TacoDude

40 days ago I was becoming an empty shell of a person with nothing left to live for except to start drinking at 5:30 every night till I passed out. I had been through a number of relapses, this last the absolute worst, and realized that if I wanted to live another year, I needed to make a commitment to not just sobriety, but to actually recovery. For me personally, there’s a difference between quitting drinking and embarking on an active path of recovery. This is why I failed in the past.

Now I’m on day 39. I’ve been to a meeting, am reading the Big Book, as well as Living Sober. I read here every day, and find tremendous hope and inspiration from those of you with long periods of recovery and sobriety who continue to be of support to those of us in the early days of sobriety.

Yes, there have been times that I have felt triggered and thought about drinking for various reasons, but didn’t. Simply playing the tape forward and seeing where I will be after a week of drinking is a terrifying thought.

More importantly, I am beginning to recover important, life sustaining practices in my life that alcohol took away.

These include:

Spending time in nature
Working out and becoming more physically fit (I’ll be 54 next week, down to 22% bodyfat and adding considerable muscle and strength)
Being fully present with others, being able to more fully listen
Playing and listening to music
Reading inspirational and spiritual books/material
Waking up clear headed and looking forward to each new day
Before retiring at night, going through aspects of my day, and expressing gratitude for the many good things in my life, both large and small.

These practices are now filling the growing void that my drinking consumed more and more of.

I am most grateful…

MLD51

I really like that way of defining recovery. Thanks for that.

You sound really positive and hopeful! The things you are doing to support your recovery all sound really great. Keep it up!

Ghostlight1

What a great outlook. I think you may have just found the key to recovery for yourself.
Congratulations on thirty nine days, that's awesome.
You've got many years yet to live, may you live them in sobriety.
Thanks for your post. Needed to hear something positive today.

Dee74

Thanks for sharing that TacoDude - congrats on 40 days

D