Fandy

My first big win was owning up to the problems i created for myself...no one can be blamed for me drinking, i willingly did it to wallow and feed my depression...
I felt so grateful for finding SR and being welcomed.
I think i felt accomplished at week 3, then i blew it at 6 months...and struggled with once a month relapses, they never went past 2-3 days but i still felt it.
Winning is being sober every morning, walking my dog and being able to look in a mirror without cringing. And not hating myself.

Nonsensical

I don't remember the exact date, late March, I think. It was the first time I put in a full day of hard work and didn't feel like beer was my just reward. I just remember that feeling really good.

Weasel1966

How great it is and inspiring to me to read these wins. What we each need is so the same and yet so different.

I have some new big wins I am working toward. Most wins cannot be planned. They are seen in the rear view mirror. But I have some that I want to reach. I will share them as I cross them.

Thanks so much for everyone's share. Love to read more!

Happy sober Monday and remember to smile today!

Marcher13

One of my big wins was about a month into sobriety, I realised that I hadn't thrown up or had a bad headache for over four weeks, in fact I felt healthy.

soberclover

I think the big win for me was when I took the action steps to not drink after my last head injury. I had wrapped my car and myself around a tree the year before and had another head injury. The last trip to the hospital in intensive care scared me as well as how slow the recovery was/is in getting "back to normal". It took a lot for this drunk to realize she needed to stop...really needed to stop...that was my win.

Weasel1966

I don't know why but this threads responses have really struck me. Reading about that moment for someone when they get it. See it. Or know it and they react to start to help themselves and reach out. Knowing when you are making change really happen. Or seeing when I might have tricked myself yet again for the last time.

Just makes me very happy to read about these things.

trikyriky

Ken , you've inspired so many with great threads , helping others, while still struggling in your own journey. This being one . Thank you

Ranger

Two weeks after becoming sober, my wife left town for a working weekend. Previously, that would've meant a full weekend of solitary drunkenness. But instead, newly sober, I went downtown that Friday night and saw a movie by myself. I have vivid memories of the walk back to my car after the show. The downtown bustle, live music, and late-August dusk. I was ALIVE for the first time in decades. By the time I reached my car I was in tears...the good kind.

Weasel1966

Good to see ya ranger... Been a while! That's how I feel ... Alive.

Deckard

I thought of this thread tonight as I realized I was actually in the process of a "big win."

I was out to dinner with a large group. It was an occasion to drink. The bottles kept coming and coming to the table. It seemed that a waitperson was almost continuously occupied with opening and pouring for the group... And I not only did not drink, I had -- unexpectedly, but honestly -- zero desire to do so. I just didn't. I wasn't struggling, denying, etc. It's like it just wasn't making it onto the radar screen.

When you exercise or train in a sport, eventually you reach a state in which something previously unthinkable becomes attainable. You can run the marathon, you can hit the 99 mph fastball.... Doesn't mean you take it for granted or stop working, but when you get there, it is indeed a big win. I felt like that tonight.

Thanks for all the great responses on this thread that helped me to understand how I felt tonight.

Overthehorizon

Today! I heard that wretched voice in my head telling me I'd be fine even though I've had that conversation a hundred times. Instead of feel depressed I went to a coffee shop and worked. On my way home I skipped all the places I could buy my usual summer ale, and while moving my stuff out of my old house to my new place I did not have one drink, which in the past I would have just drank the entire time since moving's such a b!!!! Today was a win for me!

Sasha4

I really started the get the concept that if you don't have the first drink then you cannot get drunk, around Christmas 2011.

I spent new years eve day sober, went to bed sober.
Then I started to put together some sober time.

I don't remember a big win as such, but I do remember the absolute happy feelings, excitement that I had managed to go to bed sober and woke up feeling great.

I realised I could get off the treadmill of daily drinking.

And I used to have drunk sundays too!
Flipping heck did I feel rough on a monday morning. Thank God the are over!

Love your threads Ken

My best to you
xx

Weasel1966

Dekard... That was really well said and inspiring. Thanks!

And yes! This thread is my most favorite of all time... Lol. Keep posting those wins. How you got there and what it feels like to so this! It helps me a lot.

This weekend is a win for me. No desires. What a calming feeling to not have all that nervous energy planning and scheming.

K

Nighthawk8820

I can go to the nightclub I used to work at and socialize for a while, leave clear headed, and enjoy the next morning without a hangover. That was a huge accomplishment for me. I also love the little things, like being in the gym on a Sunday morning at 10am, when I used to be hungover and locked in my apartment wasting another entire day. I hated living like that.