Set a 10 day goal
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 622
Set a 10 day goal
Hello Everyone,
I've been back and forth on this site for years with my struggles of alcohol. First, thank you for still being here and allowing me to continue to try with sober recovery. Alcohol has again taken over my life. It is affecting my work and performance. I have decided to set myself up with a 10 day goal. I have a very important gig (I'm a musician) next Saturday and I want and need to be at the top of my game. So today I've decided to use this as a goal to set and hopefully that will help me ween myself. 10 days seems hard for me for sure but it also seems doable as I want to kick butt at this gig. As I am writing this I can feel the soreness in the muscles of my arms from dehydration and excessive drinking lately. I'm not even practicing today as I don't feel in complete control of my arms and hands. That is just wrong. So here goes the start of my 10 day goal.
Thanks for reading.
I've been back and forth on this site for years with my struggles of alcohol. First, thank you for still being here and allowing me to continue to try with sober recovery. Alcohol has again taken over my life. It is affecting my work and performance. I have decided to set myself up with a 10 day goal. I have a very important gig (I'm a musician) next Saturday and I want and need to be at the top of my game. So today I've decided to use this as a goal to set and hopefully that will help me ween myself. 10 days seems hard for me for sure but it also seems doable as I want to kick butt at this gig. As I am writing this I can feel the soreness in the muscles of my arms from dehydration and excessive drinking lately. I'm not even practicing today as I don't feel in complete control of my arms and hands. That is just wrong. So here goes the start of my 10 day goal.
Thanks for reading.
Member
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: middle of nowhere
Posts: 2,849
You can do it! We all have to start somewhere, and then build on our successes. Work on positive thinking during this time and visualize yourself kicking butt.
Let us know how it goes, and check in when ever you need support!
Let us know how it goes, and check in when ever you need support!
Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 10,912
This kind of goal setting and self motivation tends to work for me in many different areas of my life, not just early sobriety or when I want to get healthier in other ways. I guess it's basically the idea of using deadlines for motivation and effectiveness. Or a larger "reward" that will take time to achieve vs instant gratification (like drinking). The most important thing for me though is to not get carried away by the success at the end and just into another destructive "celebration".
Also, as soberwolf suggested, it's often important to break bigger projects/goals down to smaller fragments that can be accomplished in a timely manner without too much anxiety and overwhelm. Maybe if one of your current goals is to get in a better physical shape, introduce small other things into your days that make you feel better and keep you motivated in addition to the end goal -- I often find goal oriented "projects" to be much more efficient that way. A bit of instant gratification every day, just not alcohol or other harmful things. Good luck!
Also, as soberwolf suggested, it's often important to break bigger projects/goals down to smaller fragments that can be accomplished in a timely manner without too much anxiety and overwhelm. Maybe if one of your current goals is to get in a better physical shape, introduce small other things into your days that make you feel better and keep you motivated in addition to the end goal -- I often find goal oriented "projects" to be much more efficient that way. A bit of instant gratification every day, just not alcohol or other harmful things. Good luck!
Member
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: UK
Posts: 113
I think your 10 day goal is a great idea. Are you also using that time to build up a plan to support you in continued sobriety?
I tapered before stopping completely, by having an increasing number of alcohol-free days each week. I know that isn't for everyone, in fact it might be a very bad idea for some people. In my case, it worked really well. I used the time to become more aware of why exactly I drink, and what I need to stay sober.
I did a lot of detective work on myself. Safely knowing that I wasn't going to drink that day, if I got urges to drink I tried to simply observe what was happening.
I was surprised that while some urges went away within half an hour or so (as I'd always been told), some lasted for hours. I discovered that Thursday is the hardest day of the week. I discovered that to regulate my emotions I need what to me is a shocking amount of downtime, doing nothing productive at all. I discovered that I want to attend a face to face sobriety group.
Of course someone else would discover completely different things about themselves. The important thing was that I was understanding more about me and what strategies I need to make sobriety stick.
I chose to abstain completely sooner than I'd expected to. I felt ready. For me, it wasn't just experiencing the benefits of not drinking but also the preparation for avoiding or dealing with the potholes along the road.
After I'd done five days in a row sober, I decided not to drink again at all. I'm wishing for the same for you at the end of your ten days.
I tapered before stopping completely, by having an increasing number of alcohol-free days each week. I know that isn't for everyone, in fact it might be a very bad idea for some people. In my case, it worked really well. I used the time to become more aware of why exactly I drink, and what I need to stay sober.
I did a lot of detective work on myself. Safely knowing that I wasn't going to drink that day, if I got urges to drink I tried to simply observe what was happening.
I was surprised that while some urges went away within half an hour or so (as I'd always been told), some lasted for hours. I discovered that Thursday is the hardest day of the week. I discovered that to regulate my emotions I need what to me is a shocking amount of downtime, doing nothing productive at all. I discovered that I want to attend a face to face sobriety group.
Of course someone else would discover completely different things about themselves. The important thing was that I was understanding more about me and what strategies I need to make sobriety stick.
I chose to abstain completely sooner than I'd expected to. I felt ready. For me, it wasn't just experiencing the benefits of not drinking but also the preparation for avoiding or dealing with the potholes along the road.
After I'd done five days in a row sober, I decided not to drink again at all. I'm wishing for the same for you at the end of your ten days.
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