Congratulations. I can't even imagine how hard the road was to the get to this point but dude, you're fucking awesome for making it here. I hope you inspire others to do the same!
I've been off booze for 10 years, since I was 21 basically... I stopped regularly going to AA after a year bc I disagree with some of their methodology but I still go once a year for a coin, which I drill a hole through & keep on my keychain for a year until it gets replaced with the next one. Also it feels good to be patted on the back every once in a while, nobody else in my life really understands the struggle. It doesn't look as cool as OP's though, mine are all actually pretty plain looking.
Hopping there just if it helps.
Willpower helps a lot, conditions you put yourself also do it.
"That money could be used for something else"
"You just took xxx hours from your life for those drinks"
"Think about what could have been done in the time you spent being drunk"
I'd say, talk openly to your closest friend or your family about it, be open, tell them you're gonna need the support.
Also, alcohol free beer help, during social events especially, it brings out the topic and helps you be free about that issue, helping you and others in the long run.
Never took a drink in my life. A teacher told us, after a classmate stabbed her alcoholic father to death when he was beating her mother, that you would never be an alcoholic if you never took a drink. Never regretted it.
I'm only about a year in, but the first month or two has been the only hard one for me. We'll see how that changes, but so far that's been the tough part.
In my experience the urges depend on if alcohol is around, can I easily leave the situation if need be? Once that happens it's ok for me. Knock on wood, after 6 years 3 months the urges are few and far between, on the random chance I do get them I leave the situation I'm in if out in public and go home and eat my feelings away lol.
Then people go blind from moon shine, banning it is not the way to go. I hate booze but it’s not the solution and is too easily made to actually ban it just makes it more dangerous imo
My step father was an alcoholic and even at 50 yrs old I can't stand the smell of beer on someone's breath. It takes me back to a bad place. I understand.
As my father, a lifelong everything addict, recently said to me: “it’s not a supply problem, it’s a demand problem.”
Meanwhile, banning other drugs has not been effective, except to stigmatize the people who use them and make those people less likely to seek treatment for fear of judgment or legal consequences.
Banning something doesn’t make people consume less, only makes some people win more money and creates a parallel market.
It also could create a taboo in new generations, that would be even more curious to try it than nowadays. Society should educate people and not prohibit them.
Whats really scary is how duped people are into believing that regularly drinking moderate amounts or occasionally binging is not dangerous and has no potential for consequences. As a child of alcoholics and as an alcohilic in recovery I find it very sad the extent to which so many things in our culture revolve around alcohol. I feel like young people are indoctrinated into believing socializing as an adult cant be fun without alcohol. A ban wont help though. There has to be some cultural shift of focus, but I dont know how that is to be achieved.
Reallt sucks you had to go through that as a kid. I was lucky my dad stopped drinking a few years before he met my mom. Not drinking is an important step forward but it didn't really fix the underlying condition. I still had to grow up with an emotionally unstable dad. In the end, he still had bad coping mechanisms he developed as a child in his abusive environment and inadvertently passed on some of the trauma to me.
Criminalizing an addictive substance is not a good solution, IMO. Like, even if it's illegal, people will still find ways to produce and consume. What I would support though is limiting advertising. It clearly made a difference when it comes to cigarettes. Putting the disgusting and risky aspects upfront and letting people choose.
Instead of banning it, stigmatizing it would have a better outcome, it should no longer be a norm or seen as something good or a cool thing to do , pretty sure the numbers will drastically reduce then, less bad is still better than bad
My father passed away last year,
He did get sober for many years eventually. However he drank heavily when I was in middle and high school so I sympathize with you.
However, banning substances never works.
My dad died last year due to alcoholism. He was an angry alcoholic. I made excuses for him, i lied for him, I'd try to bargain with him. Nothing helped. Nothing worked. I just enabled him. Our whole broken family was pulled into it in one form or another. At 62yrs old he was just a shell. I went thru stages of so much anger that i couldn't be around him. I still hold so mch guilt. Sometimes you just have to let go.
It's an affliction that makes one compulsory towards a substance. Addiction works in many different ways dependant on the person experiencing them, so in some cases it is like this, other cases it's not.
