21 Days Sober: The momentum of 3 weeks sobriety

It’s been 21 days sober .

The picture above is the from the running track where I’m spending my mornings in Haiti. It feels a little like a 3rd world rehab program, except I’m the only person who can speak English and I’m doing all my recovery work independently online.

Today is special, but not like I expected when I started my recovery journey. 3 weeks sober doesn’t feel like a major achievement, the decision to quit drinking was the real achievement. Each milestone feels more like separation, one day farther away from the prison of addiction. I’m putting miles between me and that hell hole called alcoholism. Each day helps me see that the past is over and I’m free to move forward.

It’s positive. It’s hope. It’s progress.

There have been some hard moments, but overall I feel momentum building each day. After 3 weeks sober, recovery is starting to feel unstoppable. The temptation to drink keeps shrinking, almost to nothing this week. I keep finding old habit triggers, but they are weak and too obvious now that I’m back in control of my brain.

Sobriety feels normal. That’s my big discovery this week.

Only after writing this post did I find remember all the talk about 21 days to form a new habit. That was interesting, especially the parts about people needing at least that long (and often longer) to adjust to a new pattern of life.

“These, and many other commonly observed phenomena tend to show that it requires a minimum of about 21 days for an old mental image to dissolve and a new one to jell.” ~ Dr. Maxwell Maltz

That sounds something like what I’m feeling. The old mental image is fading away and I’m embracing the new sober Tony.

Alcohol is not my friend. Nothing positive came from my relationship with the bottle. It was all lies from the beginning. I played the fool and paid the price. Drinking can’t fix anything, it never could.

After three weeks sobriety, my mindset has radically changed and I’m feeling free from the addiction trap.

• I don’t feel deprived but liberated.
• I don’t envy drinkers but pity them.
• I don’t want to forget my problems but face them.
• I’m not drifting without purpose but aiming to enjoy every day.
• I don’t live in the past but the present.

At 21 days sober – it’s a beautiful place, better than I ever imagined.

** FYI: The article I linked about says 66 days is the more realistic time frame to form a new habit. That’s a word of caution for early recovery, change is possible but it takes time.

On average, it takes more than two months before a new behavior becomes automatic — 66 days to be exact. And how long it takes a new habit to form can vary widely depending on the behavior, the person, and the circumstances. In Lally’s study, it took anywhere from 18 days to 254 days for people to form a new habit.

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21 Days Sober Again: September 2017 Update

It gets better, even after the failure of relapse and starting back at day 1. This summer has been rough and the alcohol addiction came back in full force.

I’m through my initial 3 weeks sober again and have just as much confidence as before. In fact, I’ve learned from the mistakes and feel like none of the recovery time was wasted. Overcoming alcoholism is a long process and I’m not giving up.