Counting Days
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: California
Posts: 13,044
Counting Days
Hello,
Hope everyone had a great start to their week. I am still in NY visiting family. Things are going well, and I feel like am actually able to decompress. I celebrated 30 days this past week, and each day I was obsessed with counting. I feel like counting days is making me crazy, rather than enjoying sobriety I am obsessed with the next day or milestone.
Thoughts on counting days vs. not?
Thanks!!!
:-)
Hope everyone had a great start to their week. I am still in NY visiting family. Things are going well, and I feel like am actually able to decompress. I celebrated 30 days this past week, and each day I was obsessed with counting. I feel like counting days is making me crazy, rather than enjoying sobriety I am obsessed with the next day or milestone.
Thoughts on counting days vs. not?
Thanks!!!
:-)
Member
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Earth
Posts: 607
Stop counting start living. I will always remember my start date but that's cause it was all pretty traumatic but not sure how many days. Every now and then I'll look it up on the calculator on this sight if I'm bored. (Now I'm going to have to check) I guess there's nothing wrong with taking pride in your achievement but it's probably more important to enjoy and make productive use of your new sober life.
Great job on 30 days though!
Great job on 30 days though!
Re-Member
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: USA
Posts: 7,909
I've heard others say that counting days adds stress to their recovery.
For me, I love it. I'm proud of each and every one of those days. They're all a reprieve from the miserable hole I've been living in for most of the last sixteen years of drinking. First thing I do every morning after I say my morning prayers is pop on my good old Class of May 2015 thread and check in and the very first thing I type is, "Starting day X right now." It's a tradition I hope to keep going one day at a time for the foreseeable future. I hope my count gets so high I wear out my keyboard every time I type it.
For me, counting days in recovery sure beats the alternative of counting days as a miserable, lonely SOB. But if counting days bothers you, then by all means cut it out. There is also a lot of truth in the fact that we only have today.
PS Congrats on 30 days!
For me, I love it. I'm proud of each and every one of those days. They're all a reprieve from the miserable hole I've been living in for most of the last sixteen years of drinking. First thing I do every morning after I say my morning prayers is pop on my good old Class of May 2015 thread and check in and the very first thing I type is, "Starting day X right now." It's a tradition I hope to keep going one day at a time for the foreseeable future. I hope my count gets so high I wear out my keyboard every time I type it.
For me, counting days in recovery sure beats the alternative of counting days as a miserable, lonely SOB. But if counting days bothers you, then by all means cut it out. There is also a lot of truth in the fact that we only have today.
PS Congrats on 30 days!
Member
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: canada
Posts: 748
I wouldn't worry about it; the obsession will pass. I know that feeling you're talking about. I even tried to stop counting but I couldn't. At first the day count seemed to go so slow and somehow I had this irrational anxiety that my sobriety didn't really mean much until I had 30, 60 or 90+ days. It went pretty slow up to 90 days and then I started to relax a bit because some research I read suggests if you make it 90 days your risk of relapse drops significantly.
By the time I hit 6 months, counting days was still a pretty big deal but the compulsive, driven feeling was fading nicely. Now I'm somewhere in the 220 - 230 day range. I have a counting app on my phone and sometimes I go a few days without thinking to check it. I don't really experience that need to get to the next milestone; now it's just more of a validation of my sobriety journey. I can't lie though; the thought of reaching 365 days really excites me.
You are doing a great job and are going to be fine. :-)
By the time I hit 6 months, counting days was still a pretty big deal but the compulsive, driven feeling was fading nicely. Now I'm somewhere in the 220 - 230 day range. I have a counting app on my phone and sometimes I go a few days without thinking to check it. I don't really experience that need to get to the next milestone; now it's just more of a validation of my sobriety journey. I can't lie though; the thought of reaching 365 days really excites me.
You are doing a great job and are going to be fine. :-)
Do your best
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 67,047
I used to count days till i started to lose count then i started counting months untill month 18 then once i turn 2 years in july il only count by year
Like D said tho if its stressful dont do it if it brings you peace as it did me then by all means
Like D said tho if its stressful dont do it if it brings you peace as it did me then by all means
Canine Welfare Advocate
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Norfolk, VA
Posts: 10,962
Thirty days is awesome.
