When did you start to think clearly once getting sober?
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I’ve been sober for 4 years almost, with a lapse at 3 years (very very small relapse)
I was on amphetamines and opiates for my entire time using. It took me I’m guessing about 18 months u til my brain wasn’t so foggy anymore.
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Depends on a lot of things. The first time I got sober it only took a week or two, but things go downhill. My current sobriety it took a month or two for my brain to work properly, and 9 months or so to fully stabilize emotionally.
I think I’ve permanently damaged parts of my brain so I’m just rolling with it at this point
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Great question Andrew! For me I hit several stages in sobriety. The first stage was anger and depression with bouts of anxiety. Then cam the pink cloud, this lasted for about 3-4 months. Then came the wall. No matter what I did the wall kept getting taller and taller and taller. But the cool part of these stages I had little spiritual experiences which kept me going. Around month 14 I became very miserable. This lasted until I found my third sponsor. Month 18 I’m so miserable I’m doing my fourth step. Three weeks later I’m doing my 5th step. Then around month 20 misery came back as I had the 8th step done and needed to start making amends. Here I am at 31 months over 75% of my amends done and I’m doing steps 10-11-12 just about daily. My attitude and outlook upon life has changed. I have sponsees and service commitments and a home group. The program is what takes away the mental fog… I waited way to long. But that was my experience and I take my sponsees through the steps in about 90 days or less. It’s at their pace but I help guide them as quickly as possible, 
It’s life or death!
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I'm 16 years sober and am still making my amends. There are people I find on Facebook sometimes and realize I need to make amends for 1 of many reasons. That will go on for a long time if you were anything like me. I made my list and completed it after about a year.
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Nice! Love it! Keep working the program brother!
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I think it depends on how hard and for how long the person was drinking and any mental side effects they may have been having. I realized I need AA when I was in rehab and got kicked out due to insurance thinking I was a ok after 5 days of medical detoxing. I knew I wasn’t ready to go back home as I would have started to drink again. That could be considered some clarity i think. I think it really all depends. Try to trust the process. Clarity will come again.
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Like several ppl have stated, it is progressive. I felt at my absolute worst at about 10 days sober. I was through detox but I was all alone with my poison thoughts. My shame, regret, fear and denial were kicking my a$$. But at that point I thought I was better than days 3-4 when detox was incapacitating.
Soon after I went to my first meetings and immediately felt connected. I then knew there was hope. 30 days was an aha moment where I could look back and see real growth. Then again at 60.
At 90 I had something like clarity. At the time I recall feeling better than I could honestly ever remember.
In the moment it doesn’t tend to stand out. But at those early milestones I could look back and really see growth.
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It’s been a trip, that's for sure. Sobriety was one element that helped clarity, but it's been a combination of things, including therapy. Taking alcohol out of the picture was one thing keeping the fog in place, but it was therapy and community and health that helped to move it off.
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Good topic! I guess it would vary with different depths of addiction. I could think clearly in about a month, maybe less. It took about 18 months for my emotional sobriety to take hold. That's when began to stop seeing things from a self centered perspective. I started really working the steps at about 11 months. At 18 months I noticed my resentments weren't troubling me and I was grateful to those people and experiences.
After numerous benders that I thought were just me drinking to much I checked into a hospital and my BAC was .38 had to detox and in detox going to the meetings helped me realize it’s time.
I feel like I'm just getting there now around 8 months... jail for 6 months then rehab now house arrest... I think I had drinking in the back of my mind the whole time until now that I'm experiencing fleeting bits of freedom again.. I want to get my mind right 