jaybee1

Do you still often think about not drinking? I have never gone more than a month without drinking, but during that time I constantly think about staying sober. It consumes a lot of my time.

Does this fade?

KateL

Those feeling do fade eventually.x

ippochick

i'm 2 months in and yes, it fades. if i think about it, i don't actually want to drink.

astonishing, but true. just hang in there - everything gets better.

jdooner

over time it fades but is really dependent upon the recovery process, time invested and the personality.

jaybee1

Thanks for your thoughts.

It seems like a full time job to me at the moment. I'm not having any cravings per se, but If I get lazy, I tend to fail.

mecanix

I only think about drinking or sobriety when i come to SR to see how everyone is doing . Even then it's more thinking about the experiences i've had on my journey and how it might be relevant to someone else rather than a "direct" thought about it .

I'm grateful for the sobriety and when i'm wandering round sometimes i will have a little laugh at how nice it is to be sober and content when i'm doing something that wouldn't have been that way in my drinking days .

Bestwishes, m

doggonecarl

For myself, I noticed at about the 90 day mark that my mind was not focused on drinking, or not drinking.

Now, at over three years, not even a concern. I don't drink. So there is nothing to think about.

Hang in there.

Dee74

It makes sense that we'd be as focused on non drinking as we were on drinking...but as I worked on myself and my recovery, my life changed and I changed with it.

I left that obsession behind. Took me a little longer than Carl but I was definitely more at peace by 3-4 months.

I'm not troubled at all by those thoughts now jaybee

pattyj

I went through a lot in early recovery; moving to my parents, leaving an abusive relationship, IOP, etc. It took me almost 6 months to get to the point where this switch just one day turned off in my head and I no longer craved or thought about drinking alcohol. If I talk about alcohol, it makes me sick to my stomach. So, yes, the thought goes away but it does take awhile. now

ScottFromWI

At just under a year in I don't have to consciously think about "not drinking" anymore. I pretty much go about my daily life without fear that I will somehow be overcome by a craving and rush out to get drunk. I do respect my addiction though and continue to read and learn as much as I can.

I still have memories of drinking, both bad and good. I doubt I'll ever be able to erase those from my head completely as it was such a large part of my life for almost 2 decades.

MIRecovery

For me it never total goes away. What happens are the thoughts come less often with less intensity. As quickly as they come they go. I now go days without a thought of drinking

doggonecarl

Looking at my post, it does read as if at 90 days the obsession magically disappeared. That wasn't the case. But by 90 days I did sense the change a 'coming.

soberhawk

I do not think about drinking often and it does not bother me to see other people drink.

I am going to Christmas feast at work in a couple of weeks, that is heavy drinking here beer and snaps. I have announced that I will attend but I will not drink – it does not worry me that I will be tempted.

I am 4 months sober (today even ) , it does get better.

Cigarettes is a different matter, that is still hard. It is not that often anymore, but there are moments I miss it so much that it is a insane. I have seen the thought go through my mind that life is not worth living without nicotine. Why live without cigarettes, there is nothing to look forward to. I do not take myself seriously entertaining such thoughts – that is just to stupid.

It takes time to fight addictions – I am sure that my urges for cigarettes will faint away in a couple of months. I am rather curious how it will be. If I give in now I will not be able to see that.

Give it time it will get better.

coming_clean

After two years the feelings of wanting to use cocaine and morphine are gone.

I haven't had any cravings in several months.

Joe Nerv

For me it took about 6 months before the desire left. It would creep up from time to time my first few years sober, but never with the intensity I had when I was drinking or in early sobriety. I stopped however hanging out in bars and with people getting drunk. Spent a lot of time in AA. And incorporated the steps in my life. Because of the foundation I laid with all that I now feel completely free to do anything I choose without thinking at all about drinking. It's simply something I don't do, and I have zero desire to it.

hypochondriac

I wouldn't worry about it feeling like a full time job at the moment. To be honest the 'trying not to drink' part of my recovery was relatively short. But working on everything else is still a full time job to me. I am constantly looking at ways to improve my state of mind. But that is a good thing really. I don't worry so much about accidental drinking, but I do try to stay mindful of what I am doing so I don't get into a situation where I would be tempted. I still leave parties early.

Huglets

It was a process for me. My first crack at sobriety lasted over a year, but I obsessed about drinking, mourned its loss and was overall ticked off. I knew I needed to be sober, I just didn't WANT to be sober. This thinking ultimately led me to back to the bottle.

Thankfully I bounced back from this relapse (not everyone is lucky enough to survive one) and just celebrated a year of sobriety. I no longer think about drinking, it's not an option. I do reminisce every now and again, but never walk away from those thoughts with warm & fuzzy feelings.

instant

I think there was a change in the "driven" nature of my thinking at around 90 days. when drinking i was constantly aware of my drinking situation anyway do when i stopped my brain stayed on the same track. Things get better over time, if you stick at it.

PaperDolls

I don't think about it near as often as I used to .... almost not at all.

I think what helped me was some support. Besides SR, I also went to AA and a counselor on a regular basis. I still do the AA meetings and obviously SR.

DoubleDragons

I asked a question similar to this a few weeks ago and it appeared to me that the majority of people on SR said three months made people feel pretty secure in their sobriety. I am over two months sober now, and I definitely feel less obsessed about drinking/not drinking, etc. I have been listening to self hypnosis recordings at night and my cravings are almost gone and when they come they are much weaker than they were a month ago.