View Poll Results: Do you count sober days?
Yes, I count sober days.
73
53.68%
No, I do not count sober days, but celebrate sober anniversaries.
40
29.41%
No, I do not count sober days or celebrate sober anniversaries.
23
16.91%
Voters: 136. You may not vote on this poll
Counting Sober Days
Member
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: NYC/NJ
Posts: 431
For me, counting days became a sign that I was too aware of time and was stuck in my own head. I wasn't really in the present, and I was trying to superficially validate my sobriety through how much time I had rather than my quality of life at this moment. Ultimately, all that matters is the here and now. We all think our lives will be better 5 years from now if we stay sober, and hopefully so, but all that matters is how we live today. I admit that when I tend to get unhappy or insecure in life, I think about my sober time and think of how long it's been, and that actually helps give me some motivation to keep going. When I have no other motivation, my sober time is motivation in itself. But when I'm healthy and truly enjoying life sober and not stuck in my own head, life tends to just flow, other things and people become more important, and sober time means nothing. There are far more interesting things to me in this world then thinking about my own self, but I have to admit I do more than I'd like.
We didn't get sober to think about being sober, we got sober to be sober.
We didn't get sober to think about being sober, we got sober to be sober.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 581
Measuring time seems to be an aspect of the perpetual state of "recovering." It keeps me in that "never safe" area that I think rehabs promote.
AA does not promote that. It says, clearly and emphatically, that we can be recovered.
I think there's drama inherent in the "One Day At A Time" idea-- living on the edge, struggling, etc.-- that can be a hindrance to true recovery. It limits me from being free of the obsession, and keeps me in a place where I can justify any behavior by saying, "well, at least I didn't drink today."
AA does not promote that. It says, clearly and emphatically, that we can be recovered.
I think there's drama inherent in the "One Day At A Time" idea-- living on the edge, struggling, etc.-- that can be a hindrance to true recovery. It limits me from being free of the obsession, and keeps me in a place where I can justify any behavior by saying, "well, at least I didn't drink today."
Member
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Hanford CA
Posts: 14
I sure did my first year. Oh boy and the first 90 days were the worse eating everything that you can find it was sweet. Now I am almost four years sober. Reading this made me realized how lucky and how grateful I am to be sober another day..
I don't count days. Too binding.
The day I got sober is a haze. I did post here then, so it's "documented", for what it's worth, but I don't really feel the need to observe it.
I do like to really celebrate the day I joined SR (Feb 22nd 2008). I feel that's the day when my recovery began
The day I got sober is a haze. I did post here then, so it's "documented", for what it's worth, but I don't really feel the need to observe it.
I do like to really celebrate the day I joined SR (Feb 22nd 2008). I feel that's the day when my recovery began
I'm not exactly counting days, though I'm in early sobriety, so counting weeks (3 so far) and the days kind of come out of that. When I quit smoking, I counted days, hours, minutes and seconds for a while, then eventually stopped counting and recently completely missed my eleventh year anniversary. I imagine that quitting alcohol will probably go about the same for me. Obsession early on, and then, not so much
I voted No.
I have a round about idea because it hasn't been that long, a little over a month. And it's currently easy for me to figure it out, because I also started on a Monday. But I can't see myself remembering how many days a few months from now.
And I don't plan on celebrating anniversary's.
I have a round about idea because it hasn't been that long, a little over a month. And it's currently easy for me to figure it out, because I also started on a Monday. But I can't see myself remembering how many days a few months from now.
And I don't plan on celebrating anniversary's.
Member
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: London
Posts: 299
I love counting the days. I'm only at 63 days but I go on another board and there is me and another couple of people counting off the same day. It's great to remind each other we're in it together.
It makes me feel really, really chuffed as it's the longest time for me without a drink since the age of 14....or maybe younger. and I'm 41 now. I may stop counting eventually, and go to months For the moment it makes me feel like a kid, very happy.
It makes me feel really, really chuffed as it's the longest time for me without a drink since the age of 14....or maybe younger. and I'm 41 now. I may stop counting eventually, and go to months For the moment it makes me feel like a kid, very happy.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 1,126
I looked forward to milestones. Having survived protracted withdrawal, I kept hoping that at six months my hands would stop shaking, or that my shoulders would stop hurting from walking around as tense as a spring wire. Neither happened at 180 days.
At a year I hope the repetitive thoughts roiling around my brain would stop, that I had an appetite, prayed the depression would lift.
At 21 months, I quit counting days, but once in a while plug my sobriety date into the sober calculator. Today is day 589.
And i still consider myself a newcomer.
At a year I hope the repetitive thoughts roiling around my brain would stop, that I had an appetite, prayed the depression would lift.
At 21 months, I quit counting days, but once in a while plug my sobriety date into the sober calculator. Today is day 589.
And i still consider myself a newcomer.
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