A new year
My sobriety date is January 7, so this new decade and today makes it 7 years since I quit drinking.
I'm not a big proponent of resolutions, but someone sent me an article about them yesterday and how they can be re-framed as "committments". I'm also not much of a semantics debater either- I generally believe that actions speak louder than words. Having said that, the article had a great section about why it's so hard to keep resolutions that require a behavioral change. They used the example of smoking - and how one might associate it with say a conversation after a meal. The act of not buying cigarettes anymore or saying "I'm going to quit smoking this year for New Years" is a relatively easy thing to do. Changing them mindset associated with the act is the hard part.
I see a lot of parallels with our struggles with alcohol. And changing my mindset on how I view alcohol has really been the key. Not only accepting that drinking will always have bad consequences, but finding alternate coping mechanisms to actually face life on it's terms. That is the big one - facing reality vs trying to avoid/escape I guess would be the most simple way to put it.
Anyway, thanks to everyone here for all of your support to me and others over the past 7 plus years. I was in and out of drinking and on SR for some time before those 7 years too, and I always try to remind myself of that fact when others struggle here.
I wish peace and the ability to face our lives and struggles to each and everyone here, as well as those to come and those who may have left.