Is tracking sober time useful?
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Originally Posted by Aellyce 
I wonder though if you would have seen and speculated about all this in the same way much closer to your quit date - yet another thing we will never be able to test now (fortunately for you). Because perceptions and memories change with time, especially with such a long time you've had since your quit. Don't think I am alone in often finding that my analyses become more realistic as a process advances, although (again) I won't propose that we can truly talk about accuracy with all this.
I do believe I remember the feelings accurately (don't we all?), because that was a monumental turn in my life, and is much clearer to me than things that happened before and after it.
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I am reminded in this connection of the picture of a hub with its radiating spokes. We all start at the outer circumference and approach our destination by one of many routes. To say that one spoke is much better than all the other spokes is true only in the sense of its being best suited to you as an individual. Human nature is such that without some degree of tolerance, each one of us might be inclined to believe that we have found the best or perhaps the shortest spoke.
Without some tolerance, we might tend to become a bit smug or superior – which, of course, is not helpful to the person we are trying to help and may be quite painful or obnoxious to others. No one of us wishes to do anything that might act as a deterrent to the advancement of another – and a patronizing attitude can readily slow up this process.
Dr. Bob S. (On Cultivating Tolerance)
Without some tolerance, we might tend to become a bit smug or superior – which, of course, is not helpful to the person we are trying to help and may be quite painful or obnoxious to others. No one of us wishes to do anything that might act as a deterrent to the advancement of another – and a patronizing attitude can readily slow up this process.
Dr. Bob S. (On Cultivating Tolerance)
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Originally Posted by Tatsy
I am reminded in this connection of the picture of a hub with its radiating spokes. We all start at the outer circumference and approach our destination by one of many routes. To say that one spoke is much better than all the other spokes is true only in the sense of its being best suited to you as an individual. Human nature is such that without some degree of tolerance, each one of us might be inclined to believe that we have found the best or perhaps the shortest spoke.
Without some tolerance, we might tend to become a bit smug or superior – which, of course, is not helpful to the person we are trying to help and may be quite painful or obnoxious to others. No one of us wishes to do anything that might act as a deterrent to the advancement of another – and a patronizing attitude can readily slow up this process.
Dr. Bob S. (On Cultivating Tolerance)
Without some tolerance, we might tend to become a bit smug or superior – which, of course, is not helpful to the person we are trying to help and may be quite painful or obnoxious to others. No one of us wishes to do anything that might act as a deterrent to the advancement of another – and a patronizing attitude can readily slow up this process.
Dr. Bob S. (On Cultivating Tolerance)
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The article Tatsy posted wasn’t complete. Here’s the rest of it.
ON CULTIVATING TOLERANCE
By Dr. Bob Smith
From the editorial column of the July 1944 AA Grapevine
During nine years in AA, I have observed that those who follow the Alcoholics Anonymous program with the greatest earnestness and zeal not only maintain sobriety but often acquire finer characteristics and attitudes as well. One of these is tolerance. Tolerance expresses itself in a variety of ways: in kindness and consideration toward the man or woman who is just beginning the march along the spiritual path; in the understanding of those who perhaps have been less fortunate in education advantages; and in sympathy toward those whose religious ideas may seem to be at great variance with our own.
Tolerance furnishes, as a by-product, a greater freedom from the tendency to cling to preconceived ideas and stubbornly adhered-to opinions. In other words, it often promotes an open-mindedness that is vastly important - is, in fact, a prerequisite to the successful termination of any line of search, whether it be scientific or spiritual.
These, then, are a few of the reasons why an attempt to acquire tolerance should be made by each one of us.
(Endquote)
Dr. Robert Smith was the self proclaimed alcoholic colorectal surgeon who, after spending years in Frank Buchman’s Oxford Group to try to stop drinking used that group’s ideas with William Wilson to create AA.
ON CULTIVATING TOLERANCE
By Dr. Bob Smith
From the editorial column of the July 1944 AA Grapevine
During nine years in AA, I have observed that those who follow the Alcoholics Anonymous program with the greatest earnestness and zeal not only maintain sobriety but often acquire finer characteristics and attitudes as well. One of these is tolerance. Tolerance expresses itself in a variety of ways: in kindness and consideration toward the man or woman who is just beginning the march along the spiritual path; in the understanding of those who perhaps have been less fortunate in education advantages; and in sympathy toward those whose religious ideas may seem to be at great variance with our own.
