Re-discovering that valuable commodity
The numerous advantages of sobriety have been discussed many times on these forums. I want to briefly mention another one with so many positive spin-offs: time.
Alcoholism affects every minute of every day. Time is spent drinking, recovering from hangovers, battling withdrawal and sleeping badly. Time is spent beating oneself up about yet another social blunder, a wasted day/night, agonising over blackouts, wondering how to get out of this vicious cycle of self-destruction. No wonder the end result of such chaos is extreme anxiety.
In sobriety I now have so much time. Initially it was a bit of a battle to fill that time. But just like bad habits, good habits also tend to become easy to repeat. Exercising, reading, writing, listening to music, practising sport and doing every day tasks fall nicely into place when one is calm and relaxed. Having time to approach life at a leisurely pace is such a bonus.
Bad things still happen, there are disappointments, sorrow and mistakes. Even and perhaps especially with the downside it is an advantage to have time to tackle problems.
What in the first month of sobriety seemed a curse is now one of the special blessings.