Some Lessons I've Learned After Two Months Of Sobriety

I’ve had periods of sobriety before.

I would manage a month, have a slip, manage another month, and so on.

I did this for years and I was absolutely miserable.

However, something is different this time.

Actually…

Everything is different.

I have no cravings or desire to drink at all. Even looking at a liquor store sign makes me cringe because I replay the tape of how my addiction was.

It reminds me of all the crying, vomiting, hospitals, failures, and pain I caused my family.

Rock bottom really made a significant change in me.

This time I didn’t just stop drinking, this time I started living!

So here are some of the things I’ve learned in the last two months of sobriety.

Idle hands are the devil’s plaything

When you’re in active addiction, you have no free time. At my worst, my full-time job was pretty much lying in bed, forcing apple ciders into me trying now to throw up, and watching TV in bed.

It feels shameful to have lived like that for months but I was so sick and did not see any way out. I was on the waiting list for rehab so I just survived until I got there.

Now that I’m sober, I have a tremendous amount of time. At first, it was almost painful watching the clock tick by as I waited for it to be late enough to fall asleep.

Thank god that has changed.

I’ve realized that you can’t just stop drinking. You have to fill up that hole that addiction filled with healthier endeavours.

Writing has been my saving grace. It takes all my focus to write mind-blowing perfect articles like this ( I kid), so I don’t realize the time is flying by.

Now I stay busy all the time. I picked up a ton of hobbies and freelance work to go along with my writing and my days are filled with things I enjoy.

This is different from previous periods of sobriety.

In the past, I’d thought I was doing it right because I wasn’t drinking.

But I would get off work, come home, smoke weed, and watch TV.

I thought that was life without alcohol and I had accepted my monotonous fate.

So if you’re new to sobriety, look at it as a chance to experiment and find out who you are and what you enjoy.

Try every fun thing that comes to mind, as long as it’s not drugs or alcohol.

You’ll discover hidden talents and new passions, and your life will be nice.

Life isn’t as scary as I thought

For all of you sober people out there, you know how terrifying life is when you first get sober.

You feel all the overwhelming raw emotions that you numbed away with substances and everything feels threatening.

Plus there’s there messed up brain chemistry to deal with.

I think this is the reason so many people have slips in early sobriety.

It’s just so damn painful.

Now that I’m getting over the first and hardest part of sobriety, the first few months, life doesn’t seem so daunting.

All those paranoid thoughts I had months ago such as everyone hates me, I’ll never stay sober, I’ll get falsely accused of something and go to prison, aren’t real, they’re just a manifestation of fear.

I’ll get falsely accused of something and go to prison

This was a really tough one for me, I don’t know why. I wasn’t a violent drunk, my drug of choice was alcohol, and I didn’t leave my house.

I have no clue why I’d go to prison but for some reason, that paranoid thought was in the back of my mind.

luckily, it left as fast as it came.

Once I had overcome all of the above, I started to enjoy life and see it as a gift instead of something to fear.

I just try to have fun, do fulfilling work, and help people along the way.

I’m happy.

I’m way more capable than I thought

For a decade I was functioning at around ten percent probably.

I wasn’t living, I was just surviving.

Now I’m functioning way above ten percent. I can’t put a number on it because I don’t even know my potential, I’ve never been happy and sober as an adult before.

The sky is the limit.

I thought I was lazy but I was just in pain.

Now I get up at 4 AM every day because I like working in silence, and I just do everything I need to do before most of the city even wakes up.

I’m getting in shape, improving at writing, getting better at golf, and much much more.

I’m excited to see what I can achieve.

So here I am at nine weeks sober, finishing this article at 4:52 AM with my beautiful puppy at my side, happy as a lark.

I still have some tough days but I remember the good and the rough ones don’t last long like they used to.

so if you’re where I was two months ago, or just having a hard time with life, remember that everything changes.

Hard times will eventually end and you’ll get to where I am now.

Thanks for reading :)

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