Originally Posted by Tatsy
I am reminded in this connection of the picture of a hub with its radiating spokes. We all start at the outer circumference and approach our destination by one of many routes. To say that one spoke is much better than all the other spokes is true only in the sense of its being best suited to you as an individual. Human nature is such that without some degree of tolerance, each one of us might be inclined to believe that we have found the best or perhaps the shortest spoke.
Without some tolerance, we might tend to become a bit smug or superior – which, of course, is not helpful to the person we are trying to help and may be quite painful or obnoxious to others. No one of us wishes to do anything that might act as a deterrent to the advancement of another – and a patronizing attitude can readily slow up this process.
Without some tolerance, we might tend to become a bit smug or superior – which, of course, is not helpful to the person we are trying to help and may be quite painful or obnoxious to others. No one of us wishes to do anything that might act as a deterrent to the advancement of another – and a patronizing attitude can readily slow up this process.
These, then, are a few of the reasons why an attempt to acquire tolerance should be made by each one of us.
(Endquote)
Dr. Robert Smith was the self proclaimed alcoholic colorectal surgeon who, after spending years in Frank Buchman’s Oxford Group to try to stop drinking used that group’s ideas with William Wilson to create AA.
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Originally Posted by Dee74
I suspect it is a bit of a chicken/egg thing for most people...and some will put the egg first and others the chicken.
For me I remember having little or no confidence in my ability to stay sober initially, but that grew in time.
I knew right from the off I had no real choice but to stay sober tho...I really scared myself with my last detox so cravings, regardless of magnitude, were simply not enough to break through my fear and get me to drink again.
In pretty quick time the transitory fear morphed into a permanent lasting acceptance that I’d adopted a new lifestyle and there was no going back from that.
D
For me I remember having little or no confidence in my ability to stay sober initially, but that grew in time.
I knew right from the off I had no real choice but to stay sober tho...I really scared myself with my last detox so cravings, regardless of magnitude, were simply not enough to break through my fear and get me to drink again.
In pretty quick time the transitory fear morphed into a permanent lasting acceptance that I’d adopted a new lifestyle and there was no going back from that.
D
The role of fear in this is interesting. I commented before on other threads that traumatic experiences can sometimes really help turn our lives around. I personally didn't have a dangerous / life-threatening detox (not recently at least, had some scary ones years ago though), but the memory of those cravings is intensely repulsive now. After all, perhaps it's good that I experienced them, because it definitely increases my determination that I never want to have such a period again. I hope that the "euphoric recall" I'm prone to won't set in again to replace the fear anytime soon, at least not as long as these intense cravings still occur.
DriGuy - I didn't think about all these nuances so deeply either before the relapse, because everything felt more straightforward and smoother during the first three months, before I stupidly picked up again. I'm thinking about the mechanics more now because I want to avoid another relapse at all cost. It's for the sake of prevention that I'm getting into all this. I think people often habituate to relapses as well when that happens repeatedly, but I never had to experience that - I just never really wanted to quit before (certainly didn't do much for it) so any earlier experience doesn't count as a relapse for me, this one felt very, very different. I don't ever want to go and habituate even to misery of chronic relapses, I think it's harder to get and stay sober when that chronic pattern sets in. Another reason I'm interested in the nuances is similar to my long-standing interest in how addiction works (or how the brain and behavior works, if we want to be very general) - this is now about how recovery works, and I feel it's the best time for me to dissect it while I'm going through the challenges myself because I'm intensely interested in for a primarily selfish reason. I might be able to use all this knowledge later in my work, so it's thinking a bit in a larger context.
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Originally Posted by Tatsy
I am reminded in this connection of the picture of a hub with its radiating spokes. We all start at the outer circumference and approach our destination by one of many routes. To say that one spoke is much better than all the other spokes is true only in the sense of its being best suited to you as an individual. Human nature is such that without some degree of tolerance, each one of us might be inclined to believe that we have found the best or perhaps the shortest spoke.
