1 Year milestone.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: UK
Posts: 208
1 Year milestone.
Timeline of sobriety (or drinking).
~10 years ago realised that I was slowly (and it was snails pace) coming to rely on alcohol to cope with certain things.
8 years ago the main reason I drank heavily died. At that point I should have stopped/cut way back on drinking. I wasn't an alcoholic at that point so I didn't, it was still fun. Not for long.
4 years ago I decided that I needed to stop drinking, or at least needed some sober time to reset myself (whatever that means). I tried counselling which, in hindsight, was a complete waste of time, I just lied. My drinking steadily progressed, around this time I could actually see how it was progressing but I still wasn't too worried.
2 years ago lost the best job I even had (company closed its office in my city getting rid of all the staff). The drinking started to accelerate.
18 months ago acknowledged that I had a problem. I was scared and basically out of ideas.
Nov 28th 2018 attended first AA meeting horrified at what I had become.
Nov 29th 2018 stopped drinking using Librium from my doctor.
Dec 24th 2018 fell off. Drank over the Christmas period. Looking back this was planned I think.
Jan 2nd 2019 stopped drinking again with Librium from doctor.
Today I am 1 year sober!!
Please don't hesitate like I did and take the brave step to stop now. I wasted so much time.
It also gets so much better with time. It seems daunting, going 24 hours was daunting to me. In a short time the pain goes away (no pain with benzos) and the rest after that is mostly manageable especially if you accept outside help of some sort.
If I can do it, so can you. Reach out, help is there!
~10 years ago realised that I was slowly (and it was snails pace) coming to rely on alcohol to cope with certain things.
8 years ago the main reason I drank heavily died. At that point I should have stopped/cut way back on drinking. I wasn't an alcoholic at that point so I didn't, it was still fun. Not for long.
4 years ago I decided that I needed to stop drinking, or at least needed some sober time to reset myself (whatever that means). I tried counselling which, in hindsight, was a complete waste of time, I just lied. My drinking steadily progressed, around this time I could actually see how it was progressing but I still wasn't too worried.
2 years ago lost the best job I even had (company closed its office in my city getting rid of all the staff). The drinking started to accelerate.
18 months ago acknowledged that I had a problem. I was scared and basically out of ideas.
Nov 28th 2018 attended first AA meeting horrified at what I had become.
Nov 29th 2018 stopped drinking using Librium from my doctor.
Dec 24th 2018 fell off. Drank over the Christmas period. Looking back this was planned I think.
Jan 2nd 2019 stopped drinking again with Librium from doctor.
Today I am 1 year sober!!
Please don't hesitate like I did and take the brave step to stop now. I wasted so much time.
It also gets so much better with time. It seems daunting, going 24 hours was daunting to me. In a short time the pain goes away (no pain with benzos) and the rest after that is mostly manageable especially if you accept outside help of some sort.
If I can do it, so can you. Reach out, help is there!
Member
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: California
Posts: 13,040
Congratulations on one year, that’s an incredible accomplishment! I remember feeling like I could do anything when I hit the one year mark, and I hope you’re feeling that way too.
Do something to celebrate yourself today.
Do something to celebrate yourself today.
Member
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 1,283
Originally Posted by Jim1958 
Great job! I quit July 2, 2018 so 18 months here. It is a slow process if you were really in the grips of alcohol like I was. It is a wonder to wake up sober, after years of hangovers. Keep it up!
Member
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 1,283
Wow! One year?!? That’s truly tremendous. CONGRATULATIONS. I’m at 8 months and simply can’t wait to hit one year. I feel like I’ll be able to breathe a sigh of relief then and feel enormous confidence. Thanks for the inspiration!
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: UK
Posts: 208
Originally Posted by Auchieshuggle
Congratulations! One year's a huge milestone. I imagine you must have more energy and feel much healthier as a result.
Member
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 324
Originally Posted by Phil71els
So much! I have energy to do everything I gave up so I could focus on drinking. I also have time and energy to focus on my kids. I felt hopeless for a long time but now I love my sober life. I really mean it, it does get better as time goes by. More subtly than at first but those subtle changes are those that make you think that it is so worth the initial efforts.
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