fishkiller

This ^^
Ane I'll add my daughter, wife and myself

least

I don't miss waking up feeling horrible every. single. day.

SassyAdria

I don't miss the ocean of guilt.

I guess that guilt we would wake up with was our conscience sounding an alarm.

I have flaws that bug me, but they don't overwhelm me with guilt. Of course I still want to kick myself in the shins sometimes.
'
When I drank, I was constantly afraid. Living in the shadows.

It's such a huge gift to be sober.

Oh, and speaking of what we don't miss.... I live in St. Louis and there is a big old Mardi Gras celebration every year. Pretty much the only reason for it is to get wasted. This was the first year that I didn't even know when the parade was happening and I was home doing chores, sleeping, drinking my coffee, or whatever the heck I felt like, and it was so much more enjoyable than anything that ever happened when I was drunk. Even the worst moment sober is still better than being drunk!!!

FreddieGeorge

1st post here (i think). long time lurker.

The vast majority of these posts greatly resonates with me

I don't miss:

being enslaved by guilt, shame amd hatred
my lies
worrying where my car is
Wondering what new calamity I've created
feeling unconnected
the drink/shame cycle
Missing my kids as I'm to drunk / hungover to see them or be present for them
unproductivity at work
not taking care of my body, soul or mind
finacial uncertainty
broken dreams
broken promises
isolating myself
oblivion
drinking with people where the only things we have in common is drink and drugs
racing thoughts
etc
etc

Far to many to mention.

such a powerful thread Red 👊✌

sec7470

What a great post. Thank you! This will be a fun journal exercise. What I don't miss... It may be too early to say, as it's only day 8. And i'm still trying to convince myself that i don't need to stop drinking for good, even though I know that's total BS. But in these past 8 days, I don't miss that foggy-headed feeling of even the mildest hangover. I don't miss not remembering EXACTLY everything that transpired the night before.

I take my proverbial hat off to you. You laid out some very real sh*t.

LumenandNyx

I don't miss crawling to the bathroom.

Willbilly

Unfortunately I relapsed and am going through with drawals which include super high anxiety and having bouts of nausea along with insomnia.
I definitely don't miss these withdrawal symptoms and I will just have to wait them out.
It's 4:02am here in Colorado and im awake posting here.

Zencat

Me too! madness is it not?
I was all ready symptomatic from childhood trauma. Add drugs/alcohol to the mix, one massive chronic progressive downward spin into a living hell.

Having survived the worst of addiction, I now have a wonderful appreciation for even the simplest blessing recovery gives me. I used to hate the morning sun as an addict. It was like oh sh!t another day of eternal madness and sorrow . Now I get up before the sun ready to get the good stuff going all blessed day long.

Thank you SR members for these wonderful threads. Reminds me to count my blessings one by one.

least

I don't miss feeling horrible all the time - sick, guilty, ashamed.

So glad I'm free now.

fishkiller

I dont miss alcohol.

jwalsh

i miss it

Dee74

Welcome back JWalsh
it took me awhile but the more I built a sober life I loved, the less I missed alcohol and that old self destructive life.

Hope your Christmas is a good sober one

D

Notch8

I don't miss having that weed-killer chemical smell. I often wondered if anyone else noticed?? I remember after a few weeks sober, my wife asked if I changed deodorant or something 'cause I smelled different. Wow.

MissyPennington

You've got this!! Just remember how horrible it is and try to not put yourself in this horrible situation again. I have been sober 32 days and still have some really bad days......It's only up from here

least

I don't miss the crappy hit-or-miss care I gave my critters. Now that I'm sober, they get the care they deserve.

Vik88

don't be sad about that least. you're doing good

WhiskeyBent

i dont miss the terrible sleeps

the pain in my stomach

the terrible direara

worrying about where and when i was going to buy alchol

hiding my breathe, brushing my teeth.

thinking people knew i was drunk....but they didnt say anything

worrying about driving home

spending all that money

taking my empties back

black out phone conversations.

I dont miss it!

tornrealization

Blackouts. They were a daily part of my life. I worked my life around assuming I’d have them. So I isolated, I tried to limit online and phone time after drinking started. I wouldn’t stay with a group of friends knowing it would happen or just flat out refused to go out. Made up tricks and tried to take notes of conversation while blacked out so I could read it in the morning. Then every morning, hangovers, puking and...trying to piece together the previous nights blackout. It was a good night if I isolated and stayed offline. It was a bad night if I had notes to decipher. This was my NORMAL...I don’t miss that at all.

least

I don't miss the overwhelming feeling of despair, every minute of every day.

Vik88

I don't miss having my body just feel like crap after going on a bender, my mind would play tricks on me and i'd get anxiety, nervousness and it would take me alot of days just to get back to a, life is actually pretty good, people are normally decent. My mind would always think after a bender (especially the first days) the worst case scenario of everything. Being sober, i can much more see that life isn't like that.