ThomPom

After I stopped drinking I was at first quite busy "not to drink". I guess you know what I mean. I managed that by lots of sugar (gained a couple of lbs.), enduring sleepness, emotional anxiety attacks and some of the other common ****** symptoms.

At that time I did not have time nor energy to move into recovery mode by working on underliyng issues and a new lifestyle.

After around 60 days my need of coping eased up and I felt the time has come to move on and working on livestyle issues at least. Now I am on day 90+ something and feel, i should have "riden the wave" at day 60 better go gain momentum into recovery. So I try to do that now.

FYI: I do not attent any (AA) plan nor do I do meetings, so there is no formal plan or formal steps to be taken.

After how many weeks have you felt, that now it is the time to move on into recovery mode? And what have been the steps you have taken?

Mountainmanbob

I was pretty shot out the first 60 days myself. About all that I could do was attend meetings (I understand that you say that you wish for no AA) and concentrate on clearing up some of the wreckage of my past -- there was plenty.

Thinking about and doing healthy things for a change is a good start.
This site brings a lot to the minds eye regarding recovery
and the means of attaining and keeping it.

M-Bob

BrendaChenowyth

Please stop telling yourself you *should* be doing this a certain way.

For me the difference between sobriety (not drinking) and recovery (getting better) was facing deep underlying issues and working them out. Mine were very deep, they stemmed from things that were done to me from age 5 on throughout my life.. I was able to understand why they happened and get closure. That has eliminated my need to use alcohol to numb my feelings and avoid dealing with my past. It's dealt with and I have good feelings about it now. So that was recovery for me. I don't know if it's that way for other people.. Other people seem to recognize their biggest problems as how they manage their physical health, finances and relationships and so they work on those. I had to work from the very beginning forward.

Doug39

Today I am at 45 days sober and I am pretty much over the whole getting sober thing.
I do not crave alcohol at all, I am feeling better physically and mentally and I do not want to get back into the rut of alcoholism.

My wife still drinks everyday and it does bother me - not the fact that I want to drink but once she gets lit up I get sorta disgusted. I know I did the same exact thing everyday for 27 years and nobody ever told me I should quit drinking so I do not have a right to tell anyone else to quit.

Hopefully being the only drinker in a household with all sober people will eventually get old and it will help my wife realize it is wrong to drink so much.

I know she feels she has a problem with alcohol but doesn't want to talk about it or face it. I know how she feels. I have felt my drinking was a problem for many many years - once I started having health issues and the alcohol turned into "medicine" to help me feel better rather than a tool to have fun with I knew I was in trouble.

january161992

great job on 90 days thompom

for me the little bit of drinking/ drugging i did for 11 years after high school was not the problem

my recovery began when i had enough pain to become willing to choose to follow direction by working the steps under the guidance of a sponsor

Mattq2

I guess for me I got temporarily sober so many times I knew it wouldn't work for me. I had to start recovering day one. I did it little by little though the reverse of how I became an alcoholic. I see many who try to fix everything all at once and "recover". I focus on one little thing each day. I know everyone's diffrent but that's how it worked for me. Good luck my friend

least

I think I moved from "just not drinking" into recovery when I began to practice gratitude every day. It changed my whole perspective and made me focus on the positive. It really changed my life.

MelindaFlowers

I'd say that not drinking became my complete and total normal at one year. The first three months I felt very fragile.

Dee74

Hi ThomPom

I couldn't do much the first 30 days except be grateful I was alive.

After 90 days or so I started to look past 'just not drinking' into the other mixed up areas of my life.

That's an ongoing process for me

D

PurpleKnight

I think it's different for everyone, the path and journey is ours and ours alone so things will happen at different times.

For me I think I began to find my feet after a few months, when not drinking became my new habit I could finally find some freedom to concentrate on other areas of life and build a new life, a life away from alcohol.

Just let it happen, we have the rest of our lives to build that new life!!

ChiefBromden

I started to find my sober feet after 9 months. I don't think there are any hard and fast rules, and I suspect it may be very personal, depending on many many things. (time in active addiction, health, age, amends to make, quality of your sobriety plan, ability to adjust to a wholly new situation, etc.)

SnazzyDresser

I've never liked the term recovery or a lot of the philosophy/spirituality that gets attached to it. Sobriety is what I'm about, while recognizing that the obligation of taking care of yourself and improving is always with us as responsible human beings.

thomas11

That's a great question and forced me to stop and think about it. I guess I would have to say 3 months anyway. The "not drinking" period was the hardest for me because I was bored.

Jimmy58

Im a little over a year into soberity and
the fog is still lifting after 40 years
of hard drinking.