better part of four years, but continuously for only 3 weeks. Both dates matter, but they are different, and I do like the distinction that Fantail and SB make.

But at the end of the day, for me, like with most things in my life, I know...

Loved Dad 23's reply... fantastic.

ilovedogs666

My sobriety date is April 18, 2015. I have not had a drop of alcohol since that date.

And if I were to consciously decide to consume alcohol one day, even if I had one sip, I would change my sobriety date.