Krusinforbrusin

I gave in tonight when after I threw away a glass of wine given to me later a friend brought me another one. I sipped on it and drank the whole glass. I hate the way it made me feel and didnt have anymore. I told my company and SO I was sick and took a bath and went to bed. I didn't get drunk I had just one glass 5 ounces. I'm new to recovery so does this mean tomorrow is back to Day 1 for me or can it be Day 8 because I didn't get drunk.

Dee74

Noone's going to beat you up for drinking- we all know how hard it is.

For me? Yes, it would be day one because I've made a commitment to myself not to drink again.

A lot of people seem to see the reset to day one as a punishment but it's really not - to me it's just being honest.

Day 100 with two slips wouldn't mean much to me...for me it would be fudging the figures and fudging my commitment.

Your inner addict might be telling you if you have to start again, why make it worth it and drink some more....don't listen to that voice. It's a parasite and a liar.

Try to look at this as an opportunity - you can rework your recovery plan using the experience of tonight. ?
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...ery-plans.html

You obviously need to clue your friends in to how important this sobriety thing is to you?
Maybe you need to be more choosy about the social invites you accept for a while?

You can do this

D

SnazzyDresser

Krusin, just get back on the right track. You know how to do it now, you'll have plenty of new days sober before you know it.

waywardson8260

These are learning experiences. The temptations and cravings will be there for a while. As long as you get back on track and develop some strategies to prevent it in the future it will be OK.

August252015

Yes, it would be day one again for me.

That said, what you can do now is never have another day one. Beating yourself up definitely won't help, but relapse does not have to be a repeated part of recovery.

What kind of program did you start? If you didn't, what are you going to do now? There are lots of ideas on here, including joining the January 2016 Class
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...rt-2-a-17.html

and - my suggestion- AA, today.

Hope to see you around.

Krusinforbrusin

I am not in a program AA is tempting but im atheist and don't know how I can truly complete a program that is based on a higher power that I don't believe in. Doesn't seem honest. My goal is to not to drink a lcohol again so I do need to make a plan though.

least

Why don't you look into SMART recovery? There's a lot about it in the secular forum.

Secular Connections - SoberRecovery : Alcoholism Drug Addiction Help and Information

Mentium

I'm a pretty radical atheist (anti-religion if you like) and I attend AA. It took a lot of thinking through, but I concluded it was OK for me because of two factors. The first is the saying in AA, 'Take what you need and leave the rest' and the second was that I reckon the real power of AA is in group support (which some people also view as a 'higher power'). I'm in the UK where things tend to be rather more secular though, perhaps it isn't quite so easy elsewhere.

There is a secular AA section or two here as well. Don't let your good sense r.e. religion spoil your chances of recovery friend!

Vermin

As others have said, that would be a reset for me.

Your hesitance to go to AA is very understandable, being an atheist myself. However, giving it a chance could be beneficial. Perhaps try to find a person or activity that you care about, and work that into your recovery. Personally, caring for my dog has helped immensely. Outlets such as this forum are a great way to get started. Hope you do well.

Algorithm

That you didn't like how it made you feel this particular time is not the important thing. The important thing to ask yourself is what would you have done if you had liked the way that one glass made you feel? Would you have drank some more?

I'm not big on the counting focus, but if you are going to count, I would reset the counter. You may want to ask yourself what exactly you are counting, though. Is it the length of deprivation, often known down to the hour while in addiction, or something else?

If 12-Step is not your thing, you may want to look into the secular connections forum.

Outonthetiles

I'm not a believer myself, but I see no contradiction between being atheistic and participating in AA. Whenever the issue comes up, I just mentally insert "spirit of man," or "spirit of nature," or "universal morality" in place of god or jesus or zeus or whomever.
Not everything has to be a line in the sand.

Nic233

Would be a reset for me too.. It's soul destroying when you're back at day 1 again, after getting some time behind you but like Dee said it's about being honest to yourself. At the end of the day though it's your journey so you will have to make your own decision but I think the fact you are asking the question, it doesn't feel right to you to continue to day 8 xxx You can do this, get back on the sober wagon ASAP xx

fini

well, if your marker for whether it is your day one or day eight is dependent on whether you got drunk, it would be fine to then have drinks every day,as long as you don't get drunk, and keep that count going, amassing those sober days while drinking.
logical, yes?
ridiculous, yes?

i do know that one definition of 'sober' is 'not drunk', but for those who want to quit and stay that way, 'sober' is more radical than that.

BrendaChenowyth

Yes, you drank yesterday, so today it's been one day since you last drank. You are starting over in your recovery to figure out why you relapsed and how to prevent it from happening again.

fini

hey Krusin,
wondering how you're moving along?
regardless of what you decided about count, how is the sobriety thing going for you today?

Dee74

Yeah, I was wondering about you too Kruisin - how are you?

D

carlingford

Yes K a reset, unfortunately it happened to me too with a few beers over Christmas but has made me stronger, back on the horse now at 23 days, onwards and upwards, best of luck

122216

Congratulations on putting the glass down!

Lance40

I think it's important to put the day count in proper perspective. For some people it can give a sense of accomplishment and be a motivator, but outside of that it's a bit meaningless. You have the same value and worth as a human being whether your day count is 0 or 10,000. If starting a day count over bogs you down and is not helpful to your sobriety, then it may be a good idea to stop counting days. As long as you don't drink today, you're right where you need to be.

DontRemember

I wouldn't and don't preach "higher power'...BUT.. I do know that AA keeps me mindful to not drink. There's some at my main meeting( 25-40yrs sober) that won't partake in the prayers and they're still sober? What can it hurt? Is the way I go in,nowadays.
It's your choice on how to count your sober days..Best wishes.