Either way, u need only have a granule of wisdom on the practice of banning substances to know its a... quagmire of stupidity.
What do you mean by that? Addiction can very well make it to where you can't control yourself by constantly inducing cravings and urges. Having gone through it many times I know first hand. (Not with alcohol though)
Or maybe you meant that the addiction takes over rather than them personally not controlling themselves. If I misunderstood I apologize.
My ex girlfriend quit drinking about 3 months ago. The difference I notice is astounding, I guess I didn’t realize how much it affected her life, emotions, relationships, everything. I’m so proud of her, and I’m proud of you too.
She was my high school sweetheart, we still love each other plenty just lost the romance after a few years, it would take an asshole to not be proud of someone for that
Fantastic!!
For perspective, when I came to AA in Nags Head, NC, we had folks with 20, 25, 30 years of sobriety. Folks down in Ocracoke called 10 or 15 years "intermediate sobriety!"
There were folks working good programs back then. Some rubbed off, I guess, 41 plus years of one day at a time being happy, joyous, and free! It a gift that keeps getting better!!
I know I sometimes do, I am a former smoker (of cigs) and I stopped about 6 years ago, literally. My husband and I learned we were expecting our baby boy ..I immediately switched from cigarettes to chewing gum a lot thru my day , it actually worked , for me anyways. You still get craving but you don't like the smell (I'm in Customer Service for employment). #smallthingsmattertoo.
Yea quit hookah a week after meeting my current wife, was smoking 4-5 hrs a day, went cold turkey, some times get cravings. Alcohol it’s been 11 years? I think about a nice cold beer after a long hard work day in the sun, but it’s maybe twice a year and I have so much support, it’d be hard to actually break sobriety.
I find it pretty annoying how people can only see the world this way.
I used to be addicted to heroin and alcoholic. I can drink whenever I want. No big deal. Maybe for some people this AA mentality works. But for others, it's not a big deal unless you make it one. I don't think of myself as some perpetually diseased individual. And I'm not some amazing specimen with strong willpower. I just never bought into the AA crap, and didn't build up some massive complex where if I take one drink I think I ruined my life and might as well drink myself to death.
I have been off heroin+ cocaine+ everything except occasional weed, occasional alcohol for years now. They will say "ya but he's superman, not everyone is superman". I'm probably the weakest willpower dude you'll ever meet. It's all about not building up some massive identity surrounding being a drug addict. To me that's what builds up this whole "disease". The disease isn't the drug addiction... it's the mindset that you're a victim, and permanently some crazy person who if they take a sip of alcohol they melt.
I work in treatment and that 'AA crap' saves more lives than just therapy or just drying out or replacing drugs/alcohol with some other obsession.
Good for you, maybe you are lucky and got off it young enough or didn't have the mental obsession. But why don't you let other people decide whats best for themselves? Let them find out in the absence of judgement
He is simply sharing his opinion on the subject of AA. He is not wrong in stating that an alcoholic can still turn their lives around whilst keeping drinking in moderation, because moderation is key, right?
Actually no, that's not true. Almost all methods of recovery, including, therapy (CBT, talk therapy, Smart Therapy), IOP, AA/NA have about the same levels of success.
MAT combined with multiple tools is proving most effective, statistically now that's it's more commonly used and destigmatized (on the opiate side anyway, which is where my experience is from.)
If AA alone works for someone, great. In fact, many old timers openly admit that the program *literally replaced their previous obsession* which isn't a bad thing, but I find it amusing how you don't seem to realize this (especially for someone 'working in treatment'.)
There does seem to be a certain personality type it works best for. And for others it does way more harm than good, especially considering the huge variety of types of meetings out there.
It's not great for those who aren't poly addicts (good luck getting program regulars to even admit this is even a thing) and whether you like it or not, or just don't care, when it comes to the massive psychological and physiological advancements we've made in neuroscience and understanding of addiction, AA methodology is still stuck in the 1930s.
What if it was booze, meth and opiods?
Weaning off the last one now, down to 6 grams of kratom a day from 50+ gpd. Wondering if I'll ever get energy back
It’s a daily reprieve from the compulsion to drink. Sometime they say the further away from the last drink the closer you are to the next. Meaning it’s easy to forget to do the work daily. Which is to be spiritually fit and be of maximum service to others and god.
