Opinion if you have A BEER one and you are not an alcoholic do you have to restart your sober time
3 Likes
If you're being honest yourself then yes of course. The loose description of sobriety is complete abstinence from drugs and alcohol. Can you get away with it? Sure, but you're not being honest with yourself which is what recovery is all about. Just my opinion.
8 Likes
The issue isn’t time. If you base your sobriety on “time” alone, then what’s the point? Could I have a beer and be good…most likely yes. Then what? Do it again next week but have a beer and just one shot. Then two beers… next think I would be a bottle of bourbon deep and old behavior that got me in the mess originally is back… that doesn’t sound like any fun to me. We are accountable for our own sobriety, and actions. Asking permission is looking for someone to blame for relapse.
10 Likes
Yes. A substance is a substance. No matter how great or how little. Honesty will set you free and keep you accountable
5 Likes
Kinda yes, but…
If you are not an alcoholic, I suppose you still have your “clean” time. We have people today that smoke weed (Cali sober) and consider themselves sober. Times are changing. There are more recovery programs and options available. There was just a great thread regarding the positives and negatives of counting days. I would say don’t overthink it. It’s great you are still clean from your doc. Keep moving forward with your recovery. As a concerned recovery brother, I feel like I have to close with this…be very careful with the alcohol. There is a strong connection between drug addicts who drink alcohol and then relapse back to their doc. We don’t want that to happen to you. You are ok, it’s your recovery. Be careful. You are tempting fate and playing with fire!! I look at it this way…who wants to drink just 1 beer??!! Why would anyone want to have just 1 beer??!! There are plenty of “normies” that do just that, but not us. Do you rly want to drink 1 beer every once in a while, or do you want to get hammered?? If I’m being honest with myself, that’s an easy answer for me. Stay well 
11 Likes
I would be careful, addictions like to piggy back on each other. You might find you really like beer a lot.
I hear about Cali sober all the time I'm a Californian and honestly it's a cop out..just cuz it's legal shoot so is booze, spice , doesn't mean it's ok just because it's not your drug of choice...because whether or not you realize it...it soon will take the place of whatever your trying so hard to stay clean n sober from.
2 Likes
couldnt have been said any better than that well said
Depends on what you are intending to be sober from. People can be sober from coke and still drink normally. Ultimately it is your decision because it is your sobriety.
If it was me then yes, I would have to start my time over. Alcohol is a drug, so if I made the conscious decision to have a beer then I would be picking up again. But that’s my program and my recovery. Honestly I can’t tell you what to do.
I don’t disagree but I had an addiction to benzos also. When I quit both the insomnia about drove me insane. I’m very honest with my doctor and I know I can’t use prescribed sleep aids due to my past. MY DOCTOR recommended I get my medical card and try it out, even though he knows my past. I only use it before bed and it really helps.
In that case you are considered just clean or just sober not in recovery. Addicts are addicts we use substances as coping tools. Even if we're celebrating it's ingrained we HAVE to have a drink to celebrate. But yea if that's what clean n sober means to you then yes..most people realize it's tough to pick n just because at the core we are addicts.
I meant pick n choose lol
For me, even though I tell myself “just 1” it’s NEVER just one, I cannot stop anymore, that’s a switch that flipped one day and there is no going back. But everyone is on their own path, I think that 100% honestly with your own self will help to give you an answer
1 Like
Tamee, not everyone misuses addictive substances as coping tools. Being in recovery can mean a variety of things, I suggest opening up to different interpretations rather than holding a narrow view of what recovery looks like. Your experience is not everyone’s experience. Each person’s recovery is different and unique to them.
1 Like
Well said Jenn! While you know I’m a big fan of AA, you also know I’m a huge fan of you and countless others that are working other programs of recovery! I appreciate your response. I know Tamee’s comment must have really irked you lol. As much as I do believe similarly to Tamee, I’m very open to the idea that there are other pathways to sobriety. You are living proof, as well as many others I have grown to love and respect on Loosid. Keep rocking your recovery!! You are so rad!!!
1 Like
I completely understand that there is no need to become agitated as you said everyone has their own experience but in recovery from drugs n alcohol means your working a program. Otherwise and this is ok too you are abstinent.
And I agree there are many different ways to get sober none of them wrong just different.
1 Like
Great answer. If I am honest with myself, I want to get drunk. One won’t do it.
Hi Tamee, I’m not agitated, just suggesting a more open mind to what recovery looks like for different people. I do not disagree, some kind of program is needed, but whether that program is created by the individual or somebody else is totally up to them. A different path to recovery does not preclude them from being in recovery or being “sober.”
1 Like