Quote:
Originally Posted by Mindfulness.
1 day sober.
|
Sorry, I didnt see your previous reply as I thought it was the same post that I read before. I dont think counting days is necessarily what is important. I think “how long have you been sober” is one of those “friendly” questions that in reality is unintentionally pretty rude and invasive… the person could have had a beer the night before in a lapse(wouldnt call it relapse myself unless the person returns to previous levels and frequency), but years since they were drunk. Or maybe they have been sober for 30 years but had a beer 5 years ago. It is a fairly invasive question. Old habits die slowly- you have reduced the amount you have been drinking with these sobriety stretches and likely as a result you are drinking within the safe weekly amount guidelines. That is progress. If I ever do get sober, Im not counting any days. I didnt count days during my last serious streak of recovery from alcoholism. I dont see the point and view it as counterproductive. Had no clue the exact number of days (except on days 1-10 of course)… just knew the month and year that I had (temporarily, I guess) stopped alcoholism.
Have yoy heard of SMART recovery? It is an alternative to AA that is evidence based and it does not emphasize the counting of days, but instead overall progress. It uses methods that have been scientifically verified by psychologists. AA on the other hand, was not based on science but instead on personal beliefs and observations made by Dr. Bob and Bill W nearly 100 years ago. While you may not do AA yourself, the practice of counting days was popularized as the “thing that you do when getting sober” by the widespread and almost exclusive adoption of the AA/12 step model in the 20th century. It was so widespread that it made its way into layperson culture.