I did the math. Encourage you to do the same.
 

I've quit every single morning after I drank the night before.

Let's see. I'm 43. Starting my drinking career at about 19. That's 24 years.

I drank, conservatively, 3 nights a week. Lets call it four for fecks sake.

4992 times. Give or take a few thousand.

Which means I've spent roughly 14 years of my life drunk/hungover.

Jesus.

Like u said...Jesus!!!!!!! I might have u beat :)

This is helpful when beating up on yourself for taking time with recovery. :)

I think it's also important to remember that whether you drank 10 times or 10000 times, being sober today is infinitely more important.

Lala - I am not beating up on myself.

I'm moving from the fog into the light.

It's a reality check. One that floored me.

Numbers don't lie.

Thanks for stopping by though. Wishing you the absolute best.

you can do my math I start at 10 years old I'm 46 first 10 was daily the rest 3 times a week all was to get drunk
me the math the I like is my 3 months sober.

Alpha..I shouldn't speak for Layla but I'm gonna chime in anyway (cuz ya I do that). I had to read her comment a couple times when I saw it as I first saw sarcasm. I think I was wrong. I then took it to mean..when we do get impatient with recovery or the time we spend in recovery (posting on SR, staring at the ceiling, going to meetings etc)..it's helpful to think of the time wasted on drinking.

And if I interpreted what she said correctly..she's right! Sometimes I get impatient with myself at only 2 months sober..as in why am I not writing everyday or learning guitar...why am I posting on SR all the time lol... we need to remember we spend a whole lotta time doing nothing drinking (other than killing drive and brain cells).

AlphaOmega, I did the math. Encourage you to do the same? You are FANTASTIC. I do the math all the time and I conservatively figure I drank for about 20 years of the 42 years of my drinking career. Yesterday I made it 3 years 2 months sober and still counting. Rootin for ya. :egypt:

Hi alpha, wow you are brave. I don't think I could ever admit all mine. Good job!:You_Rock_

My math is similar to yours. I'm a numbers guy, so i enjoy stats. However, this stat should not be dwelled on. I'd add, I spent most of those years beating myself up for it. Isn't it time we stopped beating ourselves up?

When I first read your original post in the other thread with the math a thought came to mind to me.

In one of my attempts to get sober the first night I went to bed and laid there staring at the ceiling. I was miffed why I was tired and couldn't sleep. Then I realized it was because I was sober. That led me to ponder the last time I had crawled into bed sober and it had been at least 6 months. You'd think that thought would have scared me into achieving sobriety and within a month I was right back at it again.

It almost scares me to do the math of how much of my life has spent under the influence. Blecccchhhhhh!

I'm afraid to do the math. All I know is that except for pregnancy, I've been drunk for way too much of my children's lives. Even during those months I only drank 2-3 times bacause I always over did it!

Roughly 7 years for me.

I've done the math on money wasted. That's scary too!

Hi Alpha,
I like it. I will need a calculator and it will probably startle me just like when you calculate the interest you pay on a mortgage but it will certainly put things in perspective for me...and I like things balanced and in perspective.

Yin and yang. Keeping it real but moving forward!

Thanks!

Sorry is I interpreted this wrong but what I read is not good to be posting in here to much and do something alse with out time. Me I got to the gym
Spend some time with kids and grand kids etc.