Hi! I finally made it to 60 days sober! I honestly started taking benadryl at the age of 14 to avoid feeling my feelings and “just go to sleep”. Over 20 years later and multiple addictions, but mostly alcohol, I finally decided to give it all up. It took me over a year of stopping and starting to get where I am now, 65 days. One thing I realized I had to do is avoid anywhere people are drinking. I have been to my relatives bday party where my family of heavy drinkers were in full force. I manged to go avoid the drink and go home early! What other tips do you have for newbies to help achieve long term sobriety.
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I’m almost a 1.5 years sober.
Things that helped me:
Finding a wide variety of non alcoholic drinks and keeping them on hand.
Cooking meals and snacks from scratch for my family. It takes a lot more time but I feel good giving them nutritious food.
Since I have 5 kids at home and a husband who drinks A LOT, mostly it was a way to fill the evenings at home. My 13 year old daughter and I have a standing TV show date at 8:30pm to watch an episode of our favorite series together. One episode a night, no binging so we both pay attention.
And when my husband is drunk, I find B movies that might be awful but are sometimes surprisingly amazing to watch when he’s passed out.
And, I tell myself daily, I will not drink today and probably not tomorrow either.
Oh, one more thing, I stay up to date on the relapse section of this app. I need to remind myself how easy it is to fall back into the trap.
Proud of you and your 65 days! Keep up the great work!
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Thank you. I love your standing idea with your kiddo. I’m going to try that.
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Congratulations on your 65 days! That is some great work!!!
My recovery plan over the years has included…
Being a very active member of Talking Sober. I have been on TS for years. Sober community support and connection have been vital to my healing and building a healthy new life.
Over the years I was also active in a few other sober communities.
In the early days of sobriety, my recovery included…
Putting myself to bed early and often
Yin yoga, bicycle riding, HIIT fitness classes, hatha yoga, walking, yoga nidra, running, hiking
Meditation and sleep meditations
Mindfulness
Eating a lot of sweets and then after a year and a half, quitting sugar and processed carbs
No wine in house
Journaling
Hot epsom baths (especially helpful when anxious)
Eating clean / drinking a LOT of LaCroix, now I drink tap water
Reading and rereading a LOT of sober memoirs/novels (I have a list if you are interested)
Keeping a list of how I want to live my life/what sobriety offers…I keep it on my phone and when I started thinking, hey, maybe just one glass of wine, I read my list and remembered how desperate and unhappy drinking made me. Here is some of that list…
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No hangovers ever!!
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Treating my husband with respect and no drunk fighting
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Self respect gets a major boost
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No more internal conflict about drinking and if/how can I cut down or stop
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Restful restorative uninterrupted sleep!!!
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Major pride in myself and all that I have and can accomplish
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A sense of peace and calm
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No more embarrassment and shame because of my behavior
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Forgiving myself for past mistakes and terrible judgement
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Letting go of blame and shame
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No wondering what I did or how I hurt husband or others while drunk
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No treating people I love, including myself, poorly while drunk
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No drunk driving and possibly hurting self or others or jail
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No upset stomach from drinking
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No anxiety and near constant agitation when hungover
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No dark suicidal thoughts
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No blackouts ever
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No overwhelming shame at my behavior
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No oversharing with strangers while drunk or making plans I will need to cancel
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Not having to check my phone in the middle of the night to delete social media posts - no drunk texting/emails/posts/calls
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Not be bloated and puffy and look haggard
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Major pride in myself and a boost in self esteem
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No hangovers ever again
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No more excuses or lies
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Peace of mind
Most importantly, I never stopped quitting AND I found this app when I needed it most.
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Never stop quitting. I like that.
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I love this, not that I needed a boost today but one day I will and this will be bookmarked along with another favourite of mine written by your good self ‘resources for our recovery’ in the knowledge section.
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Love the bookmark feature! They definitely come in handy.
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Congratulations on your 65 days sober B!
Dan started a great thread.
Keep doing what you’re doing and never ever pic up that first one. Especially if you’re ever thinking maybe I can have just one. I haven’t heard of any one of us that can.
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I really like your list thank you. I have picked up some hobbies like playing pickle ball and hiking.
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Thank you for tagging this.
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Great hobbies!! Mayne I will give pickleball a try one of these days.
My advice is read books about sobriety.
Without doubt this is the strongest thing that helped me
Thank you for sharing your list, you hit every nail on the head and those reminders will keep me sober as well, much love
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Thank you for this. I feel every point you listed when drinking.
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