>One of the mysteries about it to me is that I feel so much better sober
>
>Mike, if it's truly a mystery that you feel better sober, then maybe a good whack with the clue-stick is in order (normally I'd say, "make it a double", but that phrase isn't in order right now).
>
>Most people spend 360+ days a year sober, and the equivalent of maybe 2-3 days trashed. (I'll be three sheets to the wind for the entire 4th of July.) So you might want to raise the bar and think about being sober for an entire month, or two months, etc.

1. "Most people" are not alcoholics. There is something different in alcoholics, not just different behaviors they choose. Most people can have a drink or two and let it go at that. Alcoholics can't; we want more, more, more.

2. Thinking about being sober for an entire month, two months, etc. is not the path prescribed by AA or any long-term sober alcoholic I know. What they say is one day at a time. In fact I just got back from a meeting in which that was the main topic of discussion. A number of people said they did not think that way, or looked right past it, when they came into the program, and that it was a breakthrough when they finally grokked it. If you keep doing the day at a time (or hour, or 5 minutes) eventually they add up to bigger numbers. But you have to focus on the little numbers. Or so I keep hearing.