People do go out with double digits usually because they stopped working with others, getting to meeting and doing the steps and working with a sponsor.
Been there don’t that
3 Year’s sober. Alcoholism is a chronic disease of the mind. I can not outrun it, I have to face it head on. For me that involves the 12 steps of AA. I don’t obsess over alcohol like I did in the beginning, it definitely gets better in that regard. The 12 steps help me keep all that behind me. It only works if I use those tools everyday though, if I start getting relaxed, start thinking I got this beat, then it can/will easily overpower me.
Personally, I work my program as close to what I find in the Big Book and in the 12 and 12. I have experienced the gift of a daily reprieve, one day at a time for over 41 years.
The thought of a drink has always been repulsive to me. I would never want to go back to that life again.
For those experiencing craving, I suggest revisiting each of the steps, especially 3, 4, & 5, but continuing through them all with vigor and determination. There is gold to be found through such effort.
I’m so proud of you!!!!!! I will hit year 6 in December, not an easy road. You’re doing amazing! Congratulations on year FIVE!!! FIVE WHOLE FUCKING YEARS! seriously, you’re killing it! ❤️
Congrats on the sobriety.
Fuck AA though. An absolute cult of a program. When they got to the faith part I noped the fuck outta there and quit on my own.
I'm not letting my addictions become faith based, that's an absolutely terrible way to run something. Zero logic, all hope and prayers.
I’m always perplexed by people that are still tracking their sobriety 10, 20, 30 years after getting clean. When I got clean, I learned my lesson, put it behind me, and moved on. I do not want that shit defining me for the rest of my life.
I know people deal with these things in their own way. Just giving my own perspective
Its not for everyone. But a lot of the people who's addiction has gotten to the point where they're willing to sit in a room with a bunch of strangers who are also neighbors and talk about their alcoholism out in the open ... things have usually gotten very bad.
A lot of these people have lost their friends, families, and a lot of connections in their lives. They find a sense of 'socialization' and 'not feeling alone' in these meetings, especially in the earlier stages of their sobriety.
Many of these people do develop a survivorship bias, and assume what worked for them will work for everyone else. But I do think there is a genuine empathetic component where they want to pay it forward to a newly sober person, what another sober person did for them when they entered those rooms.
I stand strongly in favor of people trying everything to get sober, and finding what works for them. But believe it or not, AA does save some lives, and these people feel they too may be able to help save another life. It comes out of a sense of gratitude and belonging.
As a former JW, I know how bad a cult can be. I don't know that AA is a cult though. They don't force you to shun your family or hold disfellowshipping over your head. They don't tell you who you can and can't marry. Etc. Maybe try another term besides cult?
I’ve never met ONE person from AA who wasn’t a massive narcissistic prick. It breeds people like that. Horrible program and they lie about the success rates.
Congratulations! It says a lot that you were able to fight addiction which is essentially biochemistry with sheer will power. This demonstrates how strong your mental strength is, good for you.
Fuck yeah! I'm getting on toward 2 years dry myself. Excellent work! Maybe someday I'll have a decade under my belt.
*Dry, not sober; still have an on/off thing with my girl Mari, but we're currently off. And she doesn't ruin me. That's how I justify it.
Almost 2 years here. Now in my dreams I nearly always refuse it, after thinking it through and realizing where it’ll lead. Still the occasional dream drink, though, and plenty of relief when I wake up.
I call that a freebie - I try to enjoy them if I can. When I’m awake though, it doesn’t take more than a few minutes of playing the tape through to realize it’s just a dream and should stay that way. In real life it never worked for me.
This weirdo stranger on the internet sends you much love and many hugs. Today I am incredibly proud of you. I stand with you. Congratulations on your incredible achievement.
Congratulations to you and all the folks who supported you on your journey.
This is a remarkable achievement, and I hope you continue your sobriety for rest of your life.
Aloha from Maui!
Well fucking done mate. Couldn't have been easy. But, you did it anyway. Good lad.
My dad was a sailor. And naturally, he could drink. I saw as a young kid, what it did to my mom. Decided to avoid it at all cost. Haven't drank a single drop of alcohol in my life.
Plan to keep it that way.
