Controversial post I hope this is okay. Tonight I was having my 0% beer and we ran out. I was at my bfs (outside communal garden) and it was freezing. We were having dinner but under heaters. His flatmate offered me some of his regular beer and without thinking I took a sip. It was awful. I thought it can’t be that different, I used to love it. I politely had one more sip to see what was going on. It felt like poison. I felt awful. I suddenly felt like I was waking up with a hangover and my body wanted to reject it. I left the glass full and didn’t have any more. They drank wine around me but I said no. I walked home after dinner and felt so calm and so happy to be walking home sober. I really don’t want to count this as a relapse because technically it touched my lips. Do I have to count it as restarting my days? I feel it may make me defeatist to do so, I want to keep my sober day count as it reminds me every day how far I’ve come. If I go back to day 1 I think I’ll feel like it isn’t an authentic reflection of my growth and journey thus far. I don’t know, open to your comments and thoughts. I wish I hadn’t been so absent minded, it’s a good reminder for situations I need to be better prepared for but ultimately I feel it was so good to break my feeling of craving and instead be met with the feeling of disgust. I really don’t want to touch it I’m in bed just so happy with who I am able to be. The me one month ago would not have got through the night without wine and would never leave a beer on the table and would certainly never find it disgusting. I used to crave that feeling. Tonight the stuff on my lips felt like a place I never want to go back to. Can I keep my days but maybe say “ 1 month 5 days minus 2 sips”
This is a controversial one. I say it’s your counter, for you, you decide. I will say it can be a slippery slope (I will just check again if I still don’t like it, this time I drank half a drink, still not resetting, and so on). Be very on guard the next few days.
Edit to say, I have had some big old relapses WHILE thinking it was disgusting.
Great points @Misokatsu and @Conor689908. I think it’s really important to not be in denial, but equally I think I know what I experienced, and it strengthened me to NOT do that again. I am happy to declare the two sips as long as I’m sober. So my own counter will read one year minus two sips, or that maybe then it won’t matter and I can restart. Those sips remind me that It’s poison.
However if the community want me to restart then I will. I’ll keep two tallies. But I fear restarting will upset me, drive me away from here until I feel I’ve built up my days back to 35 and then I’ll come back. But I needed the support and I need the support still. So I don’t want to have to exclude myself, hmmm tricky one. If I restart my count I’ll punish myself. But if I say 35 days minus two sips then I just feel like that’s closer to the truth
You are in no way beholden to us. It’s your journey, you have to make this choice for yourself. Take the suggestions you’ve been given and use what will work best to keep you making good choices each and every day. You sound like you are willing to take responsibility for yourself and that you are committed to sobriety. Focus on now, and your desire to be sober today.
Last thing on this (and I really don’t want to upset or trigger anyone) but I feel glad that this happened and that I know I don’t want to try and mindfully drink as I previously thought I would try to. Two sips showed me that it’s sobriety completely, Idon’t want any poison in my life whether mindfully done or not. It’s just not nice. Anyway, positive experience if I’m honest- to feel myself not punish myself just acknowledge that I’m different now. I don’t need that. But I guess if the rules are that I go back to day 1 tomorrow then, so be it.
AND to not forget… That you have done really well. Its a reminder maybe? I would be very aware that reseting doesnt mean failure… instead you are reseting because you learned what didnt work and now you are starting agin on what does. Either way, you will do what works for you and you feel the most connected and honest about, not us:-)
I think you actually found some clarity and seem even more diligent than before. I personally would keep your time.
Thank you @MagicMama and @anon79808082 and @RosaCanDo - Rosa you are so right, to take the advice on here but that really this is my life and my responsibility and I am beholden only unto myself. I will think about it tomorrow and how the best way is to proceed, the best way for myself and my sobriety. I’ll bring it to my Buddhist study session 
Thanks @MagicMama, you are right that resetttinf is sometimes a good reminder - a way of my action having an “effect” without anything “bad” in my life happening. So it may be that it’s the right mechanism to use for this behaviour so that I don’t do it again
@anon79808082 thank you that is my instinct having spoken to three friends on text tonight and generally with how I feel. I am committed and only I can know what that means for me. The rest of us will all project what that means but for me - keeping my days is still a constant reminder of the sips and how I’ll have to reset if I did that again. It’s not longer On a pedestal, it’s now unacceptable to me
Wow, I would definitely class 5 drinks as a relapse, because I would be significantly impaired with that. Just me personally though.