This actually resonates a lot. We often hear people say, and this is by no means limited to recovery methods, "I tried everything, and the only thing that worked was ___bla bla___. In recovery this usually means,"___bla bla___ was the first thing that worked, and I never looked any further."
Why would you look further after solving the problem? Usually, that's where people stop, because the problem was solved. For some of us like me, I solved my drinking problem in AA (it could have been other ways too), but something was still lacking because I saw things about AA that could have made it appeal to a larger cross section of society. Granted it did have a special appeal to believers in a deity, which is the majority of society, but why stop there?
Like GT pointed out, you cannot change any program from the inside. Other programs may also be resistant to change, and many fans of various programs see that as an asset. So this forces us to look elsewhere. At the time of my solution, there was no "elsewhere," so I was forced to do the majority of the work on my own, which is hardly some grand claim to fame, because I believe those who succeed in recovery do most of the work on their own, no matter what method they favor.
At one time, I would have said these other methods need to be more inclusive than AA. I don't think that anymore. They just need to be THERE. Like the spokes on your wheel, they all lead to the same place. Unlike the spokes on your wheel, they all come in different colors, but they still lead to the same place. Variety is not a bad thing.
This may explain why statistically the vast majority of alcoholics recover on their own. Each one had to come up with an individual process of their own making. I think for many, they did this without appearing to give it much thought. But I think they had their wheels cranking inside at some level. Few of these folks write books. Even fewer create recovery programs, but they are the majority of recovering alcoholics, and few of us even know any of them, let alone how they did it. I needed a push from outside. I was getting nowhere on my own. Apparently, I'm in the minority of those who must ask for help.
Ten years ago, I made a new friend, who I later found out had stopped drinking about the same time I did. He did it without help. His bottom was way worse than mine and involved things like getting shot in the stomach. If you ask him if he used a program to stop drinking he will say with a shy smile, "No, I just quit." I've never been able to interpret what that shy smile means. Does he mean, "Program? Why would anyone need a program?" Or does he mean, "I didn't use a program. Did I do something wrong?" I don't know. It's probably something else entirely, but I do know that is very proud of giving up alcohol.
Originally Posted by Tatsy
Without some tolerance, we might tend to become a bit smug or superior – which, of course, is not helpful to the person we are trying to help and may be quite painful or obnoxious to others. No one of us wishes to do anything that might act as a deterrent to the advancement of another – and a patronizing attitude can readily slow up this process.
Dr. Bob S. (On Cultivating Tolerance)
Dr. Bob S. (On Cultivating Tolerance)
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Thanks GT and DriGuy for reflecting on Tatsy's post. I would still be interested in Tatsy's explanation, what was meant to be transmitted exactly as I don't like to misunderstand what people say. We talked about tolerance and diversity regarding recovery approaches a bit on this thread and if it's the same context, okay, I just mentally moved on from that already, why I was confused. If it's meant to suggest something specific in relation to AA and what we discussed in that regard, then I still would like to understand better.
I guess the hub analogy just sparked various interpretations in my mind also because I do some network science - it typically involves the computational analysis of very complex datasets, usually graphs show networks with hubs and connecting individual nodes and all this can represent many different things. We apply such models for often very complex phenomena (including related to addiction), but surely Dr. Bob didn't think in the same way at his time
.
Okay, I need to get going to do something practical and productive here, will be back to this thread later.
I guess the hub analogy just sparked various interpretations in my mind also because I do some network science - it typically involves the computational analysis of very complex datasets, usually graphs show networks with hubs and connecting individual nodes and all this can represent many different things. We apply such models for often very complex phenomena (including related to addiction), but surely Dr. Bob didn't think in the same way at his time
. Okay, I need to get going to do something practical and productive here, will be back to this thread later.
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Originally Posted by Aellyce
We talked about tolerance and diversity regarding recovery approaches a bit on this thread and if it's the same context, okay, I just mentally moved on from that already, why I was confused.
I believe the quote I posted, to be a simple, descriptive summary of the risk of not applying tolerance, when transmitting information/experience regarding a recovery technique that one believes in, which could be beneficial to others.
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I do not count days, never did, but its kind of a bummer sometimes that I really don't know when I quit. Around six years ago is the best I can do.
