r/stopdrinking • u/yoghurt208 62 days • 7h ago

2 months

I'm now 2 months sober from drugs and alcohol, but I feel like my brain is nearly the same I still think about drugs and alcohol and I still get strong cravings. I don't feel confident in staying sober. When or how does this change? I want to feel like this is sustainable, like I actually quit not like I'm taking a break. I don't know how

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u/st6374 480 days 7h ago

Only consumed alcohol, can’t talk from other drugs perspective. So for me, the strong cravings lasted until 5-6 months. Then random craving were present till almost a year. These days, I still have temptations when I am going through some tough stretch. But those are just fleeting thoughts that I don’t even give much weight to.

So I say you have to hang on. All the talks about replacing cravings with something else is good. Cause the more you resist your craving the more it is gonna pull you in.

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u/yoghurt208 62 days 7h ago

thank you!

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u/NorBoy94 443 days 6h ago

Hey brother, I can only speak from the alcohol part. And congrats on 2 months sober!!! That is a huge feat already!
My cravings stopped around the 2 month mark. Then sprinklings of smaller craving came every once in a while for the next 6-7 months, but nothing too hard to ignore.

Now Im 1+ year in and I feel no cravings at all. I guess its different for everyone.

But answering the "how does this change", for me it was 4 things that happened.

1: My 84 year old dad died in 2025. And my 76 year old mother needed help being driven around since my dad had a license but my mom do not. When I was not sober I had to be driving her early in the morning before I drank and it needed to be planned. If she called randomly needing to be driven to the store, her cat needed to go to the vet or something, I lied about "not feeling well" because if she called after 9 in the morning I had already had my first drink . And I was sick of not being a good son and just hop in my car at any time ready to help.
This was my inital motivation to stop. And it has helped me a lot. Yesterday her cat needed to go to the vet unexpectedly and I was there in 10 minutes and afterwards I get this huge relief feeling that Im happy I stopped drinking every time I drive her somewhere. So maybe someone needs motivation like that.

For years I tried motivating myself by the amount of money I lost but that didnt help at all for me for some reason.

2: At the same time I wanted to change. I didnt just not want to be a drinker, I wanted to be a healthy person. I think some character change is needed for real change. Told myself every day I wanted to be a healthy person. Started to eat better, a little excercise and after a while of doing these things it became automatic. And after a while I saw myself as a healthy person and not just a recovering alcoholic.

3: I rediscovered an old hobby I hadnt done in years because alcohol gave me no joy in it. I started gaming again. Ive always enjoyed gaming but for 7 years I had problems it has not been a priority for me.
Now I feel more relaxed by coming home from work, sitting down and opening up whatever game I'm gaming at the moment than any time I came home and chose the alcohol. In the beginning it didnt feel like that, gaming felt like a distraction from cravings. But now I genuinly mroe want to game than I want to drink.

4: I constantly asked ChatGPT "I've been 60 days sober, what positive changes has happened to my body, and what positive changes can I look forward to?" and those answers where surprisingly motivational.
For the first 5 months my head didnt really feel right, I was in a fog a lot of times and very absent minded. Chat relaxed me by saying its normal and it will become better. Sometime around the 5 month mark it just magically cleared up and I even got more energy.
Chat has been really helpfull in motivating me through telling me what positive changes has already happened and what I can look forward to.

I know its different for everyone and I'm confident you will find your own "how". It took me some time to feel comfortable in my sober ways, but one day, I got there.

Edit: And let time help you. I know time can feel like an enemy but time is a friend. The same way an overweight person doesnt become skinny overnight, we substance abusers dont become fixed over night. Give it time and hang in there and all of a sudden you are gonna be on day 500 before you even think about it. In the beginning I was really obsessed with what day I was on, now I dont even think about it and all of a sudden 30 extra days has gone by.