MaxVano

I want to say thank you to everyone who has replied here. I want to say thank you so much for all your support. I really believe that finding this forum was part of what I needed. I wish you all the best. God bless you and yours,
Max

Surrendered19

I want to say a huge congrats again Max!!! I had time tonight to sit down and read your post in detail. It is an amazing post and thank you so much for sharing so much so honestly. It will help people, I have no doubt. It helped me. Thanks again.

Willow00

Thanks Max!
Fantastic post, it’s really insightful and inspirational.
Congratulations on 6 months! Awesome job! And I’m really glad you posted. You will be helping so many people, some won’t comment, but will be inspired by your words to take that next step, or continue when they had contemplated stepping off the sober pathway. Thank you

Evoo

Congratulations on 6 months. I really do appreciate your post. Your internal monologue is actually a lot like mine (always appreciate a fellow ADHD person haha).

There are two major things that keep me sober right now:

1. My kids are very young (3 and 6 months), and they've never seen their dad drunk or wrestling with hangover/withdrawals. They never will.
2. My health can't take it. Crohns ultimately forced the decision for me... I couldn't do hangover/withdrawal and Crohns flares anymore. It would've killed me.

I'm coming up on a year sober and I'm so damned proud of myself. Normally by this time of year I would've relapsed or convinced myself I needed to have a "couple drinks" just at the big, holiday events and "special occasions." This time, my AV has never been quieter. I'm actually excited about taking on the holidays sober.

Thoughtful posts like this are a great reminder of why I need to stay on this path, and shut down any thoughts of returning to my addiction - ever. There's nothing romantic about an addictive poison. And that's why I keep coming back here. In this community we lift each other up.

Keep it up, friend.

Contella09

Thank you very much for your post and congratulations on achieving 6 months! I do find strength and hope reading peoples stories and I learn a lot too. I actually don't know what I would have done without finding this forum. I had 3 weeks alcohol free, which I was proud of. I managed that because of the members of this forum teaching me and cheering me on. I have been trying and I have slipped a few times but I am learning and I won't give up. One day I will also be able to say I achieved the 6 month mark and help and encourage others. I know this forum and the members are going to be the most important go to through my recovery. I know I have much more to do though, I have joined SMART RECOVERY, I will try AA and if I am lucky enough I will go to rehab. My ultimate goal ( besides abstinence) is to learn enough so that one day I can truly help people too. Best wishes and keep posting 😊

MaxVano

​​​​​​ I know it's a cliche, but if I can do this you can do this. I think for me once I hit a month and I was at that 'wow" state things got a little easier. I'm not going to say they were 100% easier. I am adamant about not counting days. Everyone I have known who counts out each and every single day has failed again and again and again. I'm not saying that that's the wrong thing to do I'm not saying anything about how anyone should pursue this. For me, I made a decision and I decided to stick with it. I felt like counting the days would somehow hinder my success. I'm not sure how to put that any better. But at some point and I'm really being honest here, I forgot that I was at almost 5 months. And I had to go and look at the calendar and calculate the number of days. Sure there were times in between that I posted I've hit x number of weeks or months, but after doing so I would just try my best to carry on. And I think that since I've been keeping so busy with work and being more active in my family and my children's lives, that's helped a ton. I wish I had more time for my hobbies and things but I really mean it when I say at some point I had to double check and then I realized that the 28th was going to be 6 months. I set myself a little reminder, but almost forgot. It was a Saturday night and I was up kind of late, about the only time I can have my time and I thought oh my gosh, I have to go online and post that I made 6 months. It felt good but if you read the post and you know it's a mixed bag. I do believe it will get better. And like you this forum really saved my butt. And there have been a couple of times when I've gone back and put on the audiobook of Alcohol Explained, and that is helped too.

Good luck to you my friend. You can do this. I know you can. Let us know how smart recovery is. I'd never heard of it until this forum. I have to say though I wasn't too interested in going to AA because I didn't have a very good experience at my local chapter or whatever they call it. Nothing against the good souls who are there, just wasn't the place for me. Take care!
Max