One year
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Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 1,025
One year
Today I reach 1 yr sober. This has happened before, last time it lasted another 8 months or so, but this time it’s different. Here is why.
When I decided to quit for good one year ago it was only partially because drinking was out of hand again. The real reason this time was because I truly wanted something else for myself.
I had a taste of what that something else was, because over the 20 months I spent sober before, I started a full on recovery process, one were I decided to live life as my true self. I changed jobs twice, I revived old hobbies, started new ones, gave up some, kept others, got divorced, got engaged. Everything changed and this really helped.
But it wasn’t enough and I still drank again. I didn’t know it at the time, but something bigger was needed.
I was never religious and I’m still not, but I almost accidentally discovered and accepted something bigger than me. My religious friends call it God, my spiritual friends call it the universe, the AA crowd call it a higher power. I don’t know what to call it.
Whatever I found, it gave me meaning, peace, and it took drinking out of the picture, completely.
Before, the central narrative of my life was one way or another always linked to drinking. The focus was either to function with it, or to live without it.
Don’t get me wrong, to focus solely on staying sober is essential to start with, but addiction is smart. We discover some tools for the situations we understand, only to later find a new way to be tempted into drinking.
Although what really got me out of this seemingly endless loop was this “something bigger”, the process to get there was through changing the small things, the easy ones first, then the difficult ones. The something bigger, whatever it is, I’m 100% confident it was a consequence of that process.
In other words, I didn’t need to keep finding new tools, I needed to find a new me.
I know I still am and will always be an alcoholic and an addict. But I’m also a lot more than that, and sobriety is allowing me to not only see that, but to also believe in it and live accordingly.
My best wishes to everyone and I hope (and I know) you can also find a meaningful life in sobriety.
When I decided to quit for good one year ago it was only partially because drinking was out of hand again. The real reason this time was because I truly wanted something else for myself.
I had a taste of what that something else was, because over the 20 months I spent sober before, I started a full on recovery process, one were I decided to live life as my true self. I changed jobs twice, I revived old hobbies, started new ones, gave up some, kept others, got divorced, got engaged. Everything changed and this really helped.
But it wasn’t enough and I still drank again. I didn’t know it at the time, but something bigger was needed.
I was never religious and I’m still not, but I almost accidentally discovered and accepted something bigger than me. My religious friends call it God, my spiritual friends call it the universe, the AA crowd call it a higher power. I don’t know what to call it.
Whatever I found, it gave me meaning, peace, and it took drinking out of the picture, completely.
Before, the central narrative of my life was one way or another always linked to drinking. The focus was either to function with it, or to live without it.
Don’t get me wrong, to focus solely on staying sober is essential to start with, but addiction is smart. We discover some tools for the situations we understand, only to later find a new way to be tempted into drinking.
Although what really got me out of this seemingly endless loop was this “something bigger”, the process to get there was through changing the small things, the easy ones first, then the difficult ones. The something bigger, whatever it is, I’m 100% confident it was a consequence of that process.
In other words, I didn’t need to keep finding new tools, I needed to find a new me.
I know I still am and will always be an alcoholic and an addict. But I’m also a lot more than that, and sobriety is allowing me to not only see that, but to also believe in it and live accordingly.
My best wishes to everyone and I hope (and I know) you can also find a meaningful life in sobriety.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2020
Location: NC
Posts: 5,176
Congrats!
My 1st year was just getting through sober.
My 2nd year was spent trying to figure out how to live the rest of my life. That is where I am now.
I see what I want, it is close. Breaking old patterns and mindsets is a difficult process for me but as long as we don't drink and do The Work it will come.
My 1st year was just getting through sober.
My 2nd year was spent trying to figure out how to live the rest of my life. That is where I am now.
I see what I want, it is close. Breaking old patterns and mindsets is a difficult process for me but as long as we don't drink and do The Work it will come.
Yield beautiful changes
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: A home filled with love
Posts: 1,707
Congratulations, Mr. PL. Thanks for this. It’s eye-opening to recognize sobriety/recovery as an ongoing, adaptive process.
Recovery is not an achievement. It’s a flexible lifestyle that must grow as I grow. And God is at the center for me, as well.
Be well!
-TC
Recovery is not an achievement. It’s a flexible lifestyle that must grow as I grow. And God is at the center for me, as well.
Be well!
-TC
Member
Join Date: Nov 2018
Posts: 5,185
Originally Posted by MrPL 
I didn’t know it at the time, but something bigger was needed.
I was never religious and I’m still not, but I almost accidentally discovered and accepted something bigger than me. My religious friends call it God, my spiritual friends call it the universe, the AA crowd call it a higher power. I don’t know what to call it.
I was never religious and I’m still not, but I almost accidentally discovered and accepted something bigger than me. My religious friends call it God, my spiritual friends call it the universe, the AA crowd call it a higher power. I don’t know what to call it.
God, Universe, and Higher Power are words to describe something bigger without the labor of articulating this vital change. Yes, there is something bigger. It is a bigger side of ourselves inside of us that is vital to breaking the addictive cycle and being serious about it. We must tap it, and that's more important than naming or describing it. But it is there in us.
Originally Posted by MrPL
I never bothered trying to name that bigger thing until now, and putting words to it doesn't really matter. You just find it, and know it's right. Whatever I found, it gave me meaning, peace, and it took drinking out of the picture, completely... Although what really got me out of this seemingly endless loop was this “something bigger”
Administrator
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Dancing in the Light
Posts: 61,584
Originally Posted by MrPL
I know I still am and will always be an alcoholic and an addict. But I’m also a lot more than that, and sobriety is allowing me to not only see that, but to also believe in it and live accordingly.
❤️❤️
excellent stuff MrPL.
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