Sobriety and Recovery - What's the diff ?
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Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: USA
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Sobriety and Recovery - What's the diff ?
Just getting a conversation going here... nothing heavy or anything.
So I am new to Sobriety ... nearly 8 weeks now living without any alcohol. I guess you would call me "Sober".
OK... then we have the word recovery. Or Some say "I'm a recovering alcoholic".
What's the difference or is it the same meaning with different words.
Have a great day !
So I am new to Sobriety ... nearly 8 weeks now living without any alcohol. I guess you would call me "Sober".
OK... then we have the word recovery. Or Some say "I'm a recovering alcoholic".
What's the difference or is it the same meaning with different words.
Have a great day !
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Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Dancing in the Light
Posts: 61,494
Congratulations on 8 weeks!
I think the difference is huge.
To me sobriety is 'not drinking'.
Recovery is living a happy and peaceful life. In order to recover it takes a lot of working through issues that brought us to addiction and changing our lifestyle to support our recovery.
I think the difference is huge.
To me sobriety is 'not drinking'.
Recovery is living a happy and peaceful life. In order to recover it takes a lot of working through issues that brought us to addiction and changing our lifestyle to support our recovery.
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Join Date: May 2012
Location: Wisconsin, USA
Posts: 16,945
Great job on 8 weeks!
It's a very common conversation here: Sobriety vs Absitnence vs Recovery vs..etc.. It's a bit of a semantics argument, but there is also the concept that simple abstinence ( AKA - just "not drinking" and living your live exactly as you did before ) is MUCH different than Sobriety/Recovery - Which suggest living your life in a new way - having a sobriety plan - actively working to better yourself physically/spiritually/mentally.
It's a very common conversation here: Sobriety vs Absitnence vs Recovery vs..etc.. It's a bit of a semantics argument, but there is also the concept that simple abstinence ( AKA - just "not drinking" and living your live exactly as you did before ) is MUCH different than Sobriety/Recovery - Which suggest living your life in a new way - having a sobriety plan - actively working to better yourself physically/spiritually/mentally.
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Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 8,674
Are you working a program, such as AA? That is where many of us learn about recovery and live it.
At 8 weeks of not drinking, your body - depending on the extent and length of your use- is technically sober but still dealing with the effects of alcohol, physically. I had a lot of those and you may be having them too.
Recovery is like Anna said - a new way of life, with belief in a power greater than us (God, or however we determine our higher power) who is at the forefront because we are powerless over alcohol; it involves service to others in its best form. Reading in the Big Book will give you the insight- and tools- to "work your program" (from concrete things to do, to bigger philosophical and spiritual guidance) and truly be in recovery.
Just my $0.02 from what I have learned at day 114. Lots more to learn and keep putting into practice here!
This is a great piece on PAWS and the bodily effects of early sobriety - https://digital-dharma.net/post-acut...r-immediately/
Ps [This is more succinctly put than me and exactly right:
]
At 8 weeks of not drinking, your body - depending on the extent and length of your use- is technically sober but still dealing with the effects of alcohol, physically. I had a lot of those and you may be having them too.
Recovery is like Anna said - a new way of life, with belief in a power greater than us (God, or however we determine our higher power) who is at the forefront because we are powerless over alcohol; it involves service to others in its best form. Reading in the Big Book will give you the insight- and tools- to "work your program" (from concrete things to do, to bigger philosophical and spiritual guidance) and truly be in recovery.
Just my $0.02 from what I have learned at day 114. Lots more to learn and keep putting into practice here!
This is a great piece on PAWS and the bodily effects of early sobriety - https://digital-dharma.net/post-acut...r-immediately/
Ps [This is more succinctly put than me and exactly right:
Originally Posted by doggonecarl 
Sobriety is the foundation. Recovery is the house you build upon it.
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Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: USA
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Originally Posted by August252015
This is a great piece on PAWS and the bodily effects of early sobriety -
https://digital-dharma.net/post-acut...r-immediately/
https://digital-dharma.net/post-acut...r-immediately/
Member
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Florida
Posts: 6,780
As a F&F member, to me sobriety is simply abstaining.
