150 Days Sober - You Can Too
 

Hello Everyone,

I havent posted in quite a long time but i wanted to check back in and offer some advice. Today marks 150 days without a sip of alcohol. Here are a few things ive learned along the way, take it or leave it, it is up to you:

1. It was a struggle in the beggining. The first few days, especially weekends, were really tough but not for the reasons i initially thought. The difficulty for me was to find things to fill the time that i usually spent drinking, which turned out to be hours and hours each week. If you also factor in the time wasted nursing hangovers, you can double that number.

2. It got easier and easier each week. The farther away i got from my last drink, the farther the idea of drinking was pushed to the back of my mind. Now i can go out and enjoy life with my friends, at tailgates, weddings, bars, clubs and not feel pressured to drink. (You start to notice the stupid stuff people do when they are drunk and you realize you were right there with them)

3. Alcohol turned out NOT to be the root of all my problems, i found out instead that it was a catalyst. I didnt magically snap out of depression or get rid of my anxiety, i didnt all of a sudden have tons of money or loose a bunch of weight, my anger issues werent resolved over night. However, the clear consistent head you have when you are sober helped me focus on these issues and not mask them and accelerate them like alcohol did.

4. 150 days later. I am anxiety free, depression free, i have dropped my bodyfat% from 30 to 12, i have learned to set a budget, i am happier with myself and my life, my relationships with loved ones have never been better.

5. Weekends feel twice to three times longer now, to the point where when i curl up in bed on Sunday night, i have a hard time remembering leaving work on Friday because there are so many memories in between. I wake up early on Saturday and Sunday, i found new hobbies to fill my new free time.

6. Without soapboxing or preaching what so ever, my actions have inspired 3 of my friends (that i know of) to cut back on their drinking considerably. I feel proud to be a positive impact on other peoples lives.

My words of advice to everyone here trying to get sober are these:

Find youself, really search your soul. You will find that you are pretty damn awesome and are capable of growing towards the sun. Spend time hanging out with youself, get to know yourself again. Brick by brick, you can rebuild a relationship with yourself, the longest one youll ever have.

Good luck everyone, i probably wont be back.

Thank you to all of the posters that helped me in my time of need, i pay it forward.

Well done 150 days is awesome love this post

Congrats on 150 days. Hope you change your mind and stick around a little :)

D

Well done Lisbon.

:c011:

Fantastic!! :You_Rock_

Great post! Thanks for sharing.

awesome post :) Hope ya stick around! Congrats on 150 days and finding your true self!

Congratulations, Lisbon, on 150 sober days; thanks for your upbeat and inspirational post; glad to hear that you are finding sobriety so satisfying.

It is awesome to get clean and stay clean but I was taught from day one that if I get clean and stay clean I should give back what was so freely given to me. If I do not try to help the next person who is struggling to stay clean then I am a thief. This is why I share my story regularly, I now speak in rehabs and try to help someone because there was always someone who was willing to be there to help me when I needed it. If we all got clean and then went off who would help the next person ?

Good job Lisbon! Your post gives me hope!

Sent from my iPhone using SoberRecovery

Congrats Lisbon! 156 days myself. Your observations are very spot-on, and sounds like you're learning plenty about yourself on your journey. Keep it up :c011:

Bunnez

Congrats on 150 days sober! :scoregood

Thank you for the great advice, day 6 is almost in the books and I am starting to look forward to each day and I'm even planning more for the weekend without feeling much anxiety over whether I'll make it through. Congratulations on the new life, I'll be there in 154 days :c011:

Meant 144 days haha

Right on, Lisbon!

I'm approaching 300, and I have to say that I was a freakin' mess at 150, but now I'm mostly good. I only share this for the benefit of those with three or six months who are thinking, wow, what's my problem? For me it has been two steps forward, one step back...

Just saying everyone's different, and don't despair if you're out there still feeling overwhelmed. I mostly visit SR these days just to check in or play around, but there are those times when it is so helpful just to connect with others as we struggle up the scree...

This was really great. It sounded like what I hope sobriety will be like. Great job Libson!:scoregood