I wonder about the folks who've gone silent. Are they doing well and simply don't need to post? Have they become too busy for SR? Have they given up on sobriety and gone back to drinking? I expect there's many of all those groups.
After almost 14 months of being sober it's become pretty easy for me. Easy in the sense of not battling my AV or struggling not to drink. For the most part booze just isn't part of my life now. I'm acutely aware that all it would take though would be one drink to put me back on the road to ruin. So I guard my sobriety like it's my life...because it is.
The holiday season is strange for me. I'm an atheist so there's nothing in the way of spiritual meaning associated with the 25th of December. Yet I'm a human, and I recognize the value of human social constructs. We should be good to each other all them time, but humans can't seem to be good all the time. We have to pace ourselves, pick our spots. So the holidays give us a focal point to reflect upon. So at this time I think of all the people that have been important in my life. Some are still with me, some have passed away. Others have drifted away. Such is life.
Christmas is a signpost on the road of life, a rest stop in the circle of life. This time last year I'd been sober for less than three months and life was strange. Scary, uncertain and magical. It doesn't feel so magical this year. The weather sucks and no one here is really in the holiday spirit. But that's okay.
I hope our MIA friends are doing well. Even though I haven't seen them post I still think of them. I wish them well in their own journeys.