Congratulations on 5 years!!! 
That’s a lot of days and hard work. Thank you for being here and sharing your journey 
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5 years!!! Congratulations yay!!!
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Congratulations Siand that’s wonderful! Thanks for sharing too, it is a refreshing and inspiring story. This community is lucky to have you 
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That is SO amazing, congratulations on 5 years!!!
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EPIC!!! Congratulations! 
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Doesn’t it feel AMAZING?! What a beautiful milestone. Great job.
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Sorry I haven’t managed individual replies but thank you all so much for your support and encouragement 
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High (or not so high) Five! 
Congrats and thank you for sharing 🩵
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Late congratulation for your 5 year milestone. That is really great and i am happy for you!!!
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Congratulations. I have 58 days. 5 years seems amazing. Good job.
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Well done
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Congratulations @siand !!
Sooooo happy for you!! Glad you are out doing what you like without the noose of wanting to drink hanging on you! There very much is life after drinking. Bad things do still happen and we get through them so much easier than if we were drinking. That’s half a decade my friend! Big hugs and lots of love along w the congrats and job well done.
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Wow! I’m happy for you . The comparison you made is so insightful and touching. Thanks for all you do here and IRL. Sober is better!
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I can remember reading around to start with and also having my mind blown by the idea of a year, let alone anything more than that! But it really just is a series of 24 hours, if you did it yesterday you can do it today, and if you can do it today you can do it tomorrow too! They all add up 
Not that you asked, haha, but I think one of the most helpful things for me was reading other people’s stories - the successes and the relapses. It helped me to see what might be coming up for me and give me some ideas of how to naviagte that. I learned so much from people with different addictions and different lives, we still have a lot in common.
So to start with it was understanding that things would change and what felt difficult then might not always feel difficult, it was OK to take a step back and not put myself in situations that would feel awkward. Also that it is normal to have cravings and thoughts like ‘well you’ve been doing so well, one wouldn’t hurt…’. To know to play the tape forward and remember what really happens when I drink (some combination of blackouts, drunk arguments, oversharing, spending too much money, generally saying and doing things that made me cringe, then the anxiety, guilt, shame and regret the next day).
It was also super helpful that I knew about the pink cloud, that it was not totally unusual for life to catch up and for things to feel a bit shit after an initial burst of optimism. That has ended up being a journey through depression and anxiety which was always lurking but never dealt with as I drank my feelings away. I knew, from the stories of others here, that alcohol wouldn’t help to solve that. Having the lessons from all the recovery groups and personal wisdom that I read here has also been a huge part of working through that side of things.
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That’s a really helpful post and reminder. A good one to bookmark. Early days are so wild and the big numbers…30, 60, 90 days
…a freaking year…seem impossible. But they aren’t. Never give up.
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I probably should have put that in the OP 
will update!
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I’m better late than never to add to the congratulations! At 5 years, you are well equipped for life. I found that as the sober years pass I need to still keep my sobriety and recovery uppermost in my priorities, but it’s waaaaay easier than in early days!
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Big congratulations!!! I’m so proud of you.
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Congratulations on five years of getting better at getting better!
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