5 Years
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: New York, New York
Posts: 600
5 Years
If you are struggling, PLEASE don’t get discouraged. Over the last seven years, I relapsed twice after good stretches of sobriety. By continuing to read and post here, I got educated about the pipe dream of moderation and the importance of gratitude and the logic finally sunk in.
So please continue to read and post. You are not alone. From my time here, I imagine a hand reaching out and making a connection. It can be a fundamental concept or the smallest thing that someone says that can make a huge difference. I learned about gratitude in my first year. The forum leader at the time said you should do a gratitude list and set it up for me and I thought of one thing I was thankful for each day for 5 months until I hit one year. Or it could be something as simple as the daily sober counter app that I found very useful to keep me accountable and motivated. The first year trying to kick this awful dependency on alcohol is so challenging both mentally and physically that you can never tell what will resonate and allow you to get through the wild ride and even get through the relapses. The posts on the futility of moderation were invaluable especially that one classic a few years ago. I also like the fun stuff like your favorite sober celebrity or where your user name came from.
Thank you Dee for herding us cats and to all of you for this invaluable tool to get sober and stay sober.
So please continue to read and post. You are not alone. From my time here, I imagine a hand reaching out and making a connection. It can be a fundamental concept or the smallest thing that someone says that can make a huge difference. I learned about gratitude in my first year. The forum leader at the time said you should do a gratitude list and set it up for me and I thought of one thing I was thankful for each day for 5 months until I hit one year. Or it could be something as simple as the daily sober counter app that I found very useful to keep me accountable and motivated. The first year trying to kick this awful dependency on alcohol is so challenging both mentally and physically that you can never tell what will resonate and allow you to get through the wild ride and even get through the relapses. The posts on the futility of moderation were invaluable especially that one classic a few years ago. I also like the fun stuff like your favorite sober celebrity or where your user name came from.
Thank you Dee for herding us cats and to all of you for this invaluable tool to get sober and stay sober.
Community Greeter
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Upstate New York
Posts: 51,633
Hi Tailai. I loved this post - wonderful to have your encouragement.
I agree about the futility of moderation posts. They were what I focused on & clung to when I first came here. I guess in my heart I knew there was no control, just needed to hear it from others who had been there.
Congrats on your 5 sober years! Proud of you.
I agree about the futility of moderation posts. They were what I focused on & clung to when I first came here. I guess in my heart I knew there was no control, just needed to hear it from others who had been there.
Congrats on your 5 sober years! Proud of you.
bona fido dog-lover
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: SF Bay area, CA
Posts: 99,826
Five years sober is fantastic!! 
I too learned the value of gratitude from either or both CarolD and RustyZipper. Both of them are gone now, but their influence is still felt here, and in my heart. 
Thank you for posting your success. 
I too learned the value of gratitude from either or both CarolD and RustyZipper. Both of them are gone now, but their influence is still felt here, and in my heart. Thank you for posting your success. 
Member
Join Date: Jan 2021
Posts: 530
Congratulations on 5 years. We alcoholics suffer from a disease that the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous describes as "cunning, baffling, and powerful." Elsewhere, it describes us as a "baffled lot." It takes a lot of us a long time to see the truth about our illness -- and, unfortunately, many die having never figured it out. Perhaps one of the most cunning and baffling parts of our condition is that while the universe of solutions that have worked for at least some alcoholics is large -- there may in fact be only one solution for any particular type of alcoholic. For me, it has turned out to be the case that my only solution is fully committing to the recovery program of AA. Whenever I pitch that proposition, many folks insist that it simply can't be true that there is a type of alcoholic for whom there is only one solution -- particularly if that solution is proffered to be AA. They seemingly insist that every alcoholic is eligible to choose from a buffet line of solutions, mixing and matching options so they don't have to deal with anything they don't like. Of course, the reality is that there are many diseases that have no solution at all -- and that was precisely the case for alcoholics of my type before AA came along.
Anyway, congratulations -- again -- on 5 years. Whatever your solution is, I hope you have found it.
Anyway, congratulations -- again -- on 5 years. Whatever your solution is, I hope you have found it.
Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Oxnard (The Nard), CA, USA.
Posts: 14,048
5 years clean Tallai. That is a fantastic milestone to celebrate with you. Thanks for your share too, wonderful Moderation is a good litmus test for finding out if one has an alcohol disorder. Fail it and you have a serious problem that only abstinence can fix.
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