Today is my one-year sober anniversary and I am thrilled. It has been the longest and shortest year of my life! Stopping drinking and then staying sober hasn’t been easy, but it has been worth it. I started with a firm goal of 10 days alcohol-free and hoped to reach 100 days sober. I never thought I could do the first 10 days, let alone the 100 much less a whole year, and now I’ve “made it”. But what does that mean?

With the alcohol out of my mind and body, my anxiety is way down and I sleep so much better. Hangover free mornings will never get old. Without the nightly cocktails and wine, I can handle more, I can get more done, I can do life without feeling overwhelmed all the time. I am proud of all of the work I have done and all I have learned to make it this far. But I didn’t wake up this morning at one year sober to feel any different than yesterday. I haven’t solved all my life issues or challenges. I just now have a fighting chance to work on them.

There is always more to learn and grow so I will just keep doing that. I will continue to just put one foot in front of the other, which is a pace that I think we as drinkers hate. But patience is such a key in staying sober. Patience with the process, patience with ourselves, and sometimes patience with time itself.

One of the biggest tools in my sober toolbox is the wisdom of those with more time sober than I. I would not have learned without the examples of others. I have tears and a heart full of gratitude for those that reached back to help me, that traveled with me, and continue to do so. I owe so much to this online community BOOM Rethink the Drink! I would not have made it without BOOM.

Today I graduate into a beginner “person with more time sober” as I cross the one-year threshold and I would like to be a resource to those starting out or having trouble gaining traction. To this end, I’m going to share the tools that helped me in my first month alcohol-free. I don’t think I came up with any of these on my own so I’m just sharing my collection of resources.

Take the mythical impossibility out of getting sober and staying alcohol-free. I have learned it’s about opening yourself to the ideas shared by those who went before you. Accountability, trust, honesty. Community.

Here is my Sober Survival Guide from my First 10 Days Alcohol-Free :

Day 1– distract/read/research

Day 2– white knuckle/willpower

Day 3– have a personal mantra

Day 4- Goals

This is part 1 of two recordings. 

You can listen to part two at this link - Part 2 https://anchor.fm/boozemusings-community/episodes/Part-2-----Demystifying-Sober--Survival-Guide-From-My-First-10-Days-Alcohol-Free-e112dsg

You can read the blog post at this link https://boozemusings.com/demystifying-sober-survival-guide-from-my-first-10-days-alcohol-free/

If you’re “sober curious” … If you are drinking too much too often and want to stop or take a break…or if you have stopped drinking and are trying to stick to sober! Talk to Us. BOOM Rethink the Drink 

The Spirit is not in the bottle it's in you!