I am one of these who used no specific method, but lots of bits from a lot of them and this place.
My quitting was based on my acceptance to my soul that drinking was never going to be an acceptable choice for me. So I decided that I would never drink again. Ever.
The way my mind works, counting days was somehow inconsistent with my decision to stop drinking and never to quit the decision. For me, it was essential to make that decision and then never to question it. Craving hit, too bad, I don't drink (past tense), so what else can I do (BTW, a couple jumping jacks or twirling around helps).
Counting or not counting was not key to my quit, but I do think on some level it reinforced the permanence. And let's face it, its all about the head.
I am one of these who used no specific method, but lots of bits from a lot of them and this place.
My quitting was based on my acceptance to my soul that drinking was never going to be an acceptable choice for me. So I decided that I would never drink again. Ever.
The way my mind works, counting days was somehow inconsistent with my decision to stop drinking and never to quit the decision. For me, it was essential to make that decision and then never to question it. Craving hit, too bad, I don't drink (past tense), so what else can I do (BTW, a couple jumping jacks or twirling around helps).
Counting or not counting was not key to my quit, but I do think on some level it reinforced the permanence. And let's face it, its all about the head.
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I personally think that SR tends to practice a pretty high level of tolerance, part of the reason why so much great information and discussion can co-exist. Of course it can get a little heated at times, but I don't think it's usually due to lack of tolerance, perhaps more often out of passion (or sometimes when people post obviously intoxicated).
This counting or not counting question is as complex and individual as it can get, which is interesting to see... even changing over time for a person (e.g. myself). Of course yet another reason not to make advice absolute, more just suggestion or options to choose from.
This counting or not counting question is as complex and individual as it can get, which is interesting to see... even changing over time for a person (e.g. myself). Of course yet another reason not to make advice absolute, more just suggestion or options to choose from.
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Originally Posted by Dropsie
For me, it was essential to make that decision and then never to question it. Craving hit, too bad, I don't drink..
Originally Posted by Dropsie
Counting or not counting was not key to my quit, but I do think on some level it reinforced the permanence. And let's face it, its all about the head.
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Each to their own i think on this one. I was never one for medals or coins so not really much point in me counting days. I haven't for quitting smoking so why for drinking? I've seen people go back to drinking after one day of sobriety to 25 years of sobriety and lots in between so time is no real protection anyway.
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Just wanted to mention that I use something now for tracking progress that I quite like - it's a free app called I Am Sober. Was mentioned by a member here on SR, I downloaded it with some skepticism as I tried sober apps before and never cared for any of them much. But this one is quite cool, I believe especially if someone uses it from the start of their sobriety (I haven't as I only discovered it later), even before while still struggling - it can then show the change in the unfolding pattern.
I'm not big on any "one day at a time" approach, but this app that asks every morning to make a pledge to abstain that day (using the word "pledge", which is compatible with the RR/AVRT approach I also like) is cool. I click on pledging again every morning, sort of first thing after waking up, and later in the afternoon review how the day went in the same app. The review includes assessing your mood and the activities you engaged in that day, and the app has a visual output showing progress, which is much more meaningful for me at least than just plain, empty numbers. Now when I see the growing string of my satisfying sober days, it helps me remember even more where I never want to go again. It also sends inspirational messages and has an optional recovery message board similar to this one, just much simpler. You can select to only see posts from people who are at a similar stage in terms of sober time, or everyone. I haven't posted on it yet because SR is enough for me, but read it sometimes.
Guess I've found a way of tracking finally that feels useful for me, and I'm now far enough from the relapse (both in time and improvement) so it does not bother me much anymore.
I'm not big on any "one day at a time" approach, but this app that asks every morning to make a pledge to abstain that day (using the word "pledge", which is compatible with the RR/AVRT approach I also like) is cool. I click on pledging again every morning, sort of first thing after waking up, and later in the afternoon review how the day went in the same app. The review includes assessing your mood and the activities you engaged in that day, and the app has a visual output showing progress, which is much more meaningful for me at least than just plain, empty numbers. Now when I see the growing string of my satisfying sober days, it helps me remember even more where I never want to go again. It also sends inspirational messages and has an optional recovery message board similar to this one, just much simpler. You can select to only see posts from people who are at a similar stage in terms of sober time, or everyone. I haven't posted on it yet because SR is enough for me, but read it sometimes.