Recovering is a lifestyle change that involves the Whole Person getting healthy spiritually, emotionally & physically. It consists of working through many deep layers internally & is a lifelong commitment with a lot of twists & turns as you develop through the process.
Recovering is a lifestyle change that involves the Whole Person getting healthy spiritually, emotionally & physically. It consists of working through many deep layers internally & is a lifelong commitment with a lot of twists & turns as you develop through the process.
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Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: Middletown CT USA
Posts: 770
Sobriety, being clean, abstinence, etc - all are pretty self explanatory and absolutely necessary.
Then I found that life without drugs was... life. I was ill prepared to handle that. Just as important, the drugs were my misguided attempt at a cure for the noise in my head, the inability to handle my own emotions, and that constant feeling of being uncomfortable in my own skin.
Untreated, my inability to handle life and my own internal landscape lead me back to using. As the NA Basic Text puts it so aptly - "We felt miserable without drugs, and our lives were unmanageable."
THAT is what recovery addresses.
We don't have to get clean and sober and sit around playing Jack Nicholson asking "What if this is as good as it gets?" - It can get a lot better because we can get a lot better.
Then I found that life without drugs was... life. I was ill prepared to handle that. Just as important, the drugs were my misguided attempt at a cure for the noise in my head, the inability to handle my own emotions, and that constant feeling of being uncomfortable in my own skin.
Untreated, my inability to handle life and my own internal landscape lead me back to using. As the NA Basic Text puts it so aptly - "We felt miserable without drugs, and our lives were unmanageable."
THAT is what recovery addresses.
We don't have to get clean and sober and sit around playing Jack Nicholson asking "What if this is as good as it gets?" - It can get a lot better because we can get a lot better.
under new management
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Posts: 2,339
Originally Posted by doggonecarl
Sobriety is the foundation. Recovery is the house you build upon it.
I sobered up in my 20's, but only ever built a tiny room in my recovery house and as a result, after 6 yrs sober, I ended up on a 22 yr relapse.
This time around I have gone through changes, realisation's, epiphanies, and an acceptance of personal responsibility for my life, in the past 1 yr and 5 1/2 mths and I look forward to a lifetime of continuing on the recovery path. I will strive to be brutally honest with myself and how I live my life and stop living in delusions and denials.
The sobriety/recovery question may get brought up often but I don't think it will ever be too often.
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Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Texas
Posts: 478
1. Using/Drinking: Black-IMPENDING DOOM
2. Sober/Abstinence: Gray-ADHEDONIA/COMPLACENCY
3. Early Recovery: Multi-Colored (especially "pink clouds") LIGHT AND AIRY-COMFORTABLE
4. In time: A Live Rainbow-a Kaleidoscope-DEPTH to everything. CONTENTMENT.
_________________
Most of us THOUGHT #4 was what we were getting from our drug of choice, as it teased us with that in the beginning. It lied. It was an illusion--and a temporary illusion at that. We didn't know until we actually experienced #4 through recovery that life could be so rich and full of real moments.
I believe this is also where the term "grateful alcoholic" comes from--had we not gone through the addiction cycle, many would be stuck at #2.
2. Sober/Abstinence: Gray-ADHEDONIA/COMPLACENCY
3. Early Recovery: Multi-Colored (especially "pink clouds") LIGHT AND AIRY-COMFORTABLE
4. In time: A Live Rainbow-a Kaleidoscope-DEPTH to everything. CONTENTMENT.
_________________
Most of us THOUGHT #4 was what we were getting from our drug of choice, as it teased us with that in the beginning. It lied. It was an illusion--and a temporary illusion at that. We didn't know until we actually experienced #4 through recovery that life could be so rich and full of real moments.
I believe this is also where the term "grateful alcoholic" comes from--had we not gone through the addiction cycle, many would be stuck at #2.
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