Hello, /r/StopSpeeding. Thank you to everybody here who is contributing here, to those providing their wisdom, and to those worthwhile individuals who are here reaching out for help - we care. There's a lot of good advice posted here, so I'd like to create a series of posts over time on certain recovery-related topics for everyone to contribute to, stickied for everybody's convenience.

The first one I'd like to start out with is one that many of us are currently struggling with or have struggled with repeatedly in the past: Quitting, and staying quit.

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When we come to the realization that we have a problem, we try to solve it by attempting to quit. However, many of us find ourselves picking back up again sooner or later despite our desire and the necessity to quit, whatever the reason may be. According to WhiteSandsTreatment.com:

• Approximately one-third of people who are abstinent less than a year will remain abstinent.
• Of those who achieve a year of sobriety, less than half will relapse.
• Less than fifteen-percent of those remaining clean for five years will relapse.

These statistics reflect the great difficulty in staying sober early on in our recovery. When we first make the decision to give up the drugs, we are at our most vulnerable.

So I ask those of you who consider yourselves as having a fair amount of experience in recovery, what measures did you take to finally quit? How were you held accountable in the most critical part of your recovery? What finally motivated you enough to make the decision and the effort to stay sober?

To those of you facing difficulties in Staying Quit, what challenges are you currently facing that you feel are hindering you in your recovery? What has helped you so far?

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Let's hear it, folks :)