Guess I've found a way of tracking finally that feels useful for me, and I'm now far enough from the relapse (both in time and improvement) so it does not bother me much anymore
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Hi A,
I was waiting to see if anyone else would question your “cool”ness of the alleged “compatibililty”, but the thread went completely dead.
This momentary “pledge” repeated endlessly to ignore getting drunk from tomorrow on is actually a cool representation of the exact OPPOSITE of Addictive Voice Recognition Technique’s ultimate solution, the Big Plan; and is completely INcompatible with RR/AVRT.
I know you’ve stated you’ve made a Big Plan, “I will never drink again,” and I believe you because I know you, like any adult, are completely capable of doing just that. And I also know that one does NOT need to do AVRT to make that plan stick, but something similar will take place to disconnect thoughts of drinking from action. So, I am assuming that you are using the app for “progress” other than making not drinking a group project in which astronomy (each rotation of the earth) plays the crucial role in how long one should commit to keeping alcohol out of their throats.
And since you do know something about AVRT, I will assume you are using the app to practice some “shifting” as well described in “RR, The New Cure for Substance Addiction”, because there is so much AV material available to recognize about the app.
Me? I need absolutely no “progress” in my being a permanent abstainer, and didn’t since the beginning from when I quit (except for satisfying an authority that I had become a “sober alcoholic” (the beliefs of which I never accepted)) The only reason I don’t drink is because I promised myself I wouldn’t.
GT
I was waiting to see if anyone else would question your “cool”ness of the alleged “compatibililty”, but the thread went completely dead.
Originally Posted by Aellyce
...I'm not big on any "one day at a time" approach, but this app that asks every morning to make a pledge to abstain that day (using the word "pledge", which is compatible with the RR/AVRT approach I also like) is cool.
This momentary “pledge” repeated endlessly to ignore getting drunk from tomorrow on is actually a cool representation of the exact OPPOSITE of Addictive Voice Recognition Technique’s ultimate solution, the Big Plan; and is completely INcompatible with RR/AVRT.
I click on pledging again every morning, sort of first thing after waking up, and later in the afternoon review how the day went in the same app. The review includes assessing your mood and the activities you engaged in that day, and the app has a visual output showing progress, which is much more meaningful for me at least than just plain, empty numbers. Now when I see the growing string of my satisfying sober days, it helps me remember even more where I never want to go again. It also sends inspirational messages and has an optional recovery message board similar to this one, just much simpler. You can select to only see posts from people who are at a similar stage in terms of sober time, or everyone. I haven't posted on it yet because SR is enough for me, but read it sometimes.
Guess I've found a way of tracking finally that feels useful for me, and I'm now far enough from the relapse (both in time and improvement) so it does not bother me much anymore.
Guess I've found a way of tracking finally that feels useful for me, and I'm now far enough from the relapse (both in time and improvement) so it does not bother me much anymore
.
And since you do know something about AVRT, I will assume you are using the app to practice some “shifting” as well described in “RR, The New Cure for Substance Addiction”, because there is so much AV material available to recognize about the app.
Me? I need absolutely no “progress” in my being a permanent abstainer, and didn’t since the beginning from when I quit (except for satisfying an authority that I had become a “sober alcoholic” (the beliefs of which I never accepted)) The only reason I don’t drink is because I promised myself I wouldn’t.
GT
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GT, I think no one else who regularly posts on SR these days is as rigorous about RR/AVRT as you are . I do appreciate your responses because it's the kind I find the most useful, with critical feedback and advice, and it's fine when we don't agree on everything. I like to hear advice from you in part because it's very consistent, you stick with the same things and explain it well, an expert in one area. Sometimes it's tricky to take advice from people when they frequently change and develop their perceptions/opinions, I think I'm guilty of that myself sometimes.