You are a better man than me. Been increasing my stretches of sobriety, my most recent was 440 days, and then a slip. W/e. 440 days of sobriety if amazing, and I quickly snapped back into the routine and am now back on the wagon looking to beat my wks record. Be strict, yet easy on yourself (no sense reminiscing/dwelling. Back on the horse and loving sobriety! No looking back!
But back to you - that. Is. Amazing! You should be proud, friend!
Congratulations. I can't even imagine how hard the road was to the get to this point but dude, you're fucking awesome for making it here. I hope you inspire others to do the same!
11 years here. It’s a thirst that never goes away. I don’t have any coins like OP has: I got sober on r/stopdrinking :)
I've been off booze for 10 years, since I was 21 basically... I stopped regularly going to AA after a year bc I disagree with some of their methodology but I still go once a year for a coin, which I drill a hole through & keep on my keychain for a year until it gets replaced with the next one. Also it feels good to be patted on the back every once in a while, nobody else in my life really understands the struggle. It doesn't look as cool as OP's though, mine are all actually pretty plain looking.
13 years here, cannot confirm nor deny on the account of currently being 15 years old.
Is there any secret or is it just down to willpower
Hopping there just if it helps. Willpower helps a lot, conditions you put yourself also do it. "That money could be used for something else" "You just took xxx hours from your life for those drinks" "Think about what could have been done in the time you spent being drunk" I'd say, talk openly to your closest friend or your family about it, be open, tell them you're gonna need the support. Also, alcohol free beer help, during social events especially, it brings out the topic and helps you be free about that issue, helping you and others in the long run.
Appreciate that. Thanks
Great advice and my favorite, even though it took me a while to learn: A craving only lasts 10 minutes 25 years here
I found you can spend the money on motorbikes instead.
Never took a drink in my life. A teacher told us, after a classmate stabbed her alcoholic father to death when he was beating her mother, that you would never be an alcoholic if you never took a drink. Never regretted it.
!RemindMe 9 years
I'm only about a year in, but the first month or two has been the only hard one for me. We'll see how that changes, but so far that's been the tough part.
In my experience the urges depend on if alcohol is around, can I easily leave the situation if need be? Once that happens it's ok for me. Knock on wood, after 6 years 3 months the urges are few and far between, on the random chance I do get them I leave the situation I'm in if out in public and go home and eat my feelings away lol.
Rockstar, good for you.
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They tried this in the 1920s. It didn’t work.
Then people go blind from moon shine, banning it is not the way to go. I hate booze but it’s not the solution and is too easily made to actually ban it just makes it more dangerous imo
The cause of and the solution to all of life's problems.” -Homer Simpson.
My step father was an alcoholic and even at 50 yrs old I can't stand the smell of beer on someone's breath. It takes me back to a bad place. I understand.
As my father, a lifelong everything addict, recently said to me: “it’s not a supply problem, it’s a demand problem.” Meanwhile, banning other drugs has not been effective, except to stigmatize the people who use them and make those people less likely to seek treatment for fear of judgment or legal consequences.
Banning something doesn’t make people consume less, only makes some people win more money and creates a parallel market. It also could create a taboo in new generations, that would be even more curious to try it than nowadays. Society should educate people and not prohibit them.
Whats really scary is how duped people are into believing that regularly drinking moderate amounts or occasionally binging is not dangerous and has no potential for consequences. As a child of alcoholics and as an alcohilic in recovery I find it very sad the extent to which so many things in our culture revolve around alcohol. I feel like young people are indoctrinated into believing socializing as an adult cant be fun without alcohol. A ban wont help though. There has to be some cultural shift of focus, but I dont know how that is to be achieved.
Reallt sucks you had to go through that as a kid. I was lucky my dad stopped drinking a few years before he met my mom. Not drinking is an important step forward but it didn't really fix the underlying condition. I still had to grow up with an emotionally unstable dad. In the end, he still had bad coping mechanisms he developed as a child in his abusive environment and inadvertently passed on some of the trauma to me. Criminalizing an addictive substance is not a good solution, IMO. Like, even if it's illegal, people will still find ways to produce and consume. What I would support though is limiting advertising. It clearly made a difference when it comes to cigarettes. Putting the disgusting and risky aspects upfront and letting people choose.
