Having a hard time saying I’m sober, rather than I don’t drink. Have 14 days under my belt. Does time matter? Is there an amount of time that passes and then in my mind it clicks and I start referring to myself as sober rather than don’t drink? I feel like I just don’t have the tenure to announce that I am sober. How do you guys feel about it? I’m a rookie, not and MVP statistically. Maybe sober feels like an accomplishment that I haven’t reached if that makes more sense
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Great job on posting here first. NEVER CRAVING ALONE has kept me clean many times when I wanted to get high. You’re a winner is what you are. Another day won is better than another day one. Keep up the good work. This too will pass. When you want to drink/use, come on in here and let us know. We’ll try to help.
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Thanks for the reply. I’m not having thoughts of drinking. The post is about considering myself sober in such short time.
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Hey @Jfrat! I don’t have the answers, but I do share the same questions as you. I am 32 days sober now, and not “out” with my sobriety. At the beginning, I was saying “I’m drying out for a while.” Now it has switched to, “I’m just put off of drink lately.” My plan is to eventually switch to “I don’t drink [anymore].” I just want to turn down a drink without making a whole thing about it, ya know? All I can say, with the little experience I have is that it’s nobody’s business. Call it whatever you want to call it, as long as you don’t lose touch with what it really is. I can see telling people around you that you’re sober vs. a non-drinker as a good thing because it makes you a lot more accountable, and (hopefully) those people will refrain from putting excessive pressure on you to have a drink with them. But I also very much understand the want of privacy and the shame that comes with having a problem. You’re right though. Maybe saying “I am sober” will feel more like a badge of honour some day.
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Personally, I don’t drink!
I’ve been sober for 111/2 months.
People who need to know, know the reason.
People who don’t, well, I don’t drink anymore!
Simples really. It’s not up to them to judge me on why I no longer drink!
I found once I had accepted my situation 100% it doesn’t bother me what people think.
Just a thought for you to ponder.
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Awesome, thanks. I think I’m thinking along the lines of what @Iwebt mentioned. I kind of wonder if it will feel like and accomplishment of being “sober” after a certain time frame. Like a badge of honor after 6 months or a year.
The outside world understands I don’t drink. The outside world doesn’t understand the depth and meaning of I’m sober. To them, I don’t drink is enough.
I started feeling comfortable in my sobriety and confident after I did a thorough inventory of myself and shared it with another man, in the 4th and 5th steps of the AA program of recovery. Today, I consider myself a recovered alcoholic.
Blessings on your house 
.
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Took the words right out of my hands lol
Imho I don’t think that’s how it happens.
Every day sober, to me, is a " badge of honour "!
I’m not quite understanding your op. Are you waiting for an official feeling of " yay I’m sober now "?
I may not be explaining my thoughts correctly. Let me put it like this. I have used some kind of substance sine 13, now 35. Alcohol being most recent problem for last 14 years. So I guess it doesn’t feel right to say I’m sober since I only have 14 days. Sober seems like something designated through experience. I don’t drink anymore, yes. I don’t care about other people’s perception or anything like that since I know I have a problematic binge drinking relationship. Noone should piss themselves because they drink too much. But sober seems like a term granted to those who have earned it, through time and experience, to me at least. Not to down play anyone’s journey that may be sober for 1 hour or anything. I feel like it is a journey and sober is a destination earned through time and experience I haven’t reached yet. Just wondering if anyone feels that way also. Hope that clarifies a little. Especially because I’ve stopped drinking in the past and tried to moderate months later. So in my opinion I was not sober. I do feel this journey will lead to sobriety though. But I feel I am in a " I don’t drink anymore" phase until I have earned enough time to call myself sober. Wondering if there is a certain amount of time people reached that gave them the validation and finite affirmation that they are sober. It may sound strange, just new to talking to other people about this. Thanks for taking your time to try to understand!
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Ok, thanks for the explanation.
As I say I’m only 11+ months sober, so I probably don’t have the “correct” answer if there is one.
“not affected by alcohol; not drunk.”
This is the Google definition, so by that I take it that I am sober.
I see it as a state of mind and heart.
I personally would not be wasting time and energy in trying to define where I am on this journey, as sobriety is not the destination, I’m my mind it is the journey. It is now part of who I am, just like I am a father and a husband.
The further along the path we get, the stronger we feel in our sobriety, but we will never wake up one day and say " hey I’m cured! ".
I will always be mindful of my sobriety.
As I said this is my take on it someone else may think something else.
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I guess I never looked up the definition and thought of it literally as not drink. Makes since.
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I just say I don’t drink then if the topic arises again I say I’m an alcoholic or recovering alcoholic. I don’t say I’m sober, it seems to me that it says, I am sober at the moment. Well that’s just my 2 cents. Stay sober though!!! 
Edit: Just kind of read through replies and you’re not talking about alcohol…so this answer might not help.
To me being sober and your sobriety are two different things. Sober is a physical thing, you are sober as soon as your doc has left your system and you are no longer affected by it. You remain sober for as long as use don’t use your doc, so to me you are physically sober.
Your sobriety is a totally different thing and more of the mental aspect (this seems more like what you are talking about?) you achieve sobriety by working on yourself to change your mindset towards drinking. I am 11 months sober and now trust in my sobriety, I have done a lot of work to become comfortable with the mindset that I no longer drink and that I don’t need or want to, this part is my sobriety, to me it means that I am not only not physically dependent on alcohol but also not mentality dependent on it. It took me a while to trust in my sobriety maybe six months of hard work before I felt somewhat secure.
That’s my two pennies worth on it anyway, if you have no alcohol affecting your system then your sober, sobriety is something else 
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Great explanation!!
I’d say it’s up to you to decide when you feel like you are “sober.” I use the word in a less literal way. For me, it kind of is a badge of honor, something like what you are talking about.
I was off work for 5 months when I first started my journey. When I went back was when I started using the term sober, as opposed to the literal word. We used the literal word in IOP all the time, but it felt like a different word. I never planned for it to be this way, your question made me realize that’s how it went. The funny thing is, I overanalyze EVERYTHING, but somehow not this one.
Do what you are comfortable with. That’s the answer I got when I was obsessing over my “official” sobriety date, or quit date.
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