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Should You Count the Days since You Stopped Drinking Alcohol?

by | Stop Drinking Alcohol | 3 comments

Should you count the days since you quit alcohol?

I think that it’s a really good motivational tool to look at how many days you have not drunk alcohol when you are at the beginning of your journey. It is much better in those early days to look at the days that you’ve gone past rather than the days that you’ve got to go.

If you look at the perspective of not drinking alcohol ever again, ever, it’s pretty daunting so if you’re going to focus on days you’re much better off focusing on the days that have gone.

In the early days, there is nothing wrong with counting a week gone by, a month gone by, six months gone by, a year gone by.

I know how long it is since I’ve quit drinking. I’ve got a ready record from the website which I started up in the first week. I couldn’t tell you how long it is when I stopped smoking and smoking was a massive thing in my life, before drinking, before I knew that drinking was a big thing and how much of a destructive force drinking actually was in my life.

I thought it was merely the smoking, but I think it’s been seven or eight years since I stopped. I did stop again on 1 January but I couldn’t tell you how long it is now, a long time anyway. I don’t care how long it was, it doesn’t make any difference.

My whole thing about focusing is to always focus away from the alcohol and focus on the future and you can do that in the beginning as well. You can focus on what it is that you want to get out of life that alcohol has stopped you achieving. Focus on the people that are important to you and are pulling you forwards.

Always try and focus your mind on what’s ahead of you rather than what’s behind you. pulling you backwards. As long as you carrying on focusing on the particulars of alcohol and the lifestyle, behaviour and how long it is since you’ve stopped drinking.

I know people who are counting days still some, ten, fifteen, twenty years, into this journey and I don’t think that is a healthy way of doing things at all. I think at some stage you have to forget about it. You have to just say, “I used to drink, God knows how long it is since I’ve stopped drinking, but I used to drink and I don’t drink anymore.”

You have to remember at the end of the day that the worst day of your life in alcohol freedom, away from alcohol, the worst day is always going to be better than the best day as a drinker. You may not think that in the early days and it might be difficult to grasp when you are trying to reorganise and restructure your life style, but it’s true.

Once you get into that life style you will be thinking what the fuck was I doing all of those years. I think that. I think back on those things.

I’ve done another Video this week about the choices that we make and the decisions that I’ve regretted making and the opportunities that I’ve lost but at the end of the day I am where I am now, four years away from alcohol and I would never go back just because of the way I feel now and everything that’s happened in my life because I’ve stopped drinking. All the bounty of benefits that have happened in my life since I stopped drinking.

I’ll leave it there for today.

Until next time…
Take Care
Stay Safe and Good Luck to You.
Onwards and Upwards!

“Looking back gives you regrets, looking forwards gives you opportunities”

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3 Comments

  1. Gail

    Hi Kevin

    ‘The worst day – away from alcohol – is always going to be better than the best day drinking’.

    The nightmarish bad days were alcohol days and the consequent hangovers.
    What a waste of time, money, my health.

    I feel so much better free from alcohol.
    There have been no really bad days, just the occasional ‘brain fart’ and then I remember your wise words, (and the rubber band on my wrist)

    Freedom !

    Thank you for your amazing words

    Peace, Gail

    Freedom !

    Thankyou for your amazing posts and videos

    Peace, Gail

    Reply
  2. Peter

    When I first decided to explore the possibility of eliminating alcohol from my life I (like many) initially looked to AA as the most reputable source on the subject. One of the many established rituals they practice is a constant reference to the amount of time a person has remained sober. They even have ceremonial presentations of medallion like awards for meeting various hallmarks in time. My thought was always, if I am convinced that alcohol usage is actually harmful to me, why should I get some kind of award for not using it? And why should I celebrate how long it has been since I decided it was in my best interest to not ingest something that was clearly proven to be physically and socially harmful to me? I do not count the days since I last poured alcohol into my body. I know I am happier and healthier now without it, and that is all I need for motivation.

    Reply
  3. ron

    Thanks Kev another great Video

    Reply

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