Hi, I’ve been sober for two years and three months. My question is, is it normal to still be feeling better and better? Like when I first quit after a month I was like yes, I feel better, and then a year, yes, I feel better. But lately I’ve been realizing even after a year I wasn’t really feeling that much better. Does it keep getting better and better? For how long? I’m not letting my guard down at all. I’m just seeing my productivity and energy and just all around life improving , even after a couple of years. I would appreciate anybody with lots and lots of time to give me your perspective, long-term. In other words, when I first was trying to quitting I don’t know how many times I googled, “quitting alcohol timeline.” And it basically breaks down the day-to-day, weeks, then months, what about years? Thank you all for everything. Everyone, you all have helped me so much, especially in the very beginning.
I can’t answer your question directly but I can say if you search terms like “2 years”, “3 years”, “4 years”, “1200 days”, “2000 days”, and similar search terms (make sure you use the quotation marks in the search, so you get those terms together in the thread titles you find), you will find lots of threads of people sharing their experiences of long term sobriety.
Congratulations on your time and I wish you a successful year 3 
After nearly 38 years sober it gets better if you want it to .
Life is still life - and ups and downs are normal. But overall, how I feel, how my body and brain are compared to when I drank, I feel way better. That doesn’t mean I haven’t had some incredibly challenging life stuff to contend with (mentally, emotionally, even physically), but more that I can do this with more clarity, understanding and compassion - for others and myself - than I did when drinking. A humongous obstacle is gone…vanished…the relief is amazing, on the daily. Like a huge stone was removed from my body and brain and a light turned on…a really bright light that feels yummy squishy good! 
7+ years sober after drinking for 40+.
From my understanding, the effects of alcohol on the brain and body are pretty much eliminated weeks after quitting. Some things I’ve read, said it takes up to a year for brain chemistry to return to normal. If nothing else changed, you would feel nearly 100% after several weeks to months.
How far things getting better really depends on you. Quitting alcohol sets you up to be the best you can be, physically, emotionally, spiritually, it’s up to you to take advantage of the opportunities.
I’ve been sober for 5+ years; the first several years I’ve really focused of my mental and emotional growth.
This year I am focusing on my physical health.
I can say that, in the past 5 years since quitting. I’ve gotten incrementally better as a whole, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I’ve physically felt better; that didn’t come until proper diet and exercise.
Sobriety doesn’t promise that life will just automatically continue to get better. Sobriety just promises me the ability to work on myself.
Now recovery, like active recovery, has absolutely continued to make my life better, but it’s up to me to do the work. Throughout my recovery I have picked up tools and coping mechanisms that have allowed me to navigate great times and hard times. It’s up to me to use those tools.
I remember during one of the many many times I tried to quit, I had 11 days and felt great. And I told an old timer at AA how much better I feel. He asked how many days and I responded, 11. He was like, all that shit is still in your system. I said when does it go away? And he said 15 years. Maybe that was his way of saying that is how long it took him to feel better. Or maybe he had 15 years to that point. Or maybe that was his way of saying, easy kid, you think you’re out of the woods, and you’re not. And he was right.
I can relate to that…when I quit smoking cigarettes after 30+ years, it took a solid 2+ years b4 my body felt like the nicotine was out of my cells. It has been similar with alcohol, but I didn’t feel it on a cellular level, like I did the nicotine. I think the timeline for alcohol going thru your system is shorter and not as cellular…that’s my non scientific opinion so take it for what it is worth. I know it was a couple of years before I felt settled in sobriety. And each year I feel it more so.
I’m only in year three but to me it makes perfect sense that if not making drunken bad decisions plus damaging health with all the alcohol then this is going to result in a better life.
We will never have that alternative timeline to compare “what could have been” but from my perspective drinking only goes in one direction, and that’s downwards, so you’ve pretty much guaranteed yourself a better life by being sober, it will still have challenges and obstacles to overcome, but overall it will be way better.
being sober for 40 years + I can say that while life still changes, my prior sober experiences can make present day choices to dilemmas a bit easier. There are way less moments of “should I/shouldn’t I?” and more moments of doing the next right thing almost unconsciencely based on previous good living.
One caveat: getting older, now in my 70’s, I do feel the aches and pains of creaky joints, so I had my time of getting better, enjoyed it, and now natural aging is taking over. I’m guessing at some point if I live long enough my brain functions will slow down too.
You know, I want to apologize. This was really a silly post. Yes, I do believe the healing process is an amazing thing and it does keep getting better and better, but no, life is no bed of roses. I still have the same problems, I just react to them differently.
Honestly, I think what happened is I woke up. From maybe dreaming ,had a sip of coffee, and I looked around my room and house that I have since remodeled, and my mind went back to a time when I was hung over, my life was a wreck, my house was a wreck, my finances were a wreck, and I just realized the difference. I still stand by the fact that those first six months I was definitely still healing. the bottom line is, : anyone in early sobriety, or thinking about it, I can absolutely positively tell you that things do get better! I don’t think there’s a human on the planet that regrets quitting alcohol and drugs……
No need to apologize and it isn’t a silly post at all. All questions are valid, even if they seem silly later or have been asked a zillion times. It’s all good.