How Many times?
 

Tell me guys, how many times did you attemp to stop drinking before you actully made it over a year? I made it a year before and then 3-4-5-6 weeks at different time.. today.. it's been almost two days.. Got through yesterday. I just wonder if I'm just fooling myslef and I relaps yet again.. How long did you try before you finally GOT IT!

And I know sleeping gets better. But man the first night I tossed and turned for hours before I finally fell asleep,, but when I did, what a nice sleep. not waking up for something for my head or a tums for by sour tummy in the middle of the night.. :headbange

How long guys?
Thank you

Hi meblonde,

I have honestly tried twice in the past two years and this is the longest at 33 days. I quit before for 5 years - long story why the heck I ever started again, short story I thought I could moderate. That time I just had it and quit, it was harder then though more white knuckling.

Keep coming here it is a great support..

IMT

How long did you try before you finally GOT IT!

I'm still trying everyday. It's not very hard to for me to do right now, but I'm probably never going to say that I GOT IT. I had 5 1/2 years and thought I HAD IT, and then got complacent thinking I could moderate. That didn't work out very well. I've strung together some months now. I hope to get back to measuring my sobriety in years again, but in order to do that I need to build up the time, one day at a time. Hopefully I won't get complacent again, thinking that I've GOT IT.

I've been trying to get and stay sober since before I joined here and just now have ten months. Can't count how many times I tried and failed. But this time feels 'different' somehow. I no longer have the desire to drink whereas every other time I quit I still wanted to drink. This time I don't want to drink at all. And even when the going gets rough I don't want to drink over it, so I think I finally 'got it'.:)

I tried...and failed for 20 years.

The difference for me was in truly accepting my alcoholism.

I know what a drink will do, and I have to ensure that the thought of 'just one' does not ever become a viable option to me ever again.

It takes some maintenance but it's not an onerous task - I love the life I have and I like the man I am now :)

D

After trying about 700-800 times, I lost track, lol.

The only time that matters to me is this one I'm on now. Can't do anything about all the others.

Don't give up!

Its a tough job, and it takes some time to work through. Keep on trying my friend, we have all been there and wish you the best.

I have tried countless times to quit for good by myself....... longest was 15 months and then just like every good alcoholic I made up my mind I could control it and be moderate about drinking.......WRONG!!!!! We that are truly alcoholics will NEVER:react be able to drink normally and that makes me sad and pisses me off:c004:, however reality is reality I can climb in a bottle and enter my own world or stay out of the bottle and be in my wife's world, my sons world, my friends world, my dogs world, my cats world, mother nature's world, God's world. Some choice huh? 60 days sober today, "this time". The difference now though is I have re-enforcements....my AA family :ringwe meet twice a week and it is wonderful and I actually see an alcoholic free future and no longer dread it but am embracing it.

I started AA in 84....in '89 I earned my 1 year medallion.

During those 4 years in between
I had short periods of sobriety
and returned to drinking many times.
:duh:

Yes! you too can win over alcohol
Forward is the correct direction...:yup:

These posts were super helpful, thanks guys. I can't stay sober. I had 4 days and I was thrilled with myself! THEN day 5 rolled around and I went on a bender. I was just gonna have 2 beers. Uh huh. Today I feel soooo rotten about it. This is really hard.

Its good to find out that I'm not alone and all of you have had difficulty as well. :-/

I aspire to have your longevity sober.

A newbie at recovery, my second attempt at quitting and have yet to make 30 days. My one relapse was an eye opener in that I caved in so easy. One minute I was sober, and in the next I had listened to the voice inside that said drink. I have been most vigilant during this period of recovery, but I fight the urge to drink every day. Some days (or very early mornings like now) it seem inevitable that I will drink again; so I just try to make it past that moment. So far so good. And good luck to you!

LOL@firestorm.

I'm with all the others. I actually got so anal at one point (or maybe it was OCD) that I started counting "Day 1's" over the period of time. I stopped at 182, and that was inside of 18 months. That was 5 years ago, so I've had many more since. But this time feels good; not my longest, but that will happen. Don't think of a relapse as making all your previous good work irrelevant, or for nothing; think of it more as a pothole in the road you are travelling.

Here I sit at 4:15 in the morning thinking..... My "lower brain" is telling be how good and easy it woud be. My higher brain is telling me how incredibly STUPID it would be to have that 1st drink. After that 1st drink, ALL rational judgement goes out the window. Sadly, it has taken me 20+ years to learn that lesson... Really hope you can better my record!!
..Mike

Pot hole I like that.. and after years there still might be a pot hole, but it's not falling down that hurts us.. it's staying down.

Hopefully I can say years some day.. In this 3rd day of not drinking, I just got back from dinner with hubby. He had two glasses of wine before we left I had Ice tea, and water at dinner.. Now I will make it on this 3rd day because I look forward to going to bed sober.. It's those habit times that are hard.. just before dinner when I want a drink or 2-3-4-5-6-7 and then sometimes don't eat or even forget what I had to eat the next day. SO sad.. so many blurry days/nights

Makes me sick to think of all the wasted time I was wasted. :c004:

It took me two years in AA to earn a 1 year chip.

HOw long now Bella

I never wanted to stop drinking before this year....and now? i know my life depends on it....nothing earth shattering with health problems, but my inner voice (that one with common sense running through it)...tells me i've pushed the envelope far enough...i want to save myself and not be tied to a bottle of wine....it has destroyed enough, now i want to reclaim my sanity not give up.

i've suffered from chronic insomnia it seems forever, but when i'm sober i get a good 7 hours every night....i find that very hard to give up, so i prefer sobriety.

i've also found that i am less depressed when i'm sober, i function better and think logically. i WANT a better life, i'm tired of the old dragging, depressed, hungover version that started every AM barfing into the bathroom trash basket. (sorry for the graphic).

in 2009 i was only not drinking 9 days total (due to hospitalization where those LFTs were alarming along with my cholesterol)....since Feb. 16, 2010 i am a different person and i like this version much better...i think like i did before alcohol sucked me into oblivion.

i'm NOT perfect, i've tried drinking "in moderation" a few times, but it simply doesn't work for me...so i stopped experimenting with that trick too.

you can make this your last Day One by simply not drinking....but you have to really want it and have support. (and help from yoru doctor if you need to please)

Sounds EXACTLY like my current situation. I've been going to AA since 2006. I've had some sobriety (seven months at one point) but nothing "stuck". Good ole' "terminal uniqueness" I guess. I was different, I was young, I hadn't done this yet, I hadn't done that yet. Well all that stuff eventually happened. The only thing I DIDN'T do was lose my license. And that wasn't because I wasn't trying to. It's a miracle I'm still alive, let alone sober.