Yeah... but I don't wanna GIVE IT UP!!!
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Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 8,637
Yeah... but I don't wanna GIVE IT UP!!!
The further I get away from my last drink and the more I embrace the goodness of sobriety, the more one thing stands out; how deeply we resist and fight against what we perceive we are 'giving up'.
I have found my curiosity deepening - both in observing myself and also in others I see all around me. Not just alcoholics but indeed anyone who drinks with any regularity.
In my children, I see pure and simple joy every single day. Their experience of life need not be numbed or enhanced. They are energetic and loving and enthusiastic and curious and they soak up life all around them. They express and they laugh and they interact and socialize and they explore and create and they sing and they love.
Very few of the adults I know are genuinely like this. Even fewer of the adults I know choose not to drink alcohol.
What general sickness of the human condition is it that so many of us - alcoholics and 'normals' alike - feel that in order to live life we need to ingest a mind-altering toxin?
What societal condition is this? What insanity of a species?
In sobriety I am re-discovering joy for joy's sake. The emotions I experience - both good and bad - are pure and genuine. Like my children, I am able to laugh and to sing and to explore and create and love and I don't need to cloud my true self with a haze in order to do it.
If you're new and struggling to get sober, if you feel like you're somehow 'losing out' by choosing sobriety - I just wanted to urge you to try and spend a few minutes every day thinking about it from a totally different angle.
If a child can laugh with carefree abandon, do her chores with pleasant focus, create a gift and give it to another person for the pure satisfaction of sharing that gift and bringing someone a smile - why the hell do we think that as adults we are somehow 'missing out' by choosing to numb and mask and distort all that simple wonder that is present in our true nature????
If you're a newcomer or even if this is your thousandth time trying - I want to encourage you to think about what you give up every time you drink. I want to encourage you to think about what cherished wonders you receive when you choose sobriety.
I want to encourage you to listen deep to the child in you and to realize that by quitting drinking you are not giving up.... you are returning.
I have found my curiosity deepening - both in observing myself and also in others I see all around me. Not just alcoholics but indeed anyone who drinks with any regularity.
In my children, I see pure and simple joy every single day. Their experience of life need not be numbed or enhanced. They are energetic and loving and enthusiastic and curious and they soak up life all around them. They express and they laugh and they interact and socialize and they explore and create and they sing and they love.
Very few of the adults I know are genuinely like this. Even fewer of the adults I know choose not to drink alcohol.
What general sickness of the human condition is it that so many of us - alcoholics and 'normals' alike - feel that in order to live life we need to ingest a mind-altering toxin?
What societal condition is this? What insanity of a species?
In sobriety I am re-discovering joy for joy's sake. The emotions I experience - both good and bad - are pure and genuine. Like my children, I am able to laugh and to sing and to explore and create and love and I don't need to cloud my true self with a haze in order to do it.
If you're new and struggling to get sober, if you feel like you're somehow 'losing out' by choosing sobriety - I just wanted to urge you to try and spend a few minutes every day thinking about it from a totally different angle.
If a child can laugh with carefree abandon, do her chores with pleasant focus, create a gift and give it to another person for the pure satisfaction of sharing that gift and bringing someone a smile - why the hell do we think that as adults we are somehow 'missing out' by choosing to numb and mask and distort all that simple wonder that is present in our true nature????
If you're a newcomer or even if this is your thousandth time trying - I want to encourage you to think about what you give up every time you drink. I want to encourage you to think about what cherished wonders you receive when you choose sobriety.
I want to encourage you to listen deep to the child in you and to realize that by quitting drinking you are not giving up.... you are returning.
I will NOT drink to that!
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Baltimore MD USA
Posts: 634
Someone was cutting onions next to my cubicle because there is no other way that I could have some tears in my eyes after reading this. This post made me think of my 3 year old baby....she loves without a worry, fearless in a good way, not self conscious...such a beautiful way to live.
Great post, Freeowl, great post....
Great post, Freeowl, great post....
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Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Gatineau, QC, CA
Posts: 5,100
So true! children are in so many ways a lot wiser than us adults.
They live in the now moment. When I ask my son what he had for lunch earlier.
Daddy I have no clue, let's go play instead. LOL!
They live in the now moment. When I ask my son what he had for lunch earlier.
Daddy I have no clue, let's go play instead. LOL!
I will NOT drink to that!
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Baltimore MD USA
Posts: 634
Originally Posted by Thepatman 
So true! children are in so many ways a lot wiser than us adults.
They live in the now moment. When I ask my son what he had for lunch earlier.
Daddy I have no clue, let's go play instead. LOL!
They live in the now moment. When I ask my son what he had for lunch earlier.
Daddy I have no clue, let's go play instead. LOL!
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Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Grayslake, IL
Posts: 732
Free owl, I'm just about 8 months Sober.
My circumstances for Sobriety were horrible. And 5 days out of my 7 day week, I still wish I could come home and toss a few back. Having that decision taken away is actually a huge relief, elsewise I'd still be toasted at night.
Bunnez
My circumstances for Sobriety were horrible. And 5 days out of my 7 day week, I still wish I could come home and toss a few back. Having that decision taken away is actually a huge relief, elsewise I'd still be toasted at night.
Bunnez
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Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 8,637
Originally Posted by bunnezjp
Free owl, I'm just about 8 months Sober.
My circumstances for Sobriety were horrible. And 5 days out of my 7 day week, I still wish I could come home and toss a few back. Having that decision taken away is actually a huge relief, elsewise I'd still be toasted at night.
Bunnez
My circumstances for Sobriety were horrible. And 5 days out of my 7 day week, I still wish I could come home and toss a few back. Having that decision taken away is actually a huge relief, elsewise I'd still be toasted at night.
Bunnez
May you find that simple inner child who realizes what a waste that is....
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Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 10,912
Very well put, FreeOwl -- thank you.
Or maybe venturing into realms (of ourselves and external reality) we've never been before 
Originally Posted by FreeOwl
I want to encourage you to listen deep to the child in you and to realize that by quitting drinking you are not giving up.... you are returning.
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Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Virginia
Posts: 498
I love this post! Watching my kids run around the back yard or in the house, rearranging everything, their imagination, their creativity is so incredible, sometimes I think at what point did I lose this. I can remember playing, just going outside for the entire day and just playing. When did I start including alcohol with ALL activities. I was looking at beach houses online and I saw a few with decks overlooking the beach/ocean and my first thought was...wow wouldn't it be great to have a few glasses of wine at night...like why? why would it be great to have wine? my kids would be like, cool place to fly a kite, and Dad can we borrow your phone to tie to the lite to take pictures from 200 feet. I've got to retrain my brain.
thanks for this FO!
thanks for this FO!
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