Yesterday was 150 days but had lots of cravings as night before i watched something and had someone who was sober and basically said " to beat this i have to win everyday but it to win i only have to have 1 bad day so i believe our penance is to suffer " now some of this hit home and then it got me thinking about the bigger picture and then that scares the shit out of me. i know its meant to be 1 day at a time but its scary when u think i have to fight this everyday for rest of my life and then what about how i move on to a new life as im newly divorced and so on . Just wondered from the people who have a lot more sober time does it become easier thinking about future or is it a no no ??
That’s why I (we) work our Recoveries, or personally my road of discovery as I call it. It’s no fight. It’s living life to the best of my abilities. I’m working (and yes, it’s hard work at times) to create a life for myself that I don’t want to run from. A life worth living. Getting better at that one day at a time. It’s about focussing on the right stuff. Sober life is worth living for me while drunk it wasn’t and I wanted to die. Drunk life was a daily fight. Sober it’s the opposite. Easy? Hell no. But it’s so worth to live my life sober, to work on myself and my relationships, to be able to do that. My perspective totally changed. Not drinking or using isn’t a fight at all no more. Never again. Congrats on 150 days and wishing you all success Chris @Acehope. Keep going.
I have some sobriety. Maybe not enough to brag about but enough.
There is nothing wrong with day dreaming of the future. In fact we learn that we should look forward to sobriety - long term.
I will say that focusing ONLY on long term sobriety could become toxic.
What i mean to say is, if, for any reason , you relapse, then the disappointment could be drastic.
Just focus on one 1, 1, then just 1
1 meeting
1 good day
1 bad day
1 let down
1 super boost
1 support success
Just 1
Focus on one minute sober
Then 1 hour
1 day
1 good dream
Then on bad days say “not today booze”
Just 1
Today
I really understand this and i get days where i feel that way too…somewhere around that 150 day point i had a couple of days where it dawned on me that il only ever be one drink away from total disaster and it scared the shit out of me! I did exactly what youve done here only i went on the daily check in thread and wrote how i was feeling…i got alot of support and the fear lifted…you see i can control wether i have that first drink so i do have control over potential disaster and so do you…i can also tell you that as you get further into your sobriety that feeling of having to fight hard each day does dissipate into a a much more bearable feeling that tends to only get stronger when something happens in our life that we are feeling the need to comfort over or escape from and those are the times you need to look into yourself and your life as to the why and what needs addressing because at times of stress our addictively wired brains begin to crave the old way of coping. Its normal to feel like this at times…i love this phrase …’ its a bad day, not a bad life’
Keep trucking you are honestly doing great, im really proud of you.
Yeah bro I feel this. The cravings are there in active drinking.
Craving a next when I’ve still got 1 in my hand. Trying to juggle consuming enough but not too much that I can’t “hide” it (“hide” because now I doubt how well I actually was)
So much of active drinking was a mental and physical battle.
I like what you were saying about creating a life worth living, since giving up the drink I’ve really reconnected with some things I enjoy in my life so inadvertently started this work.
Thanks yes it is worth fighting for and i feel so much stronger now then say day 7 and i use my tools like talking to family and writing on here rather than trying to solve it on my iwn or drink the feelings away , i also like how u say drunk was a daily fight thats so right i firget what was involved in my addiction the lies the deciet being skint so thanks
That was my thinking and i explained it to my mum its like a double edge sword the deeper into recovery i go the more i have to lose over 1 mistake that brings a different kind of pressure.but your right 1 day at a time walk before i run
Im glad it does weaken and your so right i spoke with my mum about how i was feeling and i said its like the more i thought about things the stronger the old voice came back " you know what would stop you thinking …pub" its such a bastard addiction that to solve my problem my brain turns to the cause of my problem lol but im good today so thanks for kind words
Its no surprise really tho is it…we have literally wired our brains over years to drink at the first sight of any problem…its what we have trained it to do. Im pretty sure that the fact i didnt really like a Tuesday did not require me to drink a bottle of vodka but my addict brain did, thank the lord we know better than our addict brain hey? The next time it hits ask yourself whats going on in life that makes you want to comfort or escape over thats what i do…sometimes i dont even give the craving credence i just tell it off in my head “not you again…? Just do one!” Or words to that effect
For a long time I fought every day to not have a drink and it did feel intimidating to have to fight this way forever. Now it is more of a certainty. I can see myself building a better life that doesn’t involve alcohol.
I still have to remind myself not to have that first drink and not to romanticize alcohol. There is no fun in drinking for me anymore. But it does get a little easier when you can flip from “I can’t have a drink” to “I know what one drink really is”.
I have a whole year of being sober from my doc.
For me at least, I saw that focusing on the right things, getting rid of anything that did not serve me, it made me just not want to do stuff that are bad for my body, including drugs.
The thoughts I do have sometimes whenever things go south can be annoying, but still manageable.
When you see where you can go sober, you won’t want to go back. That is my honest opinion.
Take care!
I have a few sober years under my belt these days. It’s not a fight anymore to stay sober as it was the first months of my recovery.
For now it’s a choice.
A choice to not picking up the first one because I know what follows. It’s not hard anymore to say no to a drink. It’s my lifestyle, my new lifestyle.
The old one got out of hand and lead me here.
If I have cravings these days (they are seldom but they occur) I hear that voice and choose for the life I have today because I like that one more then my old one.
I think that strenght comes in time, in years maybe? Every day I could add to my sober days made me a little bit stronger in my sobriaty.
But the feeling I could do this for the rest of my life took time to settle in.
So no fight for me anymore and that will be the same for you some day! Just focus on today!
This above is helping me when I worry about the future to much ore got anxious for some reason.
I hope it helps you too