Alcoholism Support Group
Alcoholism is the continued consumption of alcoholic beverages, even when it is negatively affecting your health, work, relationships and life. If you think alcohol is causing you to lose control, it's time to seek help. Our group is a safe place to vent, check in, get back up if you fall, and reach sobriety.
I am just about to hit the one month mark for sobriety and it occurs to me that maybe making such a big deal out of the total days (months, years) we go without ingesting alcohol is a bit overdone. I mean, if I sincerely believe that alcohol is a harmful and addicting substance and therefore I will not use it at all anymore, then perhaps the only day I should celebrate is the day I had that epiphany. I hear nearly everyone on this discussion list (including myself) proclaim their current total days of sobriety as if it is some mark of measuring success in their on-going war against falling back into the pit of alcohol related despair. It seems to me that ideally one would simply recognize and fully believe that alcohol is a harmful and addicting substance, and then stop using it and start living a more natural life with no regrets. If we are constantly marking our days of sobriety it seems as though we want to continue the battle when we actually have already won the war. And if we slip up and start using alcohol again, it is because we really never sincerely believed it is a harmful and addicting substance, or we just don't don't care if we destroy our bodies and minds while achieving an inebriated level that satisfies us for the time being.
For me, I like to celebrate sobriety and if I don't have a sobriety date, I don't feel I can do that. I have a birthday I celebrate, and an AA (sobriety) bday I celebrate.
Its not a war to stay sober for me, its a daily surrender to the fact that I'm an alcoholic. Once I'm clear on that, and I get clear on that as soon as I wake up each day; I ask my HP to grant me the serenity and strength to live that day in front of me sober. If I "slip" -- eg if I chose to pick up that first drink, I would do so having FORGOTTEN the truth of my alcoholism. I wouldn't be in reality I'd be back in the alcoholic delusion well before I picked up.
I've done that before and so today I rely on AA, a HP, and the principals of a program to keep me honest, grounded, and sober. I'm not powerless today and I don't fight with alcohol.
And I do count my days and years. Gratefully
i understand your point of view -- I share much of it. Once I decided to quit I could not imagine deciding to pick up a drink (poison) again.
That did not mean it has always been easy. And that did not change the pure joy I felt in quitting and the feeling that if could quit drinking than I can do anything. So yeah, i don't count the days anymore. or the weeks, or the months. But I am keeping track of the years...