How did you get sober and stay sober
 

I stopped drinking by not buying it and not consuming it. Then I went to AA and found someone who guided me through those 12 steps. Then I built a sober life. Life happens and good and bad things happen and no matter what, I don't drink.

Simple, not easy!

No offense HC, but you've asked this same exact question at least a dozen times. Do you ever read any of the responses you get on your threads? It might be helpful to go back and review some of them as there is loads of good advice there. You'll likely get more of the same here on this thread too.

If you want to know how I stayed sober, a very large part of it was by doing exactly what I suggested above - by listening to people here and in other support communities. But that is only the start...the bulk of the work had to be done by me. I read and posted here a lot, I went to recovery meetings, i read books, I went to therapy too. And then I did those things again. And then I did them some more.

But bottom line, I stopped buying and consuming alcohol first. And then I accepted that it was never going to be OK for me to take another sip of alcohol, ever.

I tried and failed many times. I just couldn't get over the cravings that would sieze me every evening and was fearful that I was not going to beat my alcoholism. In the end that fear lead me to the solution, if I couldn't beat the cravings by willpower then I would have to remove the cravings. And I did. By getting up around 5 am, running a fair distance, every day. Doing a days work, coming home, cooking a meal and then falling into bed exhausted bt 9pm (ish) I did that for 3 months and then a less extreme version for a year or so. It worked for me as I am not very good at things like mindfulness or positive thinking etc.

Keep at it and good luck.

Is there things you do every day?
what i did to GET sober was go to meetings, read the BB, pray like crazy,work the steps, not drink even when my ass was falling off, repeat.
what ive done to stay sober is incorporate a few simple principles into my life.

What were the most difficult times where you were really challenged?
only the hours i wasnt sleeping.

I think everybody that has an addiction problem has other problems that are driving it. Some you have to resolve mentally, others you might be able to change. If for example your job is making you very unhappy it might be positive to find another one and leave the toxic one behind. I read books, came here to SR, tried AA, did counseling. Also some personal things resolved themselves. Of course I've relapsed many times. But I'm not giving up and neither should you. I'm 7 months sober tomorrow. Good luck.

you could read the responses from the thread you started before asking the exact same question here:
https://www.soberrecovery.com/forums...-solution.html

i believe there are some excellent threads on PLANS. if you took the initiative to use the search function, you could easily find them on your own.

the absolute first step to STAYING sober is GETTING sober. and that means NOT drinking, NO MATTER WHAT. no excuses, period. drinking while seeming involuntary is still a choice....you take steps/actions to GET alcohol and you make time to CONSUME alcohol. thus you now make the choice to not do those things. EVER. no matter what. the excuses have to go. no means no. period.

I got sober for good when I was sick and tired of waking up hating myself and feeling horrible. :( I stopped buying alcohol and made a promise to myself to never drink again. It wasn't easy but it was worth the effort.

Newly sober here, posted on your other post as well.

It was time for me to quit. To grow up. To find myself without alcohol. To devote as much time to sobriety as I did to drinking and see where it gets me. To let go of the sadness, the hurt, the resentment, the hatred, the guilt and work through the issues like an adult. To enjoy each day on this Earth without alcohol because it’s a precious gift and I wasn’t living it when I was drinking. To get a life because the one I was living was garbage.

Mostly, because I have something to offer the world. I’m not sure what it is but I am looking forward to doing the work to find out. And you have something to offer the world too. Do the work, become that person and give up the alcohol and set yourself free.

HC, this sticky has lots of good information from our members:

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...at-we-did.html

I did it all. Therapy, psychiatrist, AA, here (SR), running. I was on meds (Naltrexone and Campral). I finally got on meds for my depression instead of trying to drink it away. I put as much energy into getting sober as I did into getting drunk. I started writing. One thing I stopped doing was reading about getting sober and I started acting. Checking in here in the morning and the evening was what got me over the hump.

I’ve had a number of stops and starts, but at 9 months this is the longest I’ve been sober in the past few years and the sobriety stretches have gotten longer each time.

If one could call that “getting and staying sober” (which I accept a number of people might have a quarrel with), I’ll tell you that my successful attemps have always been at a time when I convinced myself I was quitting (and I know this sort of speaks for itself). It began immediately on the very first day when I was having least of a hangover.

Secondly, remaining aware of and connected to my condition is important to me. This means logging in and participating here (at least by reading), and other reading-up on addiction in general and thinking (but in a more just-being-aware that I have it kind of way) about the condition.

My intro might make it seem that my sobriety is shaky. Well, please permit me to hastily assure you that it is not! Currently I am doing more than I have ever done before. I am determined that this time it is for life, yet I still take it day by day.

It is comforting to know that a lot still remains out there to be learnt.

Highercall, if I may just add to my previous post- If your OP has indeed appeared a number of times before - me personally, it does not bother at all. I need to think about how I got and how I need to stay sober quite a lot.

I owned a landscaping business and got hurt while drunk. Broke both of my legs really bad. One year was my expected recovery time frame. None of my employees could keep the business afloat. So I lost my company, damn near lost my house and my marriage. I quit drinking and everything changed. For the better.

Hi HC, I used this community.

But..and it's a big but - I committed to doing everything else I could but drink. I had to take drinking off the table.

Everything in my head said drinking would fix whatever ailed me. Everything said I'd never get sober.

Everything said I was too sensitive to cope. Everything said if people had my life, they;'d drink too.

Everything in my head said I was too far gone.

None of that was true.

It was easy to break down and reach for a bottle but I knew that wasn't going to lead to change.

I had to have faith that not drinking - however painful and uncomfortable in the short term - was going to pay off in the long run.

Do a little cost benefit analysis - look at what you do not to drink - what effort has gone into that in the last say two weeks....

and then look at the effort you put in to drinking for that same time - including money time and repercussions.

If the latter is greater, you have a problem and it needs fixing. The only way to fix it is to make different choices.

You can start by engaging with the ideas raised in threads like these. I don;t think I've seen you come back to a thread too often.

You might not mean anything by it - but it's a symptom of the problem, I think.

i was good at initiating ideas but woeful at following through. My addiction loved that.

Engage with the ideas and the people making the suggestions - you might find a breakthrough there?

D

There were two main things I did.

1. I joined this website and logged on virtually everyday. I also joined a “class,” the August of 2009 sobriety group where I connected with some great people.

2. I finally gave up and went to AA. The face to face fellowship I found with other people struggling with alcohol was awesome. It was actually much more valuable to me than the “steps” of AA.

3. A variety of other things also helped. I think I read most alcohol recovery books and biographies on Amazon. I also started exercising (playing tennis for me) at least 3 times per week.