I was mostly just curious when someone mentioned the app on the forum, and I do like to see progress in most things, it only affects me positively. I worry a bit about how much time I still spend with recovery stuff (not that app, more thinking and posting here), but right now it does not interfere with anything and if it does in the future (I can see it interfering with work as it used to in the past), maybe I'll apply AVRT to my excessive use of certain websites. Can AVRT help with moderation? Because that's what I would ideally like to achieve with certain things on the internet, not complete abstinence. Even if someone considers technology/the internet an addiction, I think it's a bit like food - we can't quit completely. But can certainly refrain from certain websites or ways of using the web and technology. In any case, I will take this mild "problem" anytime over the drinking one I had.
. I do appreciate your responses because it's the kind I find the most useful, with critical feedback and advice, and it's fine when we don't agree on everything. I like to hear advice from you in part because it's very consistent, you stick with the same things and explain it well, an expert in one area. Sometimes it's tricky to take advice from people when they frequently change and develop their perceptions/opinions, I think I'm guilty of that myself sometimes.I was mostly just curious when someone mentioned the app on the forum, and I do like to see progress in most things, it only affects me positively. I worry a bit about how much time I still spend with recovery stuff (not that app, more thinking and posting here), but right now it does not interfere with anything and if it does in the future (I can see it interfering with work as it used to in the past), maybe I'll apply AVRT to my excessive use of certain websites. Can AVRT help with moderation? Because that's what I would ideally like to achieve with certain things on the internet, not complete abstinence. Even if someone considers technology/the internet an addiction, I think it's a bit like food - we can't quit completely. But can certainly refrain from certain websites or ways of using the web and technology. In any case, I will take this mild "problem" anytime over the drinking one I had.
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Originally Posted by Aellyce
GT, I think no one else who regularly posts on SR these days is as rigorous about RR/AVRT as you are . I do appreciate your responses because it's the kind I find the most useful, with critical feedback and advice, and it's fine when we don't agree on everything. I like to hear advice from you in part because it's very consistent, you stick with the same things and explain it well, an expert in one area. Sometimes it's tricky to take advice from people when they frequently change and develop their perceptions/opinions, I think I'm guilty of that myself sometimes.
I was mostly just curious when someone mentioned the app on the forum, and I do like to see progress in most things, it only affects me positively. I worry a bit about how much time I still spend with recovery stuff (not that app, more thinking and posting here), but right now it does not interfere with anything and if it does in the future (I can see it interfering with work as it used to in the past), maybe I'll apply AVRT to my excessive use of certain websites. Can AVRT help with moderation? Because that's what I would ideally like to achieve with certain things on the internet, not complete abstinence. Even if someone considers technology/the internet an addiction, I think it's a bit like food - we can't quit completely. But can certainly refrain from certain websites or ways of using the web and technology. In any case, I will take this mild "problem" anytime over the drinking one I had.
. I do appreciate your responses because it's the kind I find the most useful, with critical feedback and advice, and it's fine when we don't agree on everything. I like to hear advice from you in part because it's very consistent, you stick with the same things and explain it well, an expert in one area. Sometimes it's tricky to take advice from people when they frequently change and develop their perceptions/opinions, I think I'm guilty of that myself sometimes.I was mostly just curious when someone mentioned the app on the forum, and I do like to see progress in most things, it only affects me positively. I worry a bit about how much time I still spend with recovery stuff (not that app, more thinking and posting here), but right now it does not interfere with anything and if it does in the future (I can see it interfering with work as it used to in the past), maybe I'll apply AVRT to my excessive use of certain websites. Can AVRT help with moderation? Because that's what I would ideally like to achieve with certain things on the internet, not complete abstinence. Even if someone considers technology/the internet an addiction, I think it's a bit like food - we can't quit completely. But can certainly refrain from certain websites or ways of using the web and technology. In any case, I will take this mild "problem" anytime over the drinking one I had.
GT
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Originally Posted by GerandTwine
Search TAPS within my posts.
GT
GT
.Can I ask where the TAPS idea came from originally? I saw a RR link in one of your old posts but it's no longer active, I am curious.
