DontRemember

When I was getting sober I went to court ordered AA. I was still drinking for the first month or so but, at a much lower level after I got 'for real, for real' in trying to stop/stay stopped. I also went to therapy several times.. anyways.. one thing about the court ordered AA was the other 'drunks' in the room would call me on my crap in the beginning. After a few sober months I could easily catch newcomers 'crap' when they would say it because that had been me. Same for the newcomers forum here. It's very easy to spot someone who's not 100% ready to do what it takes to stay stopped... hopefully yet. I joined here in I think 2014(?) And did mostly zero work towards a sober life until I went to AA in 2016(?). I don't count days so, my timeline may be off. All I know is I haven't had a drink in over 3years (minus one night at 9mo sober). But, it did take me putting my life basically on hold for 3-6mo and focusing on myself/sobriety.

skippernlilg

In this thread, someone suggested that recovery for an A is "never, ever drinking again". I submit that in alcoholic recovery , never, ever is a tall order. Today is the only day that has that hope. That's for us in al-anon, too. One day at a Time can be an overwhelming chunk of time in early recovery. Sometimes, it's just one moment at a Time.

righttheship

This just stopped me in my tracks. It's so exactly right. For a long time, I said (and believed) that my AH was high-functioning. But really, what I meant by that was that no one, looking in from the outside, would have known there was a problem. But on the inside: things were terrible--the gaslighting, the verbal abuse, the unpredictability, etc., etc. I'll never again say my AH was high-functioning. Because for the people who should've mattered the most, he never really was.

P.S. I'm not trying to hijack this thread, but reading those words just really helped me to rethink how I characterize my own experience. So, thank you, Sleephollo.