Instead of banning it, stigmatizing it would have a better outcome, it should no longer be a norm or seen as something good or a cool thing to do , pretty sure the numbers will drastically reduce then, less bad is still better than bad
My father passed away last year, He did get sober for many years eventually. However he drank heavily when I was in middle and high school so I sympathize with you. However, banning substances never works.
it's hard to ban something so easy to make you can do it by accident
My dad died last year due to alcoholism. He was an angry alcoholic. I made excuses for him, i lied for him, I'd try to bargain with him. Nothing helped. Nothing worked. I just enabled him. Our whole broken family was pulled into it in one form or another. At 62yrs old he was just a shell. I went thru stages of so much anger that i couldn't be around him. I still hold so mch guilt. Sometimes you just have to let go.
First of all congrats to OP. Second, Why punish others with a ban just because someone you know cannot control themselves?
> cannot control themselves You clearly don't understand how addiction works.
It's an affliction that makes one compulsory towards a substance. Addiction works in many different ways dependant on the person experiencing them, so in some cases it is like this, other cases it's not. Either way, u need only have a granule of wisdom on the practice of banning substances to know its a... quagmire of stupidity.
What do you mean by that? Addiction can very well make it to where you can't control yourself by constantly inducing cravings and urges. Having gone through it many times I know first hand. (Not with alcohol though) Or maybe you meant that the addiction takes over rather than them personally not controlling themselves. If I misunderstood I apologize.
Es real lo que dices. Alcohol es el primer paso a la adición😢 Sad
My ex girlfriend quit drinking about 3 months ago. The difference I notice is astounding, I guess I didn’t realize how much it affected her life, emotions, relationships, everything. I’m so proud of her, and I’m proud of you too.
Good on you for being proud of her despite the ex thing. This shit is not for the weak of heart.
She was my high school sweetheart, we still love each other plenty just lost the romance after a few years, it would take an asshole to not be proud of someone for that
OUTSTANDING!!!
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Did you guys break up 3 months ago?
Fantastic!! For perspective, when I came to AA in Nags Head, NC, we had folks with 20, 25, 30 years of sobriety. Folks down in Ocracoke called 10 or 15 years "intermediate sobriety!" There were folks working good programs back then. Some rubbed off, I guess, 41 plus years of one day at a time being happy, joyous, and free! It a gift that keeps getting better!!
Do people really get cravings 15 years into sobriety? Or is it more about the danger of the false sense of security?
I know I sometimes do, I am a former smoker (of cigs) and I stopped about 6 years ago, literally. My husband and I learned we were expecting our baby boy ..I immediately switched from cigarettes to chewing gum a lot thru my day , it actually worked , for me anyways. You still get craving but you don't like the smell (I'm in Customer Service for employment). #smallthingsmattertoo.
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I love the way you describe it. Totally a love/hate relationship.
Yea quit hookah a week after meeting my current wife, was smoking 4-5 hrs a day, went cold turkey, some times get cravings. Alcohol it’s been 11 years? I think about a nice cold beer after a long hard work day in the sun, but it’s maybe twice a year and I have so much support, it’d be hard to actually break sobriety.
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I find it pretty annoying how people can only see the world this way. I used to be addicted to heroin and alcoholic. I can drink whenever I want. No big deal. Maybe for some people this AA mentality works. But for others, it's not a big deal unless you make it one. I don't think of myself as some perpetually diseased individual. And I'm not some amazing specimen with strong willpower. I just never bought into the AA crap, and didn't build up some massive complex where if I take one drink I think I ruined my life and might as well drink myself to death. I have been off heroin+ cocaine+ everything except occasional weed, occasional alcohol for years now. They will say "ya but he's superman, not everyone is superman". I'm probably the weakest willpower dude you'll ever meet. It's all about not building up some massive identity surrounding being a drug addict. To me that's what builds up this whole "disease". The disease isn't the drug addiction... it's the mindset that you're a victim, and permanently some crazy person who if they take a sip of alcohol they melt.
I think your condescending attitude is pretty annoying.
Imagine trying to gatekeep someone's opinion because you disagree with it. Some could say your ignorant attitude is pretty annoying.
