livingintegrity

Day 35 and counting - I use this application called Habify, basically it reminds you to count. Days, pounds, journal entries pretty much anything you can imagine. My question is why do we count and why is it harder to count one way and not the other? It's much harder to see the days of sobriety creep upwards, I've never counted the days I wasn't sober, those seem to fly by, days become weeks in a blink of an eye. Before I knew it, weeks had become months in many cases all without the angst and anxiety of making it to the next day to count. We count pounds lost, not gained. We count days in a relationship, years married but not single. We count years at a job, but not years unemployed. We count years of living, only acknowledge years after passing for a while, then somehow it slips away. One becomes five years after death and sometimes we forget to remember them at all. We count down days until a special event, but don't count our blessings as much as we should. We count years until retirement while we forget to live each day. We count dollars or lack there of... I'm just as guilty and for now I will continue to count the days that I have been sober, healthy and clear. Until day 36 - STAY.

Aellyce

Congrats on 35 days! I was curious about the benefits of counting sober time and started a thread about it a while ago here:
https://www.soberrecovery.com/forums...me-useful.html (Is tracking sober time useful?)

For me, it's natural that we like to pay attention to time spent in constructive, happier states, track perceived improvement not stagnation of decline. I think it's about motivation, what we can gain inspiration from. I do agree with you that the focus is better kept on the quality of each day and endeavor, that's what makes a palpable difference in wellbeing, not so much empty numbers. I'm personally not much of a counter but do like to see and evaluate progress, that gives me a sense of moving forward and makes me more aware of the time as well - it's banal but life is quite short.

kittencat

I don’t count. I estimate my approximate time sober occasionally but that’s about it. I do much better with ‘I don’t drink’.

ZeeSeraphina

Days will become easier keep holding on! And reach out if you ever need

doggonecarl

No, but I bet you...in fact, I bet everyone who drank, can tell you how long they drank. They may not have counted, but they know.

I don't count sober days either, now. Been too long for days. But I know how long I've been sober...years.

Keep racking up the days, you will have years too.

Scd619x

I'm not sure why we count days specifically to alcohol?! I quit smoking about 6-9 months ago, haven't counted days and that was the absolute bane of my life since i was 17. I guess the counting days thing comes from AA and, out of AA, the therory that you can break a habit in 28 days?

C0ntr0ls

I counted and then I realized after some time, I forgot to count. That was a nice realization then I moved on.

Paddy123

Congratulations on 35 days, I'm on day 110 clean and was filling in everyday days in my work diary. After passing the 90 days mark I kinda lost interest in counting and when I thought about it I would back fill the days I missed in the diary, now I don't really take any heed of it now and focus on moving on clean but it was good to have the 90-day target also. Keep going, it gets better and well done.