Early Sobriety
A Woman of Extremes
From my private journal, May 10, 2015: “This is the first time that I felt even mildly confident that I could quit, the first time in a long time that I truly feel I’ve just had enough. I’m just done. Any other promises to quit were met with screaming voices in my head. Now, I…
Read MoreThings To Consider Before Coming Out As Sober
When I decided to quit drinking, I wasn’t sure how to tell anybody, or if I even should tell anybody. Frankly, if I could have stayed sober without telling a single person about it, I would have. I was nervous about telling my boyfriend at the time (now husband), that I’d become a teetotaler. He…
Read MoreWhen You Miss The Anticipation of The Drink
When you quit drinking, the world doesn’t quit drinking with you. That’s the first hard lesson that I learned over 2 years ago, and it’s a lesson that I still have to remember sometimes. When I first got sober, I often missed the anticipation of the first drink. When I drank, I was always looking…
Read MoreDear Self: Read This When You Want a Drink
This is a letter to myself that I wrote in March 2016 (around 10 months sober), to keep and read when I needed it. I’ve read it more than a few times since then. Dear Self, If you’re reading this, I assume you are struggling to quiet the voice in your head that says you…
Read MoreHow I Stayed Sober for The First 30 Days
May 5, 2015 was the last day I drank alcohol. I don’t always remember a lot of specifics from my recovery journey, but I do remember the first 30 days. I did a lot of things that I didn’t feel like doing in order to make it through the first 30 days of sobriety. Everything…
Read MoreThe Benefits of Socializing Without Alcohol
The Early Sobriety posts were originally written in LiveJournal, either privately or filtered to a very small group of close friends. Some are slightly edited to protect other people’s privacy, and photos were added for this blog. I hope they help somebody out there to not feel so alone. This was originally written June 2,…
Read More2 Weeks Sober: The Itch
The Early Sobriety posts were originally written in LiveJournal, either privately or filtered to a very small group of close friends. Some are slightly edited to protect other people’s privacy. I hope they help somebody out there to not feel so alone. Today, I am 786 days sober (almost 26 months). Written 5/20/2015 I call…
Read MoreGetting Sober: My First 30 Days
When you forget what life was like “before”, things can get a little shaky. Thankfully I journal, and it helps me remember. I made the active decision to quit drinking 4-6 days after I’d had my last drink. Now, I’m going to share a few writings from my first 30 days. -Related post: How I Stayed…
Read MoreWhy I Quit Drinking
Around two years ago, I had an epiphany. I’ve written about my decision to quit drinking elsewhere, but it’s time to talk about it here. My first child made her way into the world when I was 20 years old. My second child was born a week before my 22nd birthday. I was homeschooled as…
Read More5 Months Sober: This Gets Boring Sometimes
I can be thankful to be sober, I can enjoy being sober, and I can also be bored. It’s ok to be bored. At least, I hope it is, because I’m just going to embrace it and get over it. There’s no “right” that I have to be entertained, or be entertaining, at all times.…
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