before we get underway, let me say that I’m fine. better than fine. busy and happy. i’m having some weird ‘girl’ issues that perhaps come with turning 46 next week. i get to navigate the health care system in a foreign language (hooray!) but thus far all results are boring and ordinary and nothing to get too excited about. i’m busy and running and baking and working and running some more and listening to podcasts and meeting very cool internationals who live here. i’m halfway through a two-day catering job for American Thanksgiving (!) and so there are 3 apple pies and 2 pumpkin pies on the table as we speak. i am reading your blogs, commenting not as much as i’d like, but i’m here! and i’m well.
now onwards to the CURIOUS part : ) This is now a regular monthly feature on my blog : )
i lurked on a few sober blogs for a bit before I actually quit drinking. This blogging community really does offer a ton of support … and then some.
So here’s what i’m curious about. Can you do me a favor?
- Post a comment with your number of days sober (or your sober anniversary date if you’re not a day-counter).
- If you are an anonymous lurker, and you’re sober, you can just put Sober as your name, and then use a fake email as your email address (12345@12345.com) – tell me how many days sober. You can remain anonymous of course.
- If you are a lurker, and you aren’t (yet) sober but you’re looking for inspiration, you can put Hoping as your name (or whatever), and use my email as your email address (12345@12345.com). And you can pick a date when you’d like to start your sober journey (i.e. in 5 days, or december 1st, or whatever). You can remain anonymous, too.
I also sometimes forget how far along in the sober journey some of you are … so this will help me remember and help me celebrate with you.
Really, if you’re an anonymous lurker that’s totally fine! Just chime in with where you are : )
PS/ HERE’S MY GUT REFLEX: I have no proof of this and am only going on a gut feeling here, but if you are a lurker and still drinking, then by posting something anonymously, it’s like raising your hand and saying “ok, yes, i could use some support” and i think that makes a big difference in what happens next for you. Well, if you don’t believe me, you can try posting something and see what happens : )
13 days. This difference this time is I know I can’t moderate. I’ve tried many times. Your blog is a huge help to me. Thanks!
194 days sober.
It´s getting easier 🙂 But I still love your input. Since no one else around me is sober I read your mails and your blog and then some, just to feel connected.
Gotta say that pouring an opened, but partially full, bottle down the drain is empowering.
Day 1 sober
4015 days plus 5 months! Blessed beyond anything I could hope to deserve!!
4015 days. Blessed so far beyond anything I could hope for. Keep on keepin’ on!
I’m in a similar spot to the above poster. Hoping, lurking… Been ‘quitting’ on and off for the last year, with the longest spell being 80 days. But since I drank again following that period I’m having a REALLY hard time recommitting fully. I keep going 1-2 weeks then drinking heavily again for a spell. Rinse. repeat. Now thinking December 1st (ideally) or (more realistically) Jan 1st. I will keep posting in the interim either way and could use support. Thanks for starting this Belle.
Lilly
Hi there,
I’m a lurker. Still drinking but preparing for Dec 1, 2012 quit date. Have been trying all year to quit, but “forever” makes every last day so desperate and final. So, I am now trying to re-align my thinking to the positives. I am overweight, out of shape and want to pay off my mortgage. I plan to quit drinking to lose 50 lbs, run 10 km and pay down $10,000 – which should be possible in 12 months, IF I don’t drink.
Thank you so much for your blog – everything from the title to the posts really speaks.
Wow! Just checked and I’m 1,055 days sober! Who would have thought?
I still crave it from time to time but it’s really no big deal. The monster still tries to speak and tell me that it’s fine…one drink won’t hurt or whatever other bullshit he’s trying to tell me (why is my monster a “he”?…hmmm…I’ll have to ponder that one). But I just tell him to go away and go get a hug from someone – that ALWAYS works.
Thanks for this! It’s nice to check the clock from time to time.
SoberMom
Hey Belle, i’m late to the party but it has been 119 days since my last drink. Woo hoo!! Life IS so much better without booze, isn’t it.
Awesome achievement on your 150 days! We rock 🙂
48 days today!
854 days. I also still have urges…I dont think that it ever goes away. What changes is the strength of the urges and my strength to deny acting on it. I also know that i can never have the first sip as it will be my undoing. Simple right…hah!
Should be on my six week mark…but back to Day One. Yours has always been one of the many blogs that gives me so much inspiration and motivation. You are awesome.
Love this because it always makes me check! Last time I looked was probably the last time you did this. 446 days sober for me! xxx
OK…Started my Blog, I am on Day 1 Again….no Wine-ing, for the next 90 days at least….Wow I am beginning to understand One Day At A Time. I really do rely on yours and others blogs, thanks so much. Only I can give that… Great Feeling Back to Me, but you all help alot!
Day 36 for me.
Day 14 for me! Woohoo 2nd sober Saturday! Have been going to AA and have a wonderful sponsor. So amazing to be in a room Full of the most compassionate people I have ever been around. Feels freeing to admit to other who understand that I can no longer drink. Haven’t announced my problem to anyone except hubby, 2 close friends, and AA. Feels amazing! And I like the true me is evolving:)
182!
127 days. All my habits have changed. I don’t even think about a drink at the end of a week. I might have a rapid memory of what a drink might be like, but it goes so fast and leaves no trace. There is no pent-up desire. I do like a soft drink, but not too many. I’m really glad I was so healthy prior to the accident as I’m sure my body is paying me back, getting me back on my feet in such rapid time.
I love this idea! I have been lurking and didn’t 11 days of not drinking in September (during a family trip and my birthday week…and LOVED it!) went back to drinking after, and didn’t fall back in love, now I am on a 90 day challenge with my son. Me: Wine! Son: No Video Games, 10 days today….so far so good! yesterday was a bit of a challenge, so I marked my day with a red line : ) I LOVE reading everyone’s blogs, I feel like I know so many of you already. Your post has given me the push to get mine started. These blogs have been so helpful : )
437 Days! It was my second sober Thanksgiving and I have to say I didn’t even once consider drinking. That part gets easier and easier.
4, 436 days (12.14 years.)
I uncorked the wine at a Thanksgiving dinner yesterday, and I’m sorry to say that I still felt a compulsion to take a swig. I didn’t, because I’m sober today. But for me, that urge has never really gone away.
Glad you’re doing well.
thanks for this! i still get the urge too. last night while serving everyone else, i inadvertently poured some champagne into the glass that contained my non-alcoholic lemonade… it was just a few tablespoons and i thought for a second about drinking it rather than wasting the lemonade. i poured it out and started again… then at the end of the night there was a half-bottle of champagne left on the counter. “if ever there was a time to have a drink…” i said to myself, as I always do. And i didn’t. My husband came home, had a glass, and quietly poured the rest out without telling me he’d done so. adorable.
That was incredibly sweet of him. The bloggers who have the supportive spouses really are blessed.
I will begin. I’m 146 days sober today (my quit date is July 1st). I never thought i’d be here in a billion-squllion years, and yet i’m happy to be here. tons happy. can’t barely imagine returning to my ‘previously scheduled life’. this one is divine : )