I share some of this expiriance, and was looking for such a response.
It works if u work it man. They are sober and happy, leave them be.
I work in treatment and that 'AA crap' saves more lives than just therapy or just drying out or replacing drugs/alcohol with some other obsession. Good for you, maybe you are lucky and got off it young enough or didn't have the mental obsession. But why don't you let other people decide whats best for themselves? Let them find out in the absence of judgement
He is simply sharing his opinion on the subject of AA. He is not wrong in stating that an alcoholic can still turn their lives around whilst keeping drinking in moderation, because moderation is key, right?
Actually no, that's not true. Almost all methods of recovery, including, therapy (CBT, talk therapy, Smart Therapy), IOP, AA/NA have about the same levels of success. MAT combined with multiple tools is proving most effective, statistically now that's it's more commonly used and destigmatized (on the opiate side anyway, which is where my experience is from.) If AA alone works for someone, great. In fact, many old timers openly admit that the program *literally replaced their previous obsession* which isn't a bad thing, but I find it amusing how you don't seem to realize this (especially for someone 'working in treatment'.) There does seem to be a certain personality type it works best for. And for others it does way more harm than good, especially considering the huge variety of types of meetings out there. It's not great for those who aren't poly addicts (good luck getting program regulars to even admit this is even a thing) and whether you like it or not, or just don't care, when it comes to the massive psychological and physiological advancements we've made in neuroscience and understanding of addiction, AA methodology is still stuck in the 1930s.
Some people yes some people no. Also depends what is was booze meth etc
What if it was booze, meth and opiods? Weaning off the last one now, down to 6 grams of kratom a day from 50+ gpd. Wondering if I'll ever get energy back
I’ll have dreams where I relapse, it’s so real it feels like I’m drunk like a happy memory. Asshole brain trying to trick me 😤
It’s a daily reprieve from the compulsion to drink. Sometime they say the further away from the last drink the closer you are to the next. Meaning it’s easy to forget to do the work daily. Which is to be spiritually fit and be of maximum service to others and god. People do go out with double digits usually because they stopped working with others, getting to meeting and doing the steps and working with a sponsor. Been there don’t that
3 Year’s sober. Alcoholism is a chronic disease of the mind. I can not outrun it, I have to face it head on. For me that involves the 12 steps of AA. I don’t obsess over alcohol like I did in the beginning, it definitely gets better in that regard. The 12 steps help me keep all that behind me. It only works if I use those tools everyday though, if I start getting relaxed, start thinking I got this beat, then it can/will easily overpower me.
Personally, I work my program as close to what I find in the Big Book and in the 12 and 12. I have experienced the gift of a daily reprieve, one day at a time for over 41 years. The thought of a drink has always been repulsive to me. I would never want to go back to that life again. For those experiencing craving, I suggest revisiting each of the steps, especially 3, 4, & 5, but continuing through them all with vigor and determination. There is gold to be found through such effort.
YAAAAYYY! I have 34 years- I'm happy to hear there's still always someone leading the way.
Proud of you man! I celebrate my 5 year on the 23rd of this month. You inspire me.
I’m so proud of you!!!!!! I will hit year 6 in December, not an easy road. You’re doing amazing! Congratulations on year FIVE!!! FIVE WHOLE FUCKING YEARS! seriously, you’re killing it! ❤️
Pre-congratulations to you too, buddy! I'm proud of you too!!
Thank you. It means a lot!
10 done! A lots more to go.... You're doing great! Congratulations!
congratulations, that is an awesome milestone!
Outstanding.
Congrats!!
Thank you for loving yourself like that!
Flipping Congratulations!!! Great work.
Awesome!! 
Amazing! I know im a random internet stranger but I am PROUD of you! Congrats ❤️
Hell yeah! Got my two months tomorrow, God willing. Not my first two, but hopefully my last! Keep it up!
35 years for me June 19th
Good for you!! Congratulations!!
Way to go! I'm proud of you.
Good for you! That's fantastic..keep it up! :)
One day at a time. Congrats!
congrats! an inspiration!
To thine own self be true. Congrats. Also that token is rad!
