itsanewday

Six months of sobriety today! I am really grateful! That is my theme for the day and I’m going to try to stick to that more and more. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>

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It’s amazing how different things are! Just some examples of the simple things that I could take for granted when drunk all the time, but I can be so grateful for now sober…<o:p></o:p>

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Clarity, purpose, direction, better sanity, closer to peace, getting to know myself better (no matter how difficult!), getting to know other people better, quality sleep, no hangovers, treating others better, being able to eat better, not wasting so much money, remembering everything, not doing stupid things, being more productive, and most of all, working on putting my drinking past behind me and becoming the person I really am, and not the person that my drinking and myself put together have made me…<o:p></o:p>

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So today, I’m not going to re-hash my story of drinking. I’m an alcoholic, have made my mistakes, came to the crossroads of whether or not I should continue on being miserable and drunk, or choose to kick the drinking and choose to rebuild myself into the great person I know I can be. One day I had a sudden moment of clarity and opted for the latter. It was an emotional day, but a very good choice. Drinking will never do me any good, no matter how enticing the labels on the bottle, the bars, or the advertisers make it to be. I know that my alcoholic mind cannot handle the alcohol and I am convincing myself that I am really not missing out…<o:p></o:p>

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To put it this way, it’s fun to watch a good movie. If it’s really good, then one may watch it over and over, but no matter how good it is, one will not watch it more than just a few times, because if its “over-watched”, then it will get dull, boring, and too predictable. It just makes logical sense.<o:p></o:p>

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Now, think of getting drunk in the same way. At first, it’s really good and one will do it over and over. Some may then tire of it after just a few times, and move on. It just lost its fun - it got dull, boring, and too predictable. <o:p></o:p>

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But then there’s the alcoholic – our minds convince us that it’s going to be different “this time”. “We won’t have a horrible night like the one before – it will be fun again.” Then, we wake up hopeless and a slave again to our own alcoholic mind convincing us that “this time, the movie will have a different ending – it will be better next time”. This is the illusion that has to be smashed!<o:p></o:p>

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When the urge to drink rears its ugly head, the thing that I remind myself is similar to the above. It’s not going to be mysteriously different next time out. It’s not going to all of a sudden be a “new thing” again! Nothing will change. It will just turn out to be the same old movie plot I’ve watched a thousand times! Logically, I would never want to watch the same movie a thousand times, even if I thought it was great the first time… <o:p></o:p>

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There are so many other fun things to do out there that don’t involve drugs or drinking, so, for me, now it’s time to move on and find better things to do. I guess that’s a good way of keeping things simple!<o:p></o:p>

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Now, when I think of getting a drink, I can think about that and it helps me smash the illusion and keeps me sober. Been there, done that – it’s no fun for me anymore!<o:p></o:p>

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For having that sense ingrained in my head now, and for so many other things, I am truly grateful!<o:p></o:p>

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For anyone thinking about drinking today or in a situation where others are drinking around you – <o:p></o:p>

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Drinking is glorified in this society. Even your closest peers at work, social gatherings, and such (which you may not be able to avoid) will try to get you to have a drink. They will seem like they’re having so much fun and will want you to join in. They make look at you strange when you have a soda instead of a beer and pester you with questions…<o:p></o:p>

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We owe nothing to them. We know that we cannot drink. They will not influence us. They just don’t understand, and that is fine. <o:p></o:p>

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We will still be polite towards them and we will all have to develop our own methods of politely saying “no”, but feeling good about it… These are some of the hardest situations, but keeping your defense, whatever it may be, at its maximum will keep you sober and help you better prepare for the next possible encounter with the cunning and baffling power of alcohol.<o:p></o:p>

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Thank you all for your words on this site. I have read many of them, and they have helped me out.<o:p></o:p>

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Have another sober (and happy) 24!<o:p></o:p>

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Peace.