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Okay I found that TAPS is in the Taming the Feast Beast book by Jack Trimpey. I'll read it, might be interesting also because I was struggling with an eating disorder just around the time that book was written, but never heard of it and never used any external help to resolve the eating disorder except discovering it was a thing and learning about it on my own. I'm curious if Trimpey suggests anything similar in the book to what I did by myself, because the way I handled it was very AVRT-like, and time was also what I worked with there, first it wasn't even entirely conscious and planned. Without much detail, that strategy led to a long-term eating schedule I still like and follow most of the time, which is now described as "intermittent fasting" and has become a huge trend. I got on that long before anyone talked about it as healthy, mostly because it's easy for me and I much prefer to still eat what I like and how I like, so limiting the frequency vs. quantity/quality is much simpler for me and, importantly, does not feel depriving. It's also become completely natural and effortless, it would be more unpleasant for me to eat breakfast or small portions dispersed throughout day. The only situation when I sometimes wish it wouldn't be so ingrained in my system is when I travel and some hotels offer awesome breakfasts for free, but I rarely break my own schedule. I developed it in my mid-20s, it took care of my eating disorder pretty fast, and never had any health or psychological issues due to eating habits since, so it's worked out great.
Now I'm completely off-track from what this thread was meant to be, haha, so will stop here. But I do think I can apply this time-control to the internet stuff. I also naturally like to compartmentalize even things that other people don't like me to handle that way, so this TAPS-type approach should be pretty effortless if I put my mind and focus on it.
Now I'm completely off-track from what this thread was meant to be, haha, so will stop here. But I do think I can apply this time-control to the internet stuff. I also naturally like to compartmentalize even things that other people don't like me to handle that way, so this TAPS-type approach should be pretty effortless if I put my mind and focus on it.
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Personally I believe that sobriety is in it’s early stages is very fragile and that the path to recovery often includes relapses. It did for me and of course I felt horrible after each one and I was beginning to scare myself more and more.
So as far as measuring one’s track record in terms of days or months or even years, I personally have not really done that because my track record involved repeated relapses which became less and less frequent as time wore on until now today I enjoy a very satisfying and reliable recovery thanks to my relationship with and faith in a higher being who exists to help me in every way imaginable. But recovery for me took years literally. I dont even know how many years - several though.
So as far as measuring one’s track record in terms of days or months or even years, I personally have not really done that because my track record involved repeated relapses which became less and less frequent as time wore on until now today I enjoy a very satisfying and reliable recovery thanks to my relationship with and faith in a higher being who exists to help me in every way imaginable. But recovery for me took years literally. I dont even know how many years - several though.
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Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 360
I have an interesting perspective on this. October of 2020 I started to log all drug and alcohol use in a notebook. No journaling, just pure data - date, time, amount. I find that my memory is almost never accurate when it comes to use patterns. I either underestimate or overestimate how much I use and how often. This year I used Excel to graph the data. There are two lines - one for alcohol and one for cannabis. Having accurate historical data allows for a perspective that isn't possible otherwise. I have five days today, great. Doesn't seem like much, but we can ask the question - when was the last time I reached day five? Two months. I haven't gotten this far in two months. That's a big deal. If you don't have that data you lose perspective and it's just "I'm on day five".
When I graphed it out, the vertical axis was days sober and the horizontal axis was the date. So peaks on the graph represented streaks of sobriety. I could clearly see the peaks growing smaller and smaller over the months when it came to cannabis and that made me really sad. I could see myself relapsing about once a week, then several times a week, then three days was a big deal and that line just slowly flattened out. At the same time though, the alcohol line was WAY up at like 60 days. Another reason that this is valuable is that if you do decide to journal, you can use that data to try to find patterns between use and how you feel.
In terms of the personal value of day count, I find it's something I really like and need in the beginning, but I age out of it after around week three and just kind of stop caring.
When I graphed it out, the vertical axis was days sober and the horizontal axis was the date. So peaks on the graph represented streaks of sobriety. I could clearly see the peaks growing smaller and smaller over the months when it came to cannabis and that made me really sad. I could see myself relapsing about once a week, then several times a week, then three days was a big deal and that line just slowly flattened out. At the same time though, the alcohol line was WAY up at like 60 days. Another reason that this is valuable is that if you do decide to journal, you can use that data to try to find patterns between use and how you feel.
In terms of the personal value of day count, I find it's something I really like and need in the beginning, but I age out of it after around week three and just kind of stop caring.
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