Hey all,
I knew it was going to happen as soon as I saw the cop. He was in the left turn lane at a stop sign and I was going straight... as soon as I went straight he changed lanes and pulled up right behind me and turned his lights on. I ashamely admit that before I got sober, I have indeed driven under the influence... more times than I’d like to own up to. If this was 7 months ago, I would have been sweating bullets... most likely I would have been sporting a nice shiny pair of metal bracelets and taken for a ride down town for a DUI. However, by the grace of God, I have been sober for 205 days. I had done nothing wrong and I didn’t have to worry about the smell of alcohol on my breath or hiding the fact I had been drinking since I woke up in the morning. I calmly pulled over, the officer stopped me because my registration tags were overdue a week. I apologized and the nice man let me off with a warning. What an unexplainable feeling to be free from the figurative shackles of alcohol that had also saved me from being free from the very real shackles of handcuffs. Whatever stage you are in right now of your sobriety... be it 7 hours, 7 days, 7 months or 7 years... keep going. It just keeps getting better, I promise.

I know the feeling. I’ve had a headlight out for a month and don’t really care. If I was still drinking, I would have been at the auto parts store the second I saw it and changed it in the parking lot. Pull me over Johnny law!! I’ve got nothing to hide. Sober life is good.

haha exactly! Every time we see a cop, my husband jokes and says, “go ahead, I dare you to pull her over! She’s not drunk, just not the best driver even though she’s sober” lol

exactly! I’m like go ahead... give me a field sobriety test... I’ll pass with flying colors 😊 great job on your sober time!

This has happened to me! Even 2 years after my DUI, even after I knew better, I was going to a guy’s house that I’d been trying to make happen for a year so I was super nervous...and I stupidly drank on my way there. Got pulled over for turning right on red because I didn’t see the sign saying not to, I was in an area of town I was totally unfamiliar with. Cop smelled the wine, called in backup, and I sat there half a mile away from where I was supposed to be, trying to figure out the best way to get out of jail this time. I somehow passed the eye gaze test, which is all they made
me do...I showed them on my GPS how close i was to where I was going....and by some miracle they let me go. Didn’t even get a ticket for the turning on red. It was nothing but a miracle. I showed up to this guy’s house literally shaking, sweating bullets, and having a panic attack. Of course I lied to him and said I was completely sober, and it was just PTSD from the first time. I didn’t stop drinking at the time, but I did stop “car bar-ing”, as my cousin and I used to stupidly call it.

Later that year after about 6 months of no drinking (back then), I got pulled over for speeding about 15mph over, which was pretty bad. I have a lead foot problem. Even though I was stone cold sober, the instant anxiety came back. I literally had to tell myself in my head that there was no alcohol in the car...I was coming home from work...I hadn’t even HAD alcohol in over 150 days. This cop was also super nice, and gave me a huge break and didn’t charge me at the 15 over speeding rate, which saved me over $100. When he handed me back my license and whatnot and just said very nicely to please slow down and have a nice evening, it again took me a minute to realize that there wasn’t any backup or DUI teams being called in this time, because I didn’t have to worry about that anymore.

I totally understand the panic, and totally understand the liberating feeling when it’s no longer an issue! Thank you for posting this!!

It’s a feeling of freedom being able to drive without fear of a criminal charge. However, cops still give tickets and even though I was sober I got a whole mess after being waved on even though there was a stopped school bus.