3 weeks

Hi guys,

I am in bed (10.30pm) UK time, and when I wake up it will be my 26th birthday, and 3 weeks sober. This is the longest I have gone since I was 18 and I feel great.

I have reset my badge 7 times this year and have hit some real lows. If anyone wants to know why I have beaten my previous record, the main thing I have found which was different this time is be honest with people!

Seriously, how I thought I could stick to quitting when I didn't even tell my housemate is beyond me now. When I got a serious craving this weekend, the night before a wedding when I went for a meal with family, I thought about how stupid I would appear to my friends having admitted I had a problem, come clean about trying to be sober, and then having a drink.

I have also filled my spare hours with reading sobering things. I have nearly finished This Naked Mind, which is good, and feels like a more modern Allen Carr. I have read Bukowski, Cheever, and other writers who suffered with alcohol issues.

I think about alcohol every hour of every day, but not necessarily in terms of temptation. I don't think I have lost any weight or improved the way I look drastically, but I did look at a photo of me taken at a wedding last night and realised that i looked calm, content, and just overall leading a settled and more fulfilled life. Here's to my first sober birthday in years, and for many more weeks ahead. This community is great and I read it every single day. C :)