Counting 1,000 Days Sober

Do you count days sober? What does 1000 look like?

1000 eggs is difficult to envision. But, 1000 eggs is 83 dozen. Now, the vision of eggs comes into focus.

1000 pennies isn’t difficult to imagine but does it buy much? I don’t know until I think of 1000 pennies as $10.

1000 lbs = 1/2 ton But if your standard measurements are metric, this means nothing.

How about 1000 sheets of toilet paper? Well, if you listen to commercials, that equals one roll of Scott Tissue.

1000 sheets of paper = 2 reams

Puzzles often have 1000 pieces.

A group of a thousand things is sometimes known from Ancient Greek as a chilead. That means nothing to me. But, 1000 years is more often recognized from Latin as a millennium. Okay. 1000 follows 999 and precedes 1001. That’s easy. We can write one thousand. 1000th is ordinal and gives the number all new meaning. And as a Roman numeral it is M. Then why do we write 1K? 1000 is a number to hit for followers on many social media platforms.

Why am I thinking about 1000 so much? Because today, is 1000 days without a drink for me. I don’t count my days sober but I happened to wonder a couple of months ago. This date was easy for me to remember because today is also our 37th wedding anniversary.

You may be reading this and wondering how to put together a couple of days sober. 1000 days with no alcohol is difficult to envision. It was for me in the beginning. I counted every sober day. I thought about every minute, every day. I remember working so hard to get to 100 days. 100 days was a big deal. Six months was a big deal. One year was a huge deal. And, then the days stopped being such a huge deal. Not drinking just became my way of life. Counting sober days and thinking about alcohol constantly just stopped. I am able to focus on other things and my brain is not all consumed about my next bottle of wine.

So, what does 1000 look like to me today? It’s really just another day. Except it is also our anniversary. We will celebrate with time together and dinner perhaps. It has not been an easy journey for my husband at times. I don’t just drink away my emotions and I speak up a lot now. But he’s adjusting. He can’t understand what 1000 days means to me or even feels like. He asked, “Should I do something special for you?” Nope. Getting to 1000 days is the prize for me and I’m good. My rewards are feeling great, remembering everything, not being embarrassed, and the ability to study and be back in school for my masters. There are so many things more important than 1000 days. Does it mean I never think about alcohol? Nope. I have thoughts. I have thoughts of moderation. I bat them away quickly. I’ve never been able to have just one so why would I be able to do that after 1000 days? Sometimes I over eat and over indulge in sugar. I don’t beat myself up about that anymore because sometimes I can’t manage my emotions. But even that is becoming less frequent.

1000 days = 2.75 years… that should bring it into focus a bit more. One day at a time in the beginning…highly focused on gripping the sobriety journey…now has turned into a gentler journey with less intensity and more love and kindness and passion for life.

Edit: 37 years of marriage = 13,505 days 💜