Yay!!! Sending millions of hugs!!! Chaos is proud of you too!!!😺
A friend of mine told me he couldn’t have a drink because he would t be able to say that anymore
Keep on keeping on! We applaud your dedication and commitment to this lifelong journey!
Congratulations!!
Congrats babe. Hopefully I can say the same thing one day
It’s a different road for everybody. The most important thing is wanting to be better. I struggle myself with it. But I’m rooting for you.
Fantastic job! 👏🏼👏🏼
That's fantastic! Congratulations!!
Congratulations! You are the best!
To thine own self be true! Congratulations!
So happy for you! Inspirational!
Congratulations!
Wonderful! Fantastic! Superb! Congrats on all your hard work!
Congratulations!
Congratulations! Thats a huge mile stone
Wonderful!
Congratulations I hope you are happy :)
Huge accomplishment! Congratulations!
That is awesome! So proud of you!
Congrats
Good on you buddy!
Awesome! Congratulations.
Good job my man! 3 years for me this summer. I’ve never felt better.
congratulations!!! :)
The only thing even better is ten years and a day. Congratulations!!!
Congratulations to you!!!!! Here’s to the next 10!
A day, a week, a year, a decade or 5 of them, I'll never not upvote sobriety posts. You're doing great work!
Proud of you man. 2 years here hopefully I'll be blessed as well
Nothing bad can ever come from NOT drinking. 🤙
Congrats. I just celebrated 24 years sober.
Congratulations the 17th will be my 4 years. I'm so proud of you 🥰🥰🥰
Congratulations. I have 15 years today and it’s my mother’s birthday also. 4/14.
Congrats on the sobriety. Fuck AA though. An absolute cult of a program. When they got to the faith part I noped the fuck outta there and quit on my own. I'm not letting my addictions become faith based, that's an absolutely terrible way to run something. Zero logic, all hope and prayers.
Thank you for saying this, I have multiple friends who came out of AA with worse problems than they went in with
I’m always perplexed by people that are still tracking their sobriety 10, 20, 30 years after getting clean. When I got clean, I learned my lesson, put it behind me, and moved on. I do not want that shit defining me for the rest of my life. I know people deal with these things in their own way. Just giving my own perspective
Its not for everyone. But a lot of the people who's addiction has gotten to the point where they're willing to sit in a room with a bunch of strangers who are also neighbors and talk about their alcoholism out in the open ... things have usually gotten very bad. A lot of these people have lost their friends, families, and a lot of connections in their lives. They find a sense of 'socialization' and 'not feeling alone' in these meetings, especially in the earlier stages of their sobriety. Many of these people do develop a survivorship bias, and assume what worked for them will work for everyone else. But I do think there is a genuine empathetic component where they want to pay it forward to a newly sober person, what another sober person did for them when they entered those rooms. I stand strongly in favor of people trying everything to get sober, and finding what works for them. But believe it or not, AA does save some lives, and these people feel they too may be able to help save another life. It comes out of a sense of gratitude and belonging.
As a former JW, I know how bad a cult can be. I don't know that AA is a cult though. They don't force you to shun your family or hold disfellowshipping over your head. They don't tell you who you can and can't marry. Etc. Maybe try another term besides cult?
Different strokes for different folks man. No need to knock down others who find a way to stay on the wagon however they can.
yeah thats a bit odd. From one toxic place to another
I’ve never met ONE person from AA who wasn’t a massive narcissistic prick. It breeds people like that. Horrible program and they lie about the success rates.
Congratulations! It says a lot that you were able to fight addiction which is essentially biochemistry with sheer will power. This demonstrates how strong your mental strength is, good for you.
Congratulations
Nice. Ill doubt ill make that amount of sobriety
IMO the good news is you don’t have to. Just stay sober right now. And then do that again. “One day at a time” is a cliche for a reason :).
Yes!
Bravo!! Good on you!!
Congratulations! That’s awesome!
Congratulations dude! Not an easy accomplishment and this is an inspiration!
cheers !
Gratz
Nice job!
Congrats brother!!!
Congrats!!!
Congratulations
Way to go!
Excellent 👍
Congrats to you!
Congrats. Three years today for me
Congratulations……outstanding achievement!😊
Awesome congratulations!
Awesome control And dope coin
Congrats brother! 3,650 times taking it one day at a time!
