Renarde

I'm a couple of minutes away from day 78, and I am feeling really positive about doing this for the long haul. The first time I made it around 30 days and was white knuckling the whole time. I have tried to do things differently this time and it hasn't been nearly as bad as the first.

Gottalife

At about 90 days the desire to drink was lifted and never returned. The world began to look a whole lot better too!

duane1

I knew just about from the beginning. I was starting to have major issues with my liver and if I didn't stop, I wasn't going to be long for this world. It took me months to quit even with a throbbing liver, but once I broke free, I knew I wasn't going back.

SunriseSky

Thanks to the OP for asking this question. 3 months seems to be a common turning point. I'm only about a week into this and it has been a full-time job, requiring constant mental/emotional vigilance. Definitely worth the effort, but exhausting.

SnowDawg

90 days for me also, though I know danger lurks all over and I must be strong!

MeSoSober

This is embarrassing and sad to admit, but I kinda felt my resolve weakening as the months wore on. I allowed myself to get complacent. I think I stopped making the effort to post here and help maintain my resolve.

Kinda surprised that so many here were confident that they were done for good after only a few months. I kinda feel like even with a year of sobriety, I would still be afraid of relapsing at some point in the future. I guess a year just seems like a short period of time when compared with the rest of my life.

Thanks for all the responses!!

NoJimmy

I also knew from day 1. As someone who quit for nearly 5 years (16 years ago), I knew what got me those 5 years (will power, and surrounding myself with the right people/situations), and what derailed me (false confidence). I didn't work a program during my sobriety before, I see now that was a mistake.

mfanch

9 months.

I have had periods of clean-time before (up to 5 years), but never had the feeling that it was permanent. I always felt "recovering". Not anymore. I am recovered. I keep doing the daily things that got me here and I will not engage in my addictions (yes, plural).

Joe Nerv

It took me a little over a year. My blog is the detailed story behind that.

heath480

About a year.

I don't ever say now that I am never drinking again,I just do it a day at a time.Nobody can say for sure they are never drinking again.

duane1

Fear of relapse is still present in me even though I have confidence that I will never drink again. It's just the nature of alcoholism. If I didn't still fear that first drink, I might be in trouble.

Ptcapote

The obsession lifted by about the three month mark although I certainly would not say I felt "confident" that I wouldn't drink again. I just knew if I made it this far, I could keep going, almost HAD to keep going. That was also around the time I actually got fully involved in my recovery instead of watching it from the sidelines. Working the 12 Steps, coming on here and posting regularly, getting some therapy, volunteering, reading all I could on addiction, etc.

Now, at 9 months, I rarely think about drinking anymore. Sure, there are moments but they are more memories rather than "Boy, I'd love to do that again!" sort of things. I worked really hard at de-linking as many activities as I could from drinking so I could live life in a new way and NOT be reminded of it. It has worked.

But I had to put in mental, spiritual and physical work and realize that this is going to be a way of life for me from now on...and it was/is so very worth it.

Good to see ya back MeSoSober!!

Olive1

This is so true.
I felt really good about my recovery a couple of years in. Then I would go to a meeting and learn that someone with eight plus years had relapsed. Scared the crap out of me. And when I first signed up to this place almost a year ago, I felt quite triggered in the beginning. Perhaps it was the alcohol related people in my life at the time that contributed to this.
Anyway, I never let my guard down. Too much at stake.

dreamr

Only day 4 here, but I was confident the last night I drank that I would never drink again. I still crave it, but I have set my decision in stone and nothing and no one can force me to take another sip. I've tried to quit before but this is the first time I made a lifetime commitment. I don't fear relapse, I just fear not finding happiness, and I already learned that alcohol can't give me that.

soberhawk

I do not have cravings for alcohol as such anymore, I can at times be tempted to escape the hassle of life and alcohol is still an option in that thought.

I still need to remind me what I am doing, I sign in to the 24 hour thread every morning.

Thx. Deeker and Carlotta

bloss

After about 1 year and 3 months...still I take it day by day

resolute50

I'd say at the 3 month mark things got much better.