Good morning, fellow sobernauts, IWNDWYT 😁!
We may be anonymous strangers on the internet, but we have one thing in common. We may be a world apart, but we’re here together!
Welcome to the 24 hour pledge! I’m pledging myself to not drinking today, and invite you to do the same.
Maybe you’re new to c/stop drinking and have a hard time deciding what to do next. Maybe you’re like me and feel you need a daily commitment or maybe you’ve been sober for a long time and want to inspire others.
It doesn’t matter if you’re still hung over from a three day bender or been sober for years, if you just woke up or have already completed a sober day. For the next 24 hours, let’s not drink alcohol!
Yeah, I feel like for some people moderation is just not the right approach! I certainly can’t. Getting sober is certainly not impossible though, you’re right.
It’s crazy. That being said, I do remember before I even considered not drinking, years ago, that I would feel weird around people who said they weren’t drinking or were planning to get sober. It felt almost threatening, like it was making me think more critically about my drinking. Strange how it works!
If people ask me about moderating I just shrug and say “I’m basically lazy and moderating was hard work and who wants hard work on a Friday night?”
You know: setting rules about your drinking. Coming up with ways to break those rules. Feeling guilty for breaking the rules. All I have to do is “not drink alcohol”, rather than argue with myself over whether “it’s Tuesday” is a special enough occasion for me to have a glass of wine or not. Spoiler: it always was and now the bottle is open I might as well finish it.
You hit the nail right on the head. By interacting with people who are making changes for themselves, you have to confront the idea that maybe you should too. Then ego and doubt set in and you push that as far away as possible and continue on. I did this for years until I couldn’t ignore it anymore. Even would be reading on forums like this one but then go drink anyways, but getting to read others experiences helped to plant the seed.
Yeah I was definitely having the exact same experiences before I started trying to go sober a few years ago! Still, it’s a learning process.