I sometimes have an echo in here with kiwi

Thanks Coopster. Yes, it's a personal thing, probably 50/50 even. For me, and I think for Icehouse too, it's a way to be accountable. I loved seeing the numbers tick, like a child looking in a gas station meter (but in reverse, I guess...) and report on them here.

But now it may well be I'm going to concentrate less on it, "move on" as it were. Do something with my new found freedom. Maybe just mention it yearly.

To come back to you, if it makes you feel in any way uncomfortable, don't count. Many don't, and still stay sober. There are no wrong or right ways, except for drinking or not. How you get there, what works best for you, you have to find out. Counting is probably not for you, so don't.

Well, I use a counter on my phone for two reasons.

1) To be accountable to this group and to my Wed night recovery group.

2) I really don't have another reason.

I used to watch it like a hawk for the first year or two, now I only check it once a month (on the 2nd). I actually have no idea what the actual number is unless I look....that is a good thing.

When somebody asks me about my sobriety I usually just say, "I have been sober for years"

That makes me feel good.

It's funny, although I'm not in AA, and have only quickly read the Big Book, I find myself somehow doing amends, and contacting people again I should have contacted long ago.

You know how families can be complicated. Well, I haven't spoken to my brother for at least 20 years, but he has a daughter who's mum - my brother's first wife - passed away earlier this year. So I contacted my niece with my condolences, we talked a little more, and will see each other somewhere in the new year to have a good long talk. I have only ever seen her as a 6 month old baby, she now is a mom herself, so that's also a bit of a shock about time flying and all that.

Anyway, I think there is value in trying to correct some wrongs from the past, even if they are not directly related to your addiction.

I am not an attendee of any AA meetings either, not since my first stint at rehab. BUT, I am an advocate of amends.

I finalized my last one in October and it was like "breaking the chains". I highly recommend this for anyone in recovery from an abusive addiction.

I have used the idea of amends a lot.

For me it is based on the Maori word for enemy which is hoariri.

The literal translation of hoariri is "angry friend" - I don't think that I have any enemies .