My Journey to Sobriety

"Sobriety is not a one time choice. It's a decision that we have to make over and over and over again."⁠ ⁠ I shared last week that I have been sober for over a year now and I received a lot of questions from you all. I want to talk about it in more depth about the struggle.⁠ ⁠ On NYE 2019, I decided to stop drinking alcohol for an undetermined amount of time. I wanted to stop until I didn't thinking about it any more. I told no one because if I did, I would be held accountable if I failed and I didn't want to deal with that kind of pressure.⁠ ⁠ If I am being honest, I had let it become a bigger issue over the past few years, but I really struggled with it since college. I didn't drink every day but when I did, I could finish a bottle of wine easily.⁠ ⁠ My problem is I can't just have one, I can't stop if I start. In previous years, I had stopped drinking for a month but would go right back to what I was doing before. No change had really been made.⁠ ⁠ I didn't join AA or other groups. Instead, I did the following:⁠ ◾ Normalized sobriety⁠ ◾ Read books about it⁠ ◾ Created a Pinterest board with non-alcoholic drinks, tips & tricks, and ideas on how to deal with it⁠ ◾ Followed sober IG pages ⁠ ⁠ The first 3 weeks were the worst with cravings. It did get easier as time went on though. I finally told Steve my plan and he was 100% supportive. ⁠ ⁠ I finally reached the point where I didn't think about drinking anymore and that was at the end of October. Yep, almost 10 months! I have been to weddings, family events and holiday's, gone through a freaking pandemic and have stayed true to not drinking. I continue to deal with my emotions and sit in the uncomfortable state of it at times. ⁠ ⁠ I celebrated my one year sobriety on Jan 1st! I can't say if I will continue this forever because that's too much pressure for me. ⁠ So please when we get to hangout don't feel obligated to not drink in front of me, I hold no jealously or judgement. Some people can control it, I can not. ⁠ ⁠ Thank you for letting me finally talk about this openly. If you have any questions, comment below, I am an open book. ⬇️⁠ ⁠ 🏝️ follow us ⁠ @exploringoutsidethe303