Today marks five years sober for me
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Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 5,937
Today marks five years sober for me
It kind of snuck up on me but today marks my fifth year of sobriety. It feels weird even typing that out!
There was a time long ago when my life was a disaster, and I couldn't even imagine five days without a drink much less five years. My, how things have changed! I can't say my life is all sunshine and rainbows but it's vastly better, and when I have a bad day it's a lot easier to manage sober.
By this point being sober (in and of itself) isn't really work. On rare occasion I still do have a dream that I drank which bums me out briefly but I quickly comprehend that it's just a dream after waking. And if I'm cooking with wine at work the smell of a dry red still makes me slobber a bit.
The main thing is that my life is a little boring in a very good way! No drama, no self sabotage and no more letting people down with my erratic behavior.
I guess the reason I am even posting is to say to all of you reading that it can be done. Even if you think you're hopeless and that there's no point to trying I'm proof that you can do it. I drank hard for 25 years and as time went on it got worse and worse. The final years were daily drinking and occasionally having a little nip when I woke up. Bad.
But it got better. Thanks to everyone here at SR that held me up and held me accountable. I'll always be grateful for your help. And to everyone still struggling, please keep trying. This time might be the one that sticks.
There was a time long ago when my life was a disaster, and I couldn't even imagine five days without a drink much less five years. My, how things have changed! I can't say my life is all sunshine and rainbows but it's vastly better, and when I have a bad day it's a lot easier to manage sober.By this point being sober (in and of itself) isn't really work. On rare occasion I still do have a dream that I drank which bums me out briefly but I quickly comprehend that it's just a dream after waking. And if I'm cooking with wine at work the smell of a dry red still makes me slobber a bit.
The main thing is that my life is a little boring in a very good way! No drama, no self sabotage and no more letting people down with my erratic behavior.
I guess the reason I am even posting is to say to all of you reading that it can be done. Even if you think you're hopeless and that there's no point to trying I'm proof that you can do it. I drank hard for 25 years and as time went on it got worse and worse. The final years were daily drinking and occasionally having a little nip when I woke up. Bad.
But it got better. Thanks to everyone here at SR that held me up and held me accountable. I'll always be grateful for your help. And to everyone still struggling, please keep trying. This time might be the one that sticks.
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Join Date: Jul 2017
Posts: 322
5 years. Wow.
Interesting that you still say you get minor memories and cravings, just proves how potent alcohol addiction can be and i guess that's a good reminder of what to expect for us newbies.
Congratulations Myth, do you still set sober goals? Or does the momentum of sobriety keep you sober?
Btw, nice connection with the name "sissyphus" and the journey to get sober. It really is like pushing a boulder up a hill.
Interesting that you still say you get minor memories and cravings, just proves how potent alcohol addiction can be and i guess that's a good reminder of what to expect for us newbies.
Congratulations Myth, do you still set sober goals? Or does the momentum of sobriety keep you sober?
Btw, nice connection with the name "sissyphus" and the journey to get sober. It really is like pushing a boulder up a hill.
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Drinking was like pushing a big rock uphill every day only to watch it roll back down. I don't really have sober goals per se. It's kind of gratifying when Oct rolls around each year and I observe another year! But now my goals are life goals. As long as I stay sober at least some of my life goals will be within reach.
My dad used to smoke. Even 25 years after he quit he would still absentmindedly pat his pockets looking for his smokes after his coffee. But he never did pick up a cig again. We can acknowledge cravings without giving in to them just as we acknowledge grief, despair, etc wallowing in them.
I wish I could be as consistent with other things as I am with sobriety! For example I continually try to avoid eating unhealthy foods but it seems like I'm always cheating or falling short. I suppose it's because I know that Twinkies are not like wine! I can occasionally have a bad snack knowing it won't kill me but one glass of wine would send me spiraling into ruin.
My dad used to smoke. Even 25 years after he quit he would still absentmindedly pat his pockets looking for his smokes after his coffee. But he never did pick up a cig again. We can acknowledge cravings without giving in to them just as we acknowledge grief, despair, etc wallowing in them.
