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BOOZE... it's everywhere.

Old 04-09-2018, 04:47 AM
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BOOZE... it's everywhere.

I remember doing the dishes one night in early recovery, my first time around.....

Thinking to myself: "Booze is EVERYWHERE. EVERYONE drinks. How can I ever live this life without drinking?".

I was a few months sober and though I was going to meetings and making what I felt to be progress - these quiet thoughts haunted me. I didn't really share them all. I didn't really even admit to myself that while I was thinking them, a part of the same brain doing the thinking was simultaneously thinking "well.... just hang in there a while, eventually you can drink again and it'll be OK... you really just needed a 'reset'. You just need to be more conscious of how you drink...".

Well everyone who's been there and done that knows where the story wound up. I made it almost 6 months..... then wound up convincing myself it was 'fine' and for a little while I did a fair job of 'moderation'. Then it slid into binging and then into a year and a half of mostly-drunk awfulness.

I'm now living my 5th year of sobriety.

Booze is still everywhere - but I look at it more with a sense of wonder that people still drink it.... a sense of slight sadness that people choose a mind-shifting illusion over reality of life's journey.

That wasn't an easy shift - but it also didn't take that much work. It just took a decision, a commitment and a daily focus on re-defining what I wanted out of life..... seeing how inconsistent alcohol (in any measure) was with my desire for this cherished, limited, short experience of life.

If you're seeing booze everywhere.... try asking yourself "yes. It is. But what do I want most out of life?" Try saying to yourself "Here is a picture of what I want to be..... of who I want to be....." and then painting for yourself a picture of a person unaffected by booze being everywhere. A person enthralled with life and content with the experiences of life as the blessed gifts they are - sober and clear.

Try looking up to people who live in sobriety and try (even if it feels faked and forced at first) smiling into the notion of YOU being a person who lives in sobriety and can see 'booze everywhere' as an unfortunate facet of reality that need no longer trouble you.

And also.... critically.... notice all the OTHER things everywhere. Notice the spaces WITHOUT booze.... notice the joys and the goodness and the freedom and the fun and the relaxation and the happiness and the true raw emotion and the togetherness and the intimacy and the authenticity that are - quite literally - everywhere. Far more everywhere, in fact, than booze.

Happy Sober Monday

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Old 04-09-2018, 05:31 AM
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Thank you for this wonderful post, FreeOwl!
I really could relate to it. An empty restaurant across the street and a few doors down has just opened as a bar. How I hate seeing the neon beer signs from my window. Mostly, I hate seeing the cars in the parking lot at 11 am when they open.
Still dealing with the 'hate' but, reading your post has given me a better perspective. Now, I feel sorry for those who are not fully seeing what life has to offer. Still, I am growing stronger in my sobriety. Thanks, again. ♡CR
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Old 04-09-2018, 05:37 AM
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Congrats on 5 years!
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Old 04-09-2018, 05:44 AM
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Originally Posted by sugarbear1 View Post
Congrats on 5 years!
not 5 years yet... but over 4!! Am living my way joyfully through year 5 now!
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Old 04-09-2018, 02:01 PM
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Great post FreeOwl!

In some areas drink is getting more pervasive in as much as there seem to be more outlets were alcohol is available. That said, the number of places that are principally there to sell alcohol ie pubs, have been falling for many years now. (this is in the UK at least)

The other thing I have noticed is that drinking alcohol during working hours is fast disappearing so maybe at least for young people the culture around booze might be changing for the better at least for them.
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Old 04-09-2018, 02:11 PM
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Great post and well done FreeOwl

I get a lot of snaps from work folk with pictures of alcohol. I'm in early recovery- 4 weeks but I'm enjoying sobriety a lot. I'm loving walking up everyday not feeling like crap! I'm loving being more productive, loving having nice food,etc

And in my sobriety, I am noticing alcohol is everywhere, just not in my house or in me :-)
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Old 04-09-2018, 02:40 PM
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Another wonderful one from our FreeOwl. Thank you so much!
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Old 04-09-2018, 02:48 PM
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Thanks so much, FreeOwl, for this and all of your fantastic posts
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Old 04-25-2018, 04:50 AM
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Man I just found this thread and f'ing love it.

It's so easy to see the booze everywhere (I wrote recently about watching a couple share a pint of vodka as they folded their kid's clothes at a laundromat) and ignore all the places it isn't.

And, like you say, more importantly, to remind our Selves that we want to be in the places the booze is not - sober and clear, enjoying the ocean or a subway ride or a book or just the presence of some friends.

Thanks for this FO. Great stuff.
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