MeSoSober

I am curious about how people stay motivated as the sober days pass. If I could somehow hold on to the horrible way I feel right now I know my chances of truly staying sober would skyrocket.

Did you find that you had to push yourself very much to stay committed to your recovery program or was the motivation just kind of there? Did the actual process of whatever you did provide its own motivation?

For those that felt complacency creeping in, what did you to keep that burning desire to stay stopped?

ChloeRose63

The motivation comes when you start feeling better and better. Then you realize how much time, money and energy you wasted by drinking. Now you are free to live the kind of life you were meant to live! Nothing is holding you back from living a truly fulfilling life. The world will look different and the future looks brighter. That's your motivation. Plan for better days!

doggonecarl

Sobriety reaps its own reward--more sobriety. But getting to the point where sobriety sustains itself is tough. How do you stay motivated, you ask?

Your recovery can't depend on motivation. My addiction is motivated to drink. I have to be able to withstand that no matter how poorly motivated I am to stay sober.

I read your sobriety statement. Stay true to that commitment. That is different than being motivated to stay sober. That will wain. But your commitment doesn't have to.

DesertDawg

For me it was when I had finally beaten it into my head that the horrible hangover/withdrawal/regret (i.e. the way that you feel now) was ALWAYS where the first drink was going to lead. That was the big "A-Ha" moment for me. I didn't need to be feeling horrible to remember how bad it was. When that connection was finally made in my brain, it was pretty easy to fight off any urges. I realized that the urge I would occasionally have for "just one drink, to take the edge off" was in actuality an urge to guzzle a half-gallon of vodka and get annihilated; and I knew where that would lead. At some point the fear of ever going back to that place outweighed the occasional desire I had for a drink. All of the other ways my life has improved since I quit are just icing on the cake.

MeSoSober

"The motivation comes when you start feeling better and better."

Unfortunately, the reverse seems to be true of me. Although I'm a binger and not a daily drinker. But as the days after a binge pass and I return to normal, my motivation ebbs. Not immediately or all at once, but it does.

I wish I could bottle the fear and disgust I feel right now. Because right now I feel deadly serious and committed, but it always goes away. Maybe because I've never truly worked a program. Probably because of that.

Thank you for your words of encouragement!

ByHisLove

I'm only on day 24, but I have to remind myself every day of the pain and torture that drinking and doing drugs causes me. The lying, the financial cost, the separation from God, the deterioration of my marriage, the relationships with my kids, the emotional abuse I caused them, the debilitating effects on my mind and body, the painful withdrawals when I was out of pills, the hangovers, the embarrassment, the constant guilt, the lack of motivation, the stagnancy of my life overall, the effects on my mental well-being, not being able to take care of my family the way they deserve, caring about my drink or drug more that anything else in the world.

When the thought enters my mind that I don't want to be sober, I think hard and steady about all of those things and ask myself is it truly worth it? I learn I have to ignore the lies that my addiction voice is telling me. It won't be different this time, the consequences remain the same. There is so much freedom in not being a slave to my addiction! The consequences are too great, it's not worth it.

Soberwolf

Have you got a sponsor ?

MeSoSober

No, no sponsor. I obviously need to work a recovery program, but have never really felt AA was for me. I feel on edge at meetings. I kid you not, I drove across town to get to a speaker meeting several months ago and I got almost to the church door before I turned tail. I know I don't even have to speak, but they still make me anxious. Pretty ridiculous, I know. Although I did post here recently that I would get my sister to go with me at least to an occasional meeting. That would put me more at ease.

least

I get all the motivation I need by caring for my dogs and cats. Just looking at their happy healthy faces makes me want to stay sober to take good care of them.

Anna

My daily routine focused on balance in my life and for me this is key. I exercised, read spiritual books, socialized, spent time alone with myself and made time for the things I loved, books and music. The rhythm of my days turned into weeks and months and I began to feel peace. That is motivation in itself.

Mountainmanbob

Bicycle riding and hiking.
M-Bob

entropy1964

I'm just shy of 4 months so I'm just a newborn and know little. Having a program, in my case AA, is key. Working that program daily is also key. I don't go to meetings everyday but I structure my life around activities that support recovery.....reading, posting here, seeing my sponsor, yoga/exercise, prayer/meditation.....and of course all the other 'normal' life stuff .

I also think that volunteering, helping other alcoholics is how this recovery thing takes hold and gains momentum. Being a knucklehead there's only so much I can do until I complete the steps, have more sober time and confidence. I do an H&I meeting on Saturday though and I love it.

It's a discipline.

Soberwolf

This

Dee74

I'm glad I found acceptance.

I accept that my relationship with alcohol is, and always was, toxic.

I accept drinking is no longer viable for me if I want to stay the me I've become in this life I have.

Once you take drinking off the table as an option, it opens you up to finding other solutions for the problems you used to drink over, and that success makes it that much harder to turn around and go backwards..

It wasn't always easy to have faith that it would turn out, but I put my faith in others here who told me everything would be ok if I continued to work on my recovery.

That faith got me through some tough times - and what they said was right - everything did turn out ok

D