I wish I could be as consistent with other things as I am with sobriety! For example I continually try to avoid eating unhealthy foods but it seems like I'm always cheating or falling short. I suppose it's because I know that Twinkies are not like wine! I can occasionally have a bad snack knowing it won't kill me but one glass of wine would send me spiraling into ruin.
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Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: Queensland
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Thank you for your post. I really needed to read that at this very moment. Fate, serendipity, whatever it is. Thank you.
And congratulations. I expect to read another post in 5 years as to how you made a decade
xx
And congratulations. I expect to read another post in 5 years as to how you made a decade
xx
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Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Philadelphia, PA
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Hi Sis.
Congratulations on five years.
I like the occasional treat too. Ice cream is my cross to bear.
This time of year is apple time and there's an orchard not too far from my home. They've got maybe ten different varieties of apples. I bought ten apples. It's easier biting into a juicy apple than to reach for a bowl of ice cream.
Congratulations on five years.
I like the occasional treat too. Ice cream is my cross to bear.
This time of year is apple time and there's an orchard not too far from my home. They've got maybe ten different varieties of apples. I bought ten apples. It's easier biting into a juicy apple than to reach for a bowl of ice cream.
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Join Date: Feb 2016
Posts: 2,654
Congratulations on 5 years, MythOfSisyphus, and your uplifting post!
I will never forget the thread you started in Secular Connections, here in SR, on 1st September 2016, entitled "Hope". I read your post and it gave me hope. I stopped drinking a week later and celebrated 1 year this September. Huge hugs to you MythOfSisphus.
I hope you don't mind, but I'm quoting that post, to provide additional inspiration for Newcomers, in the hope it helps someone else, as it did me.
I will never forget the thread you started in Secular Connections, here in SR, on 1st September 2016, entitled "Hope". I read your post and it gave me hope. I stopped drinking a week later and celebrated 1 year this September. Huge hugs to you MythOfSisphus
.I hope you don't mind, but I'm quoting that post, to provide additional inspiration for Newcomers, in the hope it helps someone else, as it did me.
Originally Posted by MythOfSisyphus 
At a website dedicated to hiking and the outdoors someone wrote about the "Rule of Threes". He said you can live three weeks without food, three days without water, three minutes without air and three seconds without hope. Obviously that last one is a bit of exaggeration but it's a great point!
Hope is so important to humans. Why keep slogging on putting one foot in front of the other without hope? And hope can be many things. The hope for a better future, hope for your children or their children, hope for the world.
Here at SR we kind of specialize in hope! So to everyone reading this, know that there is always hope. No matter how many times you tried and failed to quit, you still can succeed! No matter how sick and broken down you are from booze, there's still hope of making things better. Even in the face of terminal illness there's hope, even if it's just hope of making something of the time you have left.
Alcoholism and addiction has so many faces; there are many stories of addiction. Yours might seem to be the worst in the world, so bad you can't share it, so bad that no one could understand. But almost certainly someone else's story is even worse! And no matter how hopeless you feel you life has become someone has probably overcome worse and survived.
No matter what you might think now, never feel like you have no hope.
Hope is so important to humans. Why keep slogging on putting one foot in front of the other without hope? And hope can be many things. The hope for a better future, hope for your children or their children, hope for the world.
Here at SR we kind of specialize in hope! So to everyone reading this, know that there is always hope. No matter how many times you tried and failed to quit, you still can succeed! No matter how sick and broken down you are from booze, there's still hope of making things better. Even in the face of terminal illness there's hope, even if it's just hope of making something of the time you have left.
Alcoholism and addiction has so many faces; there are many stories of addiction. Yours might seem to be the worst in the world, so bad you can't share it, so bad that no one could understand. But almost certainly someone else's story is even worse! And no matter how hopeless you feel you life has become someone has probably overcome worse and survived.
No matter what you might think now, never feel like you have no hope.
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Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Canada
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Congratulations!! I love what you said about your life being a bit boring now, but in a good way. I remember when I had 6 months that was what I thought too.. sometimes i even miss my own chaos I created, how insane! Looking forward to that this time around again!
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