Counting days can be tough, especially as they add up. My advice: Stay sober. Counting months is easier. Counting years even easier than months!
Originally Posted by Delilah1 
Thoughts on counting days vs. not?
Member
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Gulf Coast, USA
Posts: 2,229
Delilah, congrats on 30 days! Fantastic job.
On the counting days or not... just do what works for you. I use it as a motivating factor for me. It also adds a little extra padding on the days that my AV is acting up in that if I slip then my count starts again at day 1.
If it stresses you, give it a break for a while. You're doing great.
On the counting days or not... just do what works for you. I use it as a motivating factor for me. It also adds a little extra padding on the days that my AV is acting up in that if I slip then my count starts again at day 1.
If it stresses you, give it a break for a while. You're doing great.
Member
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Illinois
Posts: 1,343
Delilah, great job on 30 days! I recently passed my 30 day mark this past week myself. I count each day because it helps me keep focus. The 24 hour thread helps with me as well. I have a personal goal to reach 200 days (that was my downfall a few years ago). After that date, I will more than likely only count or celebrate by months or years. I believe that as long as it's working for me without stressing me out, then I will keep doing it. 
Member
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Somewhere in California
Posts: 1,136
Congrats on your days adding up. I used to count daily until around 100 days. I still write them down in my calendar, but I don't think about it as much as the pre-100 days. I hit 200 days last week, but I've ready forgotten about the count. My next big number will be a year, which is in another five months.
I think the ritual of counting days is a good thing. You've got a daily reminder of tangible progress, which is important in working toward a goal.
I think the ritual of counting days is a good thing. You've got a daily reminder of tangible progress, which is important in working toward a goal.
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: California
Posts: 13,044
Originally Posted by Lance40
I wouldn't worry about it; the obsession will pass. I know that feeling you're talking about. I even tried to stop counting but I couldn't. At first the day count seemed to go so slow and somehow I had this irrational anxiety that my sobriety didn't really mean much until I had 30, 60 or 90+ days. It went pretty slow up to 90 days and then I started to relax a bit because some research I read suggests if you make it 90 days your risk of relapse drops significantly.
By the time I hit 6 months, counting days was still a pretty big deal but the compulsive, driven feeling was fading nicely. Now I'm somewhere in the 220 - 230 day range. I have a counting app on my phone and sometimes I go a few days without thinking to check it. I don't really experience that need to get to the next milestone; now it's just more of a validation of my sobriety journey. I can't lie though; the thought of reaching 365 days really excites me.
You are doing a great job and are going to be fine. :-)
By the time I hit 6 months, counting days was still a pretty big deal but the compulsive, driven feeling was fading nicely. Now I'm somewhere in the 220 - 230 day range. I have a counting app on my phone and sometimes I go a few days without thinking to check it. I don't really experience that need to get to the next milestone; now it's just more of a validation of my sobriety journey. I can't lie though; the thought of reaching 365 days really excites me.
You are doing a great job and are going to be fine. :-)
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: California
Posts: 13,044
Thank you all for your feedback/advice. I am going to try living in the present but keep the days tucked inside my brain somewhere. I took the kids to see Inside Out yesterday, maybe the voice in my head that is counting can be called obsessive and the one that helps me stay sober can be called sanity or calm.
Member
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: northern michigan. not the U.P.
Posts: 15,281
My last drunk was 4/23/05.
I have been sober since 5:17 this morning.
Getting to the point of not being concerned with amount of time sober and the quality of my sobriety took time. As I recall I was counting days too early on. Heard its ODAAT, understood it, but still hadda hard time not counting. But I kept telling myself I only have today.
Eventually, I'm not sure exactly what it is that happened( maybe ODAAT got from my head to my heart?) I stopped counting.
It was quite a relief,too.
But took time.
I have been sober since 5:17 this morning.
Getting to the point of not being concerned with amount of time sober and the quality of my sobriety took time. As I recall I was counting days too early on. Heard its ODAAT, understood it, but still hadda hard time not counting. But I kept telling myself I only have today.
Eventually, I'm not sure exactly what it is that happened( maybe ODAAT got from my head to my heart?) I stopped counting.
It was quite a relief,too.
But took time.
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