New Year's Eve thoughts
 

I'm at 52 days sober today, and slowly over time sobriety is starting to feel a little more normal. Walking by a liquor store, seeing a TV advertisement about alcohol or refusing a drink still remind me of my sobriety but much more in a passing sense than something that I'm busy dwelling on.

In general I avoid liquor stores because I have no reason to go in, but while we were out for lunch we stopped by a liquor store for a small NYE house party we are attending tonight with some friends. As we walked in my partner said, "We might as well pick up something for tonight that we'll be sorry for.....I mean that I'll be sorry for tomorrow." I'm not sure why he said that because he's generally a light drinker, but it made me feel good that he caught himself and validated what I'm doing.

The relatively small store was quite busy, and as we joined the queue for one of the 4 tills, I counted about 40 people in the queue. I took some time to check out what people were purchasing, and what struck me was the amount of large bottles and large quantities people had in their hands or tucked under their arms. As chance would have it, the queue snaked down the vodka aisle and we were parked right in front of the the vodka which was my drink of choice. I looked at all the different coloured bottles and all the marketing and then looked again at all the people in the queue and then at all the alcohol around me, and all I could see was the potential for misery. The question passed through my mind how many of those smiling faces would be sad and hung over tomorrow morning.

Tonight I'm going to the NYE party with a 2 litre knock-off brand of diet cola that cost me $0.88 in my backpack. I'm going to have a great time, but I think what makes me feel the most happy is that tomorrow morning I'm going to wake up after a good night's sleep, and I already know I'm going to smile and feel warm inside that I'm having the perfect start to 2015.

I'm very grateful for everyone at SR. It seems the last while I've been seeing quite a few posts from people who have long-term sobriety; and I love to read those posts because they keep me inspired and encouraged.

Awesome post, Lance! Happy New Year!

Lance - Happy New Year. You are a very kind person...very thoughtful. Congrats on your sobriety and I hope you continue into the new year with this optimism.

Nice post Lance. I'm happy for you.

great to hear this, Lance.
yes, i'll have a good start too tomorrow morning. i'll just have a bit of suffering ahead of me from the extremely loud party with DJ that will start next door in about an hour and then the fireworks later will mean my dog will get a bit anxious.
but all way better than all those people from that party will feel tomorrow.
and the weather will be crisp and cold and sunny here, so you and i can get out there in freshness and enjoy :)

Great job Lance!

Great post Lance! I am also looking forward to waking up tomorrow hangover-free!

I had to go to a liquor store to shop for others before Christmas. I looked around too and thought of all the normal people whooping it up with their two to three drinks over the course of a six-hour party. lol. Freakin' normies.

I love posts like this. Hope your partner fairs as well as you. Great work!