Hey Freckles.
You got me stumped on the reset here.
Just being honest here. I don’t understand how you accidentally took a sip of a flatmates beer without thinking. But that isn’t the point.
I read all the responses here to your question and I agree with all of them.
I think the most important thing is you’re being honest. Honest to yourself which is the most important. Honest to us. And honest to your friends. Honestly holding yourself accountable. Active addicts don’t do this.
I feel you’ll figure out what’s best for you. And that’s what I think you should do. This is your journey.
Except it was said the drinks were intentional. Accidentally being handed something then putting it back after a sip? To me, that’s an innocent mistake.
Consciously taking multiple sips… I’d be grateful it ended there but reset. My sober days are days I didn’t drink. It’s only a number, and it doesn’t take away the learning and growth that came before. But if I can’t be honest with myself about a few sips, will just one drink be okay next time…?
Other people’s timers aren’t my business, though. Glad you’re still with us, @Freckles, in any case. 
You aren’t keeping the timer for us. You are getting sober for you. I would be more concerned about the situations you are putting yourself in early in sobriety over whether you should reset a timer.
It’s your timer so you do with it what you want. One sip unintentional and one intentionally, if you do reset its for the second one.
I don’t like suggesting what other people should do on their sobriety journey but since you did ask, this 
is my opinion as well.
With respect, and not in reply to Freckle’s post or whether one or two sips requires a reset, I have difficulty with the distinction between lapse and relapse when it comes to the example of 5 drinks. To me, 5 drinks is intentional - even if I wake up the next morning knowing I never want to drink again.
I also find the distinction troubling in that – especially in early days – it might open up an “escape door” for me. It would be an option for how to drink without it really counting, if that makes sense. I would be at that wedding, having had one glass, thinking “screw it – this is just a lapse, I can have more.” And then I might think it’s okay to have another “lapse” (or night off) in 6 months. The source provides clear definitions for each, but for me they would quickly become blurry.
I echo @Dazercat’s sentiments, though - and pat you on the back @Freckles for your honesty and openness to this dialogue. 
I personally would not judge you at all if you did not reset your counter. You stopped, and you did not become impaired. However, this would mess with my head and I can tell it’s messing with yours too. We are harder on ourselves than we are with others. Two sips doesn’t remove all your hard work. Yeah, it wasn’t the best move, but you stopped. You didn’t get close to drunk. I do think it’s a wake up call and could end up a slippery slope if you don’t put the extra work in to get yourself through the guilt. I think the fact that you came on here to share this was a good move for your sobriety. Stay strong and talk about it as much as you can on here to work on that feeling of guilt. In the end, that’s what will get you. So, a vote to not reset from me. However, you don’t need anyone’s permission but your own. 
Honesty is best for us in our sobriety I agree it is a day and does not take away from your learning experiences. Saying that I would have to agree if someone gave me a drink with alcohol and I mistakenly drank it that would be a unwilling act. However after KNOWLEDGE that the beverage as alcohol in it and willfully drinking it would be a concincious act of volunteering yourself to drink alcohol which in my eyes would be a RESET. Hope you figure it out good luck. Maybe dont put yourself in that situation again.
It is up to you, as to how honest you want to be with yourself. Maybe the first unintentional sip wouldn’t count as a lapse, but does the second, intentional “polite” sip?
Sobriety isn’t a game with referees throwing flags , blowing whistles, assessing penalties. We don’t get a win/loss record with an asterisk. It’s a battle of mind and will. Do we assess the map honestly, or do we manufacture our own personal propaganda to take the sting off minor setbacks? The danger I see is how we position ourselves when major defeats occur.
Were it me, the unintentional sip is a pass, but an intentional sip is a lapse. But that’s how I measure success. You have to define success for yourself. Regardless, every sober minute is a victory, and no one can take this away from you. Like honor, it is a gift we give to ourselves.
Peace.
You’re going to get quite a bit of feedback, @Freckles, and good on you for asking for guidance. I’d urge you to look at how you got yourself into this spot. The issue of whether or not to drink 0% beers and wines has been, and probably will again be, debated in various threads on this forum.
But being in a situation where it is okay to accept a beer from a friend can and did lead to your accidental sip and your exploratory sip.
Maybe you’ve proven to yourself that while you might be able to handle 0% beers, it might be better to avoid them. What happened to you is at least in part why I avoid them.
Good job on the 35 days so far, keep up the good fight!