cheeky1

M thinking I don't have enough tools in my arsena yet because I keep falling off this freaking wagon. I'm very mad at myself too! Booo!

DramaStudent

I lost count. So many half hearted, many nothing more than a hungover "never again" and a few serious attempts. Before this, my last serious attempt was Mat 2012 and I lasted 4 months, it was only my own over-confidence of "I can surely drink again now and control it?" that caused a 15 month relapse. I *hope* this was my last Day One this time. 6 days in.

Basically it doesnt matter if its your first Day one or your 20th, its the intention. If your intent is not to drink again you can make it work.

ScottFromWI

Maybe you need more tools? Do you follow a formal recovery plan at all? There's lots of info here on all the different things you can try.

PurpleKnight

I can't remember, too many to count . . . the good thing is though I know the feeling, the shame, the disappointment, but the fact you still care and haven't given up is a positive!!

U-turn that Wagon and roll it back up that hill!! keep pushing through and you'll get there!!

Dee74

I tried for about 15 years.

I eventually worked out that trying, by itself, is not enough.

I needed to change some people, places and things in my life that would lead me back everytime to drinking, and I needed to find support to stay quit.

you can do this cheeky - it all depends on what you're prepared to do

D

KateL

I lost count. But in all honesty, I guess it must be around 4 a month for 10 years, so that would be in the region of 400 plus. Got there in the end though. And not everyone is as bad as I was

courage2

I drank daily for decades and never made a serious attempt to quit, barely even to cut down. I just tried to lie about it better. I'd never counted days until last fall. I think I had like 3 day 1s within a month.

Then I admitted I couldn't do it alone, or even with just SR. I've been sober since.

I don't know if you're getting help, but I recommend you try some kind of program for support! Good luck!

Natom

There was countless occasions when I woke up after a binge and said rather half-heartedly that 'enough was enough' only to be using again as soon as possible to counteract the effects of a comedown. 4 times I gave recovery a try. Only this once that I put my heart and soul into it. You'll get there. Some people 'get it' on the first try and some don't. I considered myself to be a 'worst case scenario' and never thought I'd get clean. Some days I thought about ending it. I couldn't fathom a life without my faithful narcotics. Yet here I am. Clean, thankful, and although quite bah humbug about Christmas (like I've always been) very happy.

I wish you the best of luck on your journey.

Natom.

doggonecarl

In the 90s I tried a number of times to quit. My last attempt in that decade was in 1997 and I didn't try again until 2010. Frankly, I figured I would always drink; that it was my sorry lot in life. But in 2010, after my drinking got way out of hand and I had relapsed on painkillers, I knew I had a problem. There was only one "day one" after that vow to quit. I've been clean and sober since.

Looking back, I was always able to convince myself that my problem wasn't that bad, so going back to drinking was easy. But I think the real problem was I didn't understand that recovery was more than not drinking.

least

I had too many to count. But when I finally wanted to be sober more than I wanted to drink, then I was able to stay sober.

ZeldaFan

Countless! After I went from halfhearted attempts at quitting to taking my sobriety seriously this time, I have had three. After the third one, something clicked and I genuinely didn't want to go through it again. That was a defining moment.

Keep at it and keep adjusting your approach each time. You will find what works for you. You can do this!

jaynie04

I had one month last year, but it was a half hearted attempt. I am taking it much more seriously this time, life is too short.

Anna

I had many tries, but I think they were half-hearted. I think you have to really, really want sobriety in order for it work because it takes a lot of motivation.

instant

I had a lot of day 1's- I lost count- many times didn't make it to a full day 1- does half a day count?

I had many more drinking days however- it's a hard thing to break out of

In the end I had the day one that counted- at the time I had no hope I would last but I just stopped fighting

MattyBoy

I'm on my second 'true' attempt , the first of which lasted 6 months. I've said to myself a couple of times rather half heartedly that I'd try and stop but each time I knew in the back of my mind I wasn't ready to part ways with alcohol. I sincerely hope I've had my last 'day 1' and believe I've truly learnt my lesson with this drinking thing. Wishin you all the best cheeky1!

joyousone

Just keep trying. I signed up here 6 months ago have had too many day1' s, day 2 day 3 etc to count. But I figure any day not drinking is better than a day drunk. I'm sure my body thanks me for that too!
I not giving up trying and my hope is that you won't either. I really believe at some point this will stick and the days will mount or I would have given up already. Hang in there!

LindaLou

Like many of the others, I've had too many to count. All any of us can do is keep trying and hope one day it will be the last "day one". Keep on keepin' on....one day at a time!

TucTee

Countless. Needed more than a simple promise to myself to make it stick.

Nonsensical

The count of my past day ones is unimportant. The past is in the past. It's the count of my future day ones that matters. Those are the ones I can change. Those are the ones that don't have to happen at all.

You can do this.

MythOfSisyphus

I'm going to be honest, here. I had one day one, and that was it. But I don't want to make it sound like it was easy; it was kind of like skydiving. To actually quit drinking was like falling- not a trick just let gravity pull you down. But it took me 25 years to get to the door of the plane!

Nearly 20 years ago I had a real "scare", had a very frightening episode while drunk. It rattled me enough to make me stop drinking for about six months. But even then I had no intention of actually quitting, just figured I had to stop for awhile.

And it got better...briefly. When I resumed drinking I really did drink "like a normal person" at first. But it didn't last. Within a couple months I was back to my old ways.

Fast forward to October of last year. I finally understood deep down in my bones that I'd run out of tomorrows, I had to quit today. It's been what, 13 months now? Day one sucked enough that I never want to have another one.