I stopped drinking on 6/15/23 after a blackout on a work trip that did not feature any disaster or rock bottom type fuck up, then over the holidays decided to take a break from sobriety from Christmas through the Sugar Bowl. Didn’t go nuts, but had probably 4-6 beers each day and it just didn’t really do much of anything for me. Haven’t had anything since. One of my goals for 2024 was fewer than 12 days drinking, and I’ve thought about using up a day a couple times, including the Super Bowl, but haven’t pulled the trigger. I don’t know why I set that goal instead of zero. I’ve taken an approach this whole time that I didn’t know how long I would be stopping for, I just knew I wanted to stop for a while. Maybe to lessen the pressure that would make me feel like a failure if I slipped up? Either way, I feel like that approach has been more effective for me than a hard, absolute ultimatum imposed on myself. I certainly do not feel in any position to recommend that or any other advice to anyone though. I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing. I know there are people who benefit more from a “never again under any circumstances” approach, and I would never want to discourage anyone from doing what works for them. Only sharing to I guess contribute something to what I’ve found to be a valuable thread, and I don’t know, just reinforce that there are different paths? I hope that anyone struggling is able to stick with it long enough to determine that you like the way not drinking makes you feel more than you like the way drinking made you feel. Or whatever else gets you to not pick up the bottle. I’ve been able to focus so much better, and I’ve had a lot of realizations about myself, not all of them positive. I’ve found myself much less irritable, and I think it’s due to the fact that so many of my frustrations and triggers that led me to drink were probably just my stupid body trying to convince me to take the medicine it was trained to want. I also feel much less worried, in general. I hope we are all able to not drink today and can do it again tomorrow. Maybe the one-day-at-a-time approach is just a different version of what I’ve been doing? May you all have more good days than bad days ahead of you. Godspeed.