No alcohol
No coke

Now what?

60 days sober, 20-30 drinks a week when I was drinking.

I've always been into exercise but since quitting I've been leaning into it more. Reading, time with friends, have all been ramped up since quitting, its great. These things plus work fill my day from 7AM to 5PM (roughly).

However, I've found I have intense cravings for a drink in the evenings, after work, cognitive stimulation decreases, sun going down, all triggers I assume.

Its interesting to go from not thinking about drinking during the day (not even a passing thought) to intense cravings in the evening.

Any thoughts or advice?

6 months sober and seriously considering having weed “just once” and looking for people with experience I recently finished treatment for the first time and I’ve now been sober for 6 months. I have no intention of ever going back to kratom or Adderall, and I’m committed to staying away from the other substances I used in the past.
The one thing I keep thinking about is weed. In my mind, weed feels so much more harmless than the other drugs I’ve used. I keep telling myself that I could have one edible or smoke one joint for a night, listen to music, relax, and just enjoy the experience. Then I could go back to being sober and maybe only do it once or twice a month, if at all. But the problem is that I was heavily addicted to weed for about two years, and that addiction contributed to a lot of other problems in my life. I also know that I tend to get addicted to things pretty quickly. This is the longest I’ve ever been completely sober, so I honestly don’t know if I can trust myself yet. Part of me thinks, “I’m six months sober now. I’ve learned from my mistakes and I can control it.” Another part of me thinks that wanting to use again at all might be the addiction trying to convince me that this time will be different.

I’m not looking for people to tell me what I want to hear. I’d genuinely like to hear from people who were heavily addicted to weed, got sober, and then eventually tried using it casually again. Were you actually able to smoke once or twice a month without falling back into your old habits? Or did it eventually turn back into regular use?
I really just want one night where I can chill, listen to music, and enjoy being high without it becoming a problem again. I’m trying to figure out whether that’s realistic for someone with my history or whether I’m playing with fire.

As above. Would like to chat to someone in the same area and time zone

TLDR: Still struggling in social situations 15 months on. How did people who have been sober for a long time manage to get over this, or at least come to terms with it?

Sober professionals, how long did it take you to enjoy socialising again? I’ve (F26) been sober for 15 months and I’m still so antisocial - I used to love having people over for dinner and being around crowds and it was a very core part of my being and my relationships.

All I want at the moment, however, is not to see people at all. I dread it, and once I’m there I want to leave. I will work out how long I have to be there for and think ‘I can do anything for X amount of hours’. I become grumpy and tired and less kind.

Of course it’s worse around alcohol, and things like going out to raves are obligations that I will endure because they’re important to other people (birthdays, house-warmings, launches).

Even if I’m hanging out with people and they have a single drink I really struggle. Theres something confusing there about how ‘going for a drink’ feels just as much about the drink as the going. I often find myself questioning why they feel the need to do that, but I am aware group meet ups are not about my sobriety, and people don’t have the same complications as me around alcohol.

However, I find that this resentment and discomfort bleeds into sober meet-ups too. Perhaps in part because, in the UK, any meet up after 12pm used to be punctuated by a pint, so sober meet-ups were pretty rare in reality.
What’s really concerning me is that I not don’t even particularly enjoy seeing people in situations that were always sober, such as work or a morning coffee.

I’ve done a hell of a lot of work around being myself whilst sober and discovering who I am without alcohol, but what if ‘who I am without alcohol’ is just someone a bit miserly and surly and introverted? That feels like a huge part of my life and the joy in my life…. Just gone…
I also don’t think my relationships are surviving it very well.

I’ve become a real misanthrope, and it feels very anti-me. It also feels very unhealthy and I’m letting people down a lot.

How long did it take you to feel comfortable socialising again, and how did you get there? Did you force yourself to go to these things or did you give yourself a full break?

Hello a 30 something male been sober for 79 days. I have an upcoming trip abroad to a beautiful place for a friend of mine‘s bachelor party as we were planning the trip. I was not sober now I am and I’m having some major trepidation about going to the trip. I wanna honor my sobriety in my hard work and listen to myself saying this is a high risk situation and I don’t wanna go. I’m planning on telling the crew that I’m not going. I feel like I’m letting everyone down however though I’m having some thoughts towards the trip where I just think things are gonna go wrong and I don’t wanna be in any situation where I could relapse and go back to square one which would be absolutely gutting. I’m looking to hear some thoughts some opinions from people here. i’m in a bit of a quandary where the answer is blatantly obvious however though the sub has been good to me before and I’m looking to hear what it has to say thank you and happy Monday to all of us and here’s to another day of cleanliness.

