Most of us who have achieved long-term recovery will tell you that our early recovery was made up of stops and restarts, regardless of what we are recovering from. Few people can stop an unhealthy behavior one day and never, ever pick it up again.
Good for those who do, but they are as rare as unicorns. I'm thankful to have learned the value of stopping destructive behaviors and even more grateful to have been able to stay stopped for many years.
I only got to this point by stopping the behaviors for one day here, an hour there, or, at times, one minute at a time. I'm okay with all the times that I couldn't stop something, because I know that recovery is a process, not an event.
I hope you know that too. And I hope that if you stumble in your recovery, as I have done in mine, you remember to have compassion for yourself, not judgment.
I add up all the minutes, hours, and days that I am moving in the right direction and celebrate them all.