Embracing Public Sobriety

Can you believe the stuff that gets marketed to us? If that’s an odd way to start this thread, consider the labeling that has been and continues to be constantly unjustly applied to people all the time through the media. It seems that the term ‘alcoholic’ may be one of the worst ever. Popularized by AA, defined as an illness that was more or less uncurable. What an absolute crock!! I am not and never was an alcoholic. I definitely had bad habits (aka addictions which have many levels for many people and an array of substances), but I broke that habit. Can it really be true, am I allowed to say and feel that embracing sobriety completely and publicly, or is it a rash overconfidence that may come back to bite me. I’m all in, so yes it is true. Actually, there are so many more reasons and implications that come with this step into complete sobriety.

It takes different amounts of time for different people to, mend a broken heart, find peace with themselves, gain wisdom, get fit….and to overcome bad habits, some worse than others. When I was young, I used to chew my finger nails. That was pretty tough to overcome and it was, like most bad habits, related to other issues. It had a trigger in nervousness, or fear that was related to my environment and my ability to cope with stress.

Finding marijuana, then alcohol among other drugs was a easy slippery slope to substantially bad habit that was much, much more difficult to overcome, as I am sure you are aware if you’re reading this. So how does one know when you are out of the woods? How do I know I’ve escaped the beast that has taken the lives of so many people I have loved.

First and foremost we need to recognize that our perspectives on life, love, health, environment and people change all the time. Without alcohol, our patience goes way up and we become much more stable in our emotions but we still have ups and downs in our outlook on life. Recognizing that and being able to coast it out, even somewhat effortlessly is what really is a signal of complete sobriety.

Being free of the beast means not only not having the urge to sedate, escape or party away ones connection to reality but its the change in being that comes with recognizing ones emotional swings and being ok enough with them to live with them, even gratefully without any urge to escape.

We grow and evolve as living human beings when we contemplate life and we can only do that without substances clouding our minds. Whatever benefits you may imagine can come from drinking, know that the benefits of not drinking outweigh them so much more than you can ever imagine, by growing, with peace, health and happiness.