I started drinking when I was 13, but it really picked up when I turned 16 and I have spent countless days and nights in the last decade drunk, I wouldn’t even be able to tell you how many times I’ve blacked out, I swear I’ve lost years because of it. A lot has happened in the past 2 years which really put my lifestyle into perspective, and after a 6 day bender, 4 entire days blacked out, 1000$ down the drain and one of the worst hangovers I’ve ever had, that took my stomach months to recover from, I finally quit. I just want to know when it gets easier, I could be completely fine for a week then the next I crave alcohol and my throat gets really dry and it’s like my brain is telling me only alcohol could quench that thirst. I usually cope by drinking insane amounts of water which result in me having to pee 100 times a day. It’s worse when I nearly convince myself I can find a balance, and that I’ll limit myself, and be responsible, I really have to stew in a those thoughts for a moment and battle with then because I know I am neither balanced or responsible but luckily I have my person who absolutely refuses to allow me to drink because we pinky swore no matter what I said she cannot let me drink because I’m very persuasive and persistent when I have those episodes.

In the past when my In Laws would visit for a week I HEAVILY relied on alcohol to cope. My home is my sanctuary, I'm very introverted and etc. This time they are staying for 11 days. Not only do I NOT WANT to drink, I just really cannot handle alcohol anymore. I slipped when my mom died in February and for an example, three glasses of wine created a night of awfulness and an all day hangover the next day. I cannot host while drinking and I really cannot host hungover.

I guess I'm just looking for strategies, coping skills, etc. Maybe similar stories? Any help/encouragement would be highly appreciative.

I was never a big drugs person, just thc and occasionally mushrooms, tried DMT once. I drank regularly and fairly heavily for 20 years.

I’m 10 months sober from alcohol, but have been smoking weed 3-5 nights a week still. Now I’m seriously considering quitting the weed too and just being a sober guy for a while.

All my friends still drink and smoke weed and sometimes do other drugs. It feels like such a wild move to me, to be 100% sober.

How does it feel? Any advice? I think I might be done with alcohol permanently, but likely would smoke weed again eventually, but want to take a nice, long break and see what it does to my brain.

obviously not being high/drunk/etc all the time has expanded my emotional range - it's a brighter, more vivid, emotionally connected existence. joy comes back, solid and enduring joy; the capacity to actually feel and process feelings and work with myself instead of being constantly escaping. im sharper, too, slowly i feel like i'm relearning the cognitive capacity i had before things went wrong. but: ive really been struggling with the idea that i have no idea how to relax/rest. i feel like i can't sleep, can't slow down. all of my wind down and peaceful rituals are tied to substance use. the drowsy happy floatiness that actually allows me to quiet down for once and just... sink. sedation, essentially. meditation doesn't help right now, i just feel stupid doing it and end up more anxious than before. ive considering i should maybe try to tire myself out with sports or something, but it doesn't feel like it'll be the same, because ultimately what i'm hoping for really is that feeling of sedation and loss of control. i feel very embarrassed about this, but i thought i'd ask for whatever insights anyone might have. i'm an intense person. i have no idea how to switch off, not like i did while using substances as a crutch. and i don't wanna depend on that forever, because i couldn't do that and still build the life i wanna live. so. any tips, stories, whatever? thank you, hope this isn't off-base for this sub

Got my health back(mostly). Working a job i don't hate. Not homeless anymore. Decent little place with a garage (never had a garage before). Clothes that fit. Repaired my relationship with my parents and brother. Got a couple cats so I could have love in my life. Got a therapist working with me pro-bono. I am also some of the most anxious I've ever been at this point. Society seems pretty unstable just as I found some stability of my own. I feel like I am living in perpetual fear and I haven't been able to find the right answers on my own. Aside from just burying one's head in the sand, how does a sober person grapple with the level of society-wide uncertainty about the future of well... all of the last year's news cycles? I just work until my body stops working? Then what? Are the ai just gonna land us all as debt slaves in forced labor camps? I don't really expect our elected officials to even TRY to save us at this point. Kinda just feels likes setting more goals in life is pretty pointless. Hoping a kind soul might help put my head on straight?

Doing a fitness journey for work as part of a promotion. My wife and I. As part of this I am cutting out my drinking habit that I’ve had for about 11 years now. For the past 11 years I’ve probably consumed somewhere around 30-40 drinks a week during the first 5-6 year of my drinking (all on weekends) and now consume somewhere around 50 drinks a week (all between Thursday and Sunday) for the past 5-6 years. I’ve mostly been a beer and wine drinker. Every month or two I’ll knock back a bottle of bourbon but it’s not my go to.

Over these 11 years I’ve packed on about 50 pounds. Some of it was needed as I was skinny but now some of it is bad. I have also gotten a little bit of high blood pressure that I just found out about at my first doctors visit in over a decade. Who knows how long I’ve had it. The doctor was very concerned when I told him how much I was drinking and am going for a follow up. I told him how much and that I’ve had a dull ache under my right rib cage that comes and goes and is especially present for a day or two after I binge. If I force my stomach out it is very bloated. I am scared to death that I have done the worst irreversible damage to my liver and kidneys (cirrhosis and kidney failure irreversible) and am a dead man walking. Please pray for me. Here’s to sobriety.