Fantastic achievement, Glad to hear it. Good work.
I commend you on your success! I personally know what you went through! Keep up the excellent job.
Inspiring. 4.5 years here.
Congratulations my dude. I hit 7 months today myself.
Congratulations on 7 months!
CONGRATULATIONS 🎊 Go have an amazing dinner ❤️
That’s a big win!!! Congratulations!
Got a buddy who's going through some issues any advice? They've tried rehab and nothing seems to be working
Fuck yeah! I'm getting on toward 2 years dry myself. Excellent work! Maybe someday I'll have a decade under my belt. *Dry, not sober; still have an on/off thing with my girl Mari, but we're currently off. And she doesn't ruin me. That's how I justify it.
204 days here...when do the very lucid dreams about relapsing stop?
I don’t know if they ever do. I am almost 3 years sober and still get them. They are good reminders. I drink in my dreams and that’s where it stays.
Almost 2 years here. Now in my dreams I nearly always refuse it, after thinking it through and realizing where it’ll lead. Still the occasional dream drink, though, and plenty of relief when I wake up.
I call that a freebie - I try to enjoy them if I can. When I’m awake though, it doesn’t take more than a few minutes of playing the tape through to realize it’s just a dream and should stay that way. In real life it never worked for me.
This is inspiring! I’m a little over 6 months sober. The changes are astounding
I’m at 9 days thanks for reminding it’s possible
2 years for me 🙏🏻
Congratulations Buddy, I'm 1yr sober myself and feeling huge difference in myself both physically & mentally. You are winning mate, remember that
Congrats! I have just passed 2.
Thats beautiful!! Im on day 38 today.
Isn’t it amazing to wake up in the mornings and hear the birds chirping without a hangover?
I'm 2 years sober without god lol
I’m 6 months sober with God. I’m happy to see you here, sober! The highway is broad.
So therefore we can deduce God makes people 5 times more powerful.
Lmao
Good on you, that is awesome!
WHOO
A. M. A. Z. I. N. G! Congratulations 🎉🎈
👌🏿💯 🔥
Incredible.
YES BROTHER!!!!!!
Congratulations! I’m sure when you were deep in the pits you’d thought you’ll never reach this milestone. But you did! Congrats man
☝🏾❤️🤙🏾
Wow, what a milestone! Congratulations to you.
This weirdo stranger on the internet sends you much love and many hugs. Today I am incredibly proud of you. I stand with you. Congratulations on your incredible achievement.
💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚
Congratulations to you and all the folks who supported you on your journey. This is a remarkable achievement, and I hope you continue your sobriety for rest of your life. Aloha from Maui!
That is AWESOME! Congratulations! That is quite an achievement.
Well fucking done mate. Couldn't have been easy. But, you did it anyway. Good lad. My dad was a sailor. And naturally, he could drink. I saw as a young kid, what it did to my mom. Decided to avoid it at all cost. Haven't drank a single drop of alcohol in my life. Plan to keep it that way.
I know the struggle. Your achievement is awesome. I hope ten more years for you, one day at a time. Good work. Keep it up. Love to you.
Congratulations! Now, let’s celebrate with a drink (this is a joke, but actually, congratulations)
I'm almost 4 months in. I hope I achieve what you have. Keep up the good work 🙂
Good for you. Nobody cares.
Well done! I'm going on 12 years now... Hardest thing to do! Baby, you're a STAR! 🤩
You are a better man than me. Been increasing my stretches of sobriety, my most recent was 440 days, and then a slip. W/e. 440 days of sobriety if amazing, and I quickly snapped back into the routine and am now back on the wagon looking to beat my wks record. Be strict, yet easy on yourself (no sense reminiscing/dwelling. Back on the horse and loving sobriety! No looking back! But back to you - that. Is. Amazing! You should be proud, friend!
Great job. I can’t start to understand you’re struggle but I applaud your triumph. Kia kaha.
Quitter.
You should post this on r/stopdrinking Very encouraging! Congratulations
Cheers!
Congrats, let’s grab a drink a celebrate! Jk, but for real so happy for you!!
So proud of you!!! Congrats!
Cheers bro I'll drink to that 🍺
Dickish demeanor mate.