# Two years sober
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-years-sober/740324
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [December 13, 2015, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-years-sober/740324 "2015-12-13T14:33:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2015, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-years-sober/740324/1 "2015-12-13T14:33:23Z")
I discovered alcohol in my second year of university (I have this theory that I come late to everything in life.) I’d had a miserable first year in university, but when I started drinking, I found that helped me through hard times. It made me less stressed and less shy.
The downside? I developed an alcohol problem. I don’t feel like going into the details here, but let’s just say, two years ago, when I got trashed at an office party, I knew it was time to quit. I knew that since I couldn’t always control my drinking, the only way for me to never get that drunk (and that hungover) again was to stop.
I’m not against other people drinking, as long as they’re not too careless about it (like I was.) I just know that it was best for me to quit drinking.
So I made it to two years now. It hasn’t always been easy. Those who have done it - quitting drinking, or any bad habit - know that it’s not something you do once, and that’s it. It’s an ongoing process. I have to work at it, and try hard to avoid drinking. There are times when I really want to drink. But I’ve been able to avoid it for two years, so I hope I can continue.
---
### Author:  [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2015, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-years-sober/740324/2 "2015-12-13T14:36:27Z")
Stay strong, and congratulations. I admire the dedication and focus your effort requires.
---
### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2015, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-years-sober/740324/3 "2015-12-13T14:42:31Z")
Congratulations Emily. Just keep doing what you are doing. I have been sober for one day, and I have been doing that for eighteen years. I had a couple of false starts before that, but it finally clicked when I made some life changes besides not drinking. I had to understand what was sabotaging my desire to quit drinking. It still isn’t easy, I think about it everyday. But I know I can make it through today; I will worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.
---
### Author:  [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2015, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-years-sober/740324/4 "2015-12-13T14:50:51Z")
Congratulations! Here’s to two hundred more years! 😃
---
### Author:  [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2015, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-years-sober/740324/5 "2015-12-13T15:34:21Z")
Congratulations! You are doing a hard thing, every single day. Good for you!
---
### Author:  [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2015, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-years-sober/740324/6 "2015-12-13T15:42:37Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#):
>
> Congratulations! Here’s to two hundred more years! 😃
Ohmygawd! What has poor **EmilyG** done to you!
Here’s to a lot of sober years, but not so many you can’t remember when were you born.
---
### Author:  [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2015, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-years-sober/740324/7 "2015-12-13T19:47:27Z")
Congratulations! Never having gone through it myself, I can only say that I respect what it takes, based on all the stories I’ve heard. Best wishes keeping it up!
---
### Author:  [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2015, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-years-sober/740324/8 "2015-12-13T20:27:50Z")
Up thread, make some life changes. You will get to the point of liking to be sober & clean.
Sober friends & companions are a big help. Church? AA? No bars? An escape plan at gatherings you must attend like work or family ones?
One minute, hour, day week, month, year at a time.
You are doing good. Hang tough.
Add a day at a time and I know you can get to
24+ years. I have
---
### Author:  [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2015, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-years-sober/740324/9 "2015-12-13T20:32:30Z")
Congratulations! It takes courage to even begin to address a destructive habit, and strength and resolve to follow through.
---
### Author:  [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2015, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-years-sober/740324/10 "2015-12-13T21:40:33Z")
Let me add my congratulations and add a “Good for you!”
---
### Author:  [@yawuntz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yawuntz)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2015, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-years-sober/740324/11 "2015-12-13T22:09:07Z")
Good for you Emily G. Damn right it ain’t always easy. I remember what a guy said at an AA meeting once, quoting from How it Works: “remember that we deal with alcohol; cunning baffling powerful…”
He added: “and patient.”
He was right. I’ve proved it! I can’t presume to advise anybody on this matter, my own career being too…checkered, shall we say. But I’m glad whenever I hear that anybody has gotten free, so thank you, and good luck!
---
### Author:  [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2015, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-years-sober/740324/12 "2015-12-13T22:14:44Z")
Great effort and well done, and best wishes for the future.
---
### Author:  [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2015, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-years-sober/740324/13 "2015-12-14T00:10:28Z")
Thanks, all. 🙂
---
### Author:  [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2015, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-years-sober/740324/14 "2015-12-14T00:35:47Z")
Good job, Emily!! 🙂
---
### Author:  [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2015, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-years-sober/740324/15 "2015-12-14T02:23:01Z")
Thanks 🙂
---
### Author:  [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2015, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-years-sober/740324/16 "2015-12-14T03:39:57Z")
> [@Nava](#):
>
> Ohmygawd! What has poor **EmilyG** done to you!
>
> Here’s to a lot of sober years, but not so many you can’t remember when were you born.
Well, 200 years or death. Whichever comes first! 😃 Sober for all eternity!
_ **fist pump of sobriety** _
---
### Author:  [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2015, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-years-sober/740324/17 "2015-12-14T05:19:27Z")
Congratulations! I can’t imagine the guts and strength it takes. And you’re doing it every day! WOO HOO!!!
---
### Author:  [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2015, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-years-sober/740324/18 "2015-12-14T09:00:05Z")
It sounds like you did it without the aid of a program. Is that true? If so, what are some of the things you did to get yourself through it?
---
### Author:  [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2015, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-years-sober/740324/19 "2015-12-14T13:50:07Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#):
>
> It sounds like you did it without the aid of a program. Is that true? If so, what are some of the things you did to get yourself through it?
Yes, I don’t want to go through a program. For many reasons, one of them being that I wasn’t really addicted to alcohol in the first place - I didn’t drink every day. And I was having less and less of a problem with it as time went on, so quitting drinking is something that sort of happened gradually, even if there was a single moment that I decided to stop.
Drinking other things, while people around me are drinking alcohol, can help, I find.
---
### Author:  [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2015, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-years-sober/740324/20 "2015-12-14T14:52:12Z")
Congrats and keep it going – its a nice streak to have.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-years-sober/740324.md?page=2)