18 days and failure
 

In an hour I will have 18 sober days. That is an accomplishment for me as I have been living in a wine bottle for probably 18 months now. I have always believed that with two weeks you can establish a new habit. After that it is all about working on maintaining that habit. My newly developed two week habit is not drinking. Not thinking about drinking. Not romanticizing drinking. Not missing drinking. Not talking about drinking. Not being with people drinking. My next new habit will be holding on to that first habit for dear life as I navigate the stresses of everyday. I have new coping strategies, planned activities, and a no failure attitude. I have my plan.

So day 18 and beyond (should have been 14, I'm late) is all about not drinking even if thinking about drinking, missing drinking, talking about drinking or being around others who are drinking. Because I am a nondrinker now. I may have thoughts or feelings - I will allow that - but I refuse to act on them. This is my chance to start a new life.

Bug

Congratulations on making your decision not to drink. Life will be much better for you, I know it has for me since since I've stopped. I think about it too sometimes but I never act on it. I have too much to lose. Enjoy your new journey! Peace...out

Hi - I so get this right now -

So day 18 and beyond (should have been 14, I'm late) is all about not drinking even if thinking about drinking, missing drinking, talking about drinking or being around others who are drinking.

I spend a good deal of time here on SR, so I am thinking about "not-drinking" a good bit. I am starting a new job soon so I hope to not be devoting such a large chunk of time to thinking about "not-drinking" :)

That said, I hope it's a normal part of early sobriety and maybe even a part of a recovery plan which others here emphasize so heavily to be successful at this. Tuesday I'll have 60 days.

Congrats on day 18

Why did you say "18 days and failure"? If you're still sober, you haven't failed. :)

Congrats on 18 days and your failure to drink! :-)

Not acting on thoughts of drinking is winning!
Thoughts have a "mind" of their own, you can't control what thoughts may come, they just do, it's what we do about them that counts.
18 days is fantastic , but also early, it gets better . The more times you successfully dismiss thoughts of drinking, the stronger your resolve will get and eventually the less those thoughts percolate all the way to the surface.
Keep trucking ,you're doing great, It does get Better.
You're Winning, not failing , the AV is only thing that would attach negative thoughts of any kind to Not drinking.
Hang in there, it gets better, if I didn't already mention that

I'm not sure where the 'failure' is either Bug - congrats on day 18 :)

D