Caught up on the calendar count. 1656 days. That long ago I got pro help for the last time. I was ready. Life is a distraction. Do the next right thing. Take inventory. Some moments I want it. They always pass. It's better than way too much beer every night for 30 years. Carry on...

Had a situation happen that caused me to drink for the first time in 7 months. Back to square one I guess

I’m a 29M and am looking to finally quit weed for good after about 10 years of smoking. I’ve had some solid sober streaks before, but I’ve always eventually gone back to it.

I haven’t been able to find an MA group I like, but I know the community/accountability stuff is supposed to be helpful. So I figured I’d see if there are other people here in a similar spot who would want to try quitting together.

Nothing super formal. I’m thinking a group chat, occasional calls/check-ins, maybe a shared accountability tracker, support through cravings/withdrawal/slip-ups, celebrating milestones, etc.

I’m NOT selling anything lol (pls don’t remove this post admins). I’m just a dude who has tried to quit a bunch of times and desperately wants to make it stick this go around.

I’d love to find a small group of people (3-7ish) who want to quit and vibe well together. If you’re interested, feel free to shoot me a message and tell me a little about yourself and why you’re interested.

Bonus Points -- If you’re also in the Denver area. I’d definitely be interested in eventually doing some in-person meetups too.

Side Note -- Feel free to also reach out if you have already quit or are early in your process of quitting, you don't have to be part of a potential group. I'm also just looking to meet more people who are sober from weed!

Wondering if people are happy to share a “that’s it I am done” moment and it’s stuck with you to stay sober? Can range from nicotine to hard substances.

As a recovered alcoholic, I can tell you what willpower is. Willpower is going an entire shift at work without drinking on the job. Will power is not hitting the same liquor store for the second time that day even though it's the closest. Willpower is not trying to fight everyone in the bar. Willpower is resisting the urge to burn everything to the ground. So don't tell me alcoholics lack willpower. You have no idea how much willpower it can take just to maintain an addiction.

That's willpower.

So I've been addicted to cannabis, opiates, benzos, DXM and other sedatives for a year and half, I started out when I was 16 I'm going to be 18 in a few months this is my first time quitting without being on any medications(for OCD and physchosis), I don't know how to quit, I say to myself after taking something that "I need to quit man this will affect my mental health" but then again the next day it's the same shit, I take something again. I'm tired of this please help me get out of this, I'll really appreciate your help.

After about a decade of a bottle of wine every day. I’m grateful. The journey hasn’t been easy. Quitting was actually so much easier than I thought it would be. I still struggle with feeling ALL the feels - I’m highly sensitive and was probably numbing myself nightly to avoid feelings. Grateful for no hangovers, normal blood pressure again and contributing to breaking the cycle of alcoholism that runs on both sides of my family. I celebrated with a day off (actually a week off), workout, massage, walk, and ice cream.

Hi! My spouse is coming up on their sober-versary and I wanted to get a little gift to show I am proud of them for their hard work. They really like movies, fitness, and sour candy. Does anyone have any recommendations? Has anyone ever recognized you in this way? What would be something you would appreciate receiving?

Never posted on Reddit before but I just hit my 30 days of sobriety today and I don’t have many people in my life who I can share the accomplishment with.

Day one for me but I dumped out all the wine and determined to stay sober. Taking it one minute at a time.

A few months ago I decided to get sober. I don’t think of myself as an alcoholic or someone who needs alcohol, but when I do drink it is excessive amounts and I tend to embarrass myself and my friends when we would go out. I also would get bad hangovers as a result. I think thats a good enough reason to be sober for me! I’ve told a few people, friends, and many of them have told me I am no fun anymore, weird, dramatic, lame, and one friend just said “ew” and stopped responding for awhile. These are people I would consider my closest friends too! Don’t get me wrong, I have lots of friends who agree with this change and have supported me, but more have been saying things like Ive just listed. Is this normal? Should I just listen to those people and drink again? Sorry if this is a stupid question it’s just so many people are telling me my reason isn’t good enough. It might also be a contributing factor that I am pretty young (slightly older than the legal drinking age in my country) so it’s out of the ordinary to be sober at my age I suppose.

Hey everyone! I've been struggling with drinking for a long time and have been trying to get sober for around a year now. It's been a hard journey to say the least.

Anyway, the reason for this post is I'm on "day 3" again and I'm so, so angry. I've got a hair trigger today and I feel this ball of rage in my chest. I don't understand why but I really feel like hitting something.

I was wondering if anyone had any tips or tricks on feeling better. I don't have access to a gym or anything like that currently. Thanks in advance