One Year Sober Changed My Life 5 Uncomfortable Truths About Alcohol by Russ W Ascent Publication

I no longer had to take the prescribed drugs for blood pressure and fatty liver. Tomorrow is always a new day and you can often feel very different once it arrives. I know people who have turned their focus to everything from knitting to paddle boarding, but whatever it is the sense of fulfilment from the progress you make helps combat any temptation that may arise. Going sober means you are literally giving something up and, despite all the negative effects, you are stopping doing something you believe you enjoy. Anyone who has studied basic math will know that if you add a negative to a negative you end up with more negative. This was exactly what I had been doing, adding my self loathing to the negative behaviour of drinking and just ending up even further down.

• It was and remains an invaluable resource to me.
• Taking drugs to escape these things creates a vicious cycle, and often makes them worse than they were in the first place.
• You will have good days and bad days, good weeks and bad weeks, and good months and bad months.
• It would allow me to put aside my insecurities and be the confident, popular person I always wanted to be.

You’ll Improve Relationships

It was a horrible cycle of self-medicating my anxiety with alcohol which, in turn, only made my anxiety levels worse. I was stressed out all of the time and had no healthy coping mechanisms for that stress. People who abuse alcohol get to a point in their drinking where they cannot manage any emotion in a healthy way.

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Spending sober time becoming familiar with your body intimately can help you better communicate your needs to someone else when you feel ready for that https://ecosoberhouse.com/ step. This isn’t to say that all of your friends will be threatened, or that all of your friendships will change. Some will certainly remain, but even those aren’t necessarily long-game friendships. Sobriety is kind of like the fast-pass line at Disneyland, except the ride is growing up.

For Loved Ones

I realize that I don’t give myself enough credit. I’m five months sober and I’m also transitioning. I am coming out to family members and really re-creating myself in the fullest extent possible. When a person transitions, it’s like rebirthing a human. And my relationship with myself has gotten so much deeper, there’s so much more to me. The fact that I’m still breathing, that I’m still here…

“I was fully functioning — I wrote more songs then than I do now. That was the scary part.” “I had what I call a white light experience where I saw myself either dead or losing everything that meant anything to me,” he continued. He had to sit down then-fiancée Meg Ryan and explain what was going on. “That was the end of the love affair with me and cocaine.” In September 2023, the Cruel Intentions alum shared on Instagram that this was “the longest I’ve gone since I was a teen without some kind of nicotine or marijuana in my system (among other things).” She attended her first meeting on Feb. 3, 1999, the same day she revealed her struggle to her filmmaker husband Christopher Guest.

Quitting drinking changed my life, but it wasn’t all for the better.

They say ignorance is bliss and I understand why; personal development is difficult, uncomfortable and requires a lot of work. Drinking alcohol and numbing out on the other hand required putting a glass to my lips over and over again until I passed out. Having spent those fifteen months alcohol-free, I had my eyes opened to the unhealthy drinking culture that pervades in Britain… During my first year of sobriety, for want of a better phrase, I had to learn how to be a real person again. I slowly and painfully learned what my emotions were and had a lot of therapy to uncover the feelings I’d been hiding and not only identify, but sit with them. I learned what triggered me to want to drink, and when to remove myself from situations I wasn’t aligned with.

Instead, you are likely to find yourself surrounded by new friends who make you smile and are eager to get together for a variety of social activities. Many people living with addiction end up damaging relationships with the people they love. Fortunately, sobriety allows you to repair and improve some of your most important relationships. You will learn how to handle your own emotions,set healthy boundariesand form true connections with others. Whether you are struggling with addiction, mental health or both, our expert team is here to guide you every step of the way. Don’t wait— reach out today to take the first step toward taking control of your life.

Addiction Treatment

Personally, I always thought drunk people were fun, and I didn’t want my own poop relationship with alcohol to stand out. I wanted to blend in nicely with a crowd who understood that sometimes you just want to drink your face off, or one that didn’t think anything was weird about a glass of noon wine. In reality, getting sober is just the first step on a very long journey to self-improvement.

It has changed every part of my being, the way that I move is life better sober and the way that I communicate. And the way that I experience things, the way that I cultivate my relationships with people. I get to live with both sides of me, the ugly and the good. I can maneuver things and figure out what’s a good decision for me. The gray area just kind of becomes a little less. There’s a whole world that is so celebratory and celebrates you finding your truth.

• I believe that by sharing my story, I can offer hope and encouragement to those struggling with substance abuse and consider taking steps towards a sober lifestyle.
• I continue to suffer from anxiety and have to manage it, but it doesn’t ruin my life like before.
• I no longer had to take the prescribed drugs for blood pressure and fatty liver.

” I didn’t understand I could decline to answer or that I didn’t have to make sense to everyone. For a period it was, “I’m an alcoholic,” and that tended to silence anyone (for clarification, I no longer identify as an alcoholic). These days, unless I’m feeling generous, I simply say, “I don’t drink,” and leave it at that. It’s been over six years since I first started seriously questioning my relationship with alcohol and considered a life without it. That’s six hard, beautiful, glorious years during which I not only stopped drinking, but also finally moved on from all recreational drugs as well as a drug addiction treatment history of bulimia.