I just want to offer appreciation to all the other bloggers I follow, people who share their ups and downs and points along their sober journey. I really really appreciate all of you for being there on my Dashboard with your posts about how things are going for you all. I am trying to comment as much as I can, as I know how much I appreciate when you do to me. Time is getting more brief now that I have started writing my MA. But I am always going to make time for my blog and other people's blogs as this is my AA in a sense.
And as I've said before I really love all you anonymous people who visit and tell me that you appreciate hearing how I am doing this sober thing. That's cool. You can all do this you know. We all can. It is entirely possible to live a life without alcohol.
I realise now that I don't spend a lot of time yearning to drink any more. I have just adopted a firm 'that's the way it has to be' attitude with regards to living dry. So I try not to indulge in imagining sipping a glass of wine or going out drinking instead of going out sober. I still feel flat sometimes and worried that I'm boring at events, but I'm hoping that will pass. Most of my energy is spent getting used to living with emotions stripped bare. That the main thing I think about.
Christopher Kennedy Lawford is here in New Zealand speaking around the country on beating addiction. Man he hit it hard. I heard a clip from him on the radio today, a promotion for a long interview that will run on Saturday, and in it he was saying he took loads and loads of drugs every day for 15 years. Then he said 'it is possible to stop. And it is possible to still be the mad fun person that you were' (or words to that affect). I liked the sound of that. It's speaks to the desire I have to still feel like naughty, fun Mrs D.
Also just read 'Happy Accidents' by Jane Lynch the coach from Glee. It was the fact that she lives sober now that got me to her book, I always like reading about other people's paths to sobriety. She says she was 'struck sober' one day. I thought that was cool. Once she decided to stop she just stopped, went to AA for a long time but doesn't any more because she feels she's locked in her non-drinking habit. I love that her mind seems like a steel trap that she can exercise at will and bend to form the new habits she wants to form. She's a woman totally in control of her own life. Cool! Got a couple of book suggestions from her that I'm going to follow up on. Oh, and I'm reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin, that's a great book about taking control of your life. I like that she offers loads of detail about lots of little things she did to make positive changes.
That's it for now. We have a tummy bug in the house so I think I'll be up a bit tonight holding buckets and rubbing little boys backs. Oh joy. See ya.
Love, Mrs D xxx
When I first gave up drinking, I made an extra effort to be fun. Sobriety was new and interesting and fueled me, so it felt easier. Lately I've felt like a stick in the mud at events where it seems everyone is drinking but me. It's hard to feel any other way, but I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who notices. I believe it will get easier. It sounds like we're at similar points in sobriety.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the heads up on the reads...will check those out. Loving sobriety memoirs at the moment.
Love the support found here too...it's a great community, not unlike AA meetings in easy access and unconditional acceptance and support.
Good luck with the stomach bugs...hope you're all feeling better soon.
I still worry about being fun - but it does get easier.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that helped me in the beginning was reading what I called "drunk books". These are memoirs written by recovering alcoholics. Some of the best were "Lit" by Mary Carr, "Drinking - A Love Story" by Caroline Knapp, "If I Die Before I Wake" by Barb Rogers, and "I Want" by Jane Valez Mitchell (among others).
I love these women and what they did for me...they showed me I wasn't special.
Thank you for your posts as well - they help me on my sober journey.
Take care -
Sherry
Christopher Kennedy Lawford has a beautiful book called Moments of Clarity (maybe you have heard of it) in which many people - famous and not so famous - talk about when and how they came to realize once and for all that they had to get sober - their moments of clarity. I find it so inspiring. I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for inspiration to get or to stay sober.
ReplyDeleteLove your blog, Mrs. D. It helps me too.
:) Thanks for your comments ;) My Dad's still in Middlemore, but hopefully home tomorrow..or this week anyway thank heavens!! :)
ReplyDeleteHey...Hope your little men get better soon...I HATE it when Tummy bugs lurk.. yuck! xx
When I was unemployed I just loved surfing around all those wonderful blogs and read them all. Like you wrote, it is AA in a sense.
ReplyDeleteLife has become a little bit stormy now with new work and so, and I reeeaaally miss reading all my favourite blogs. It is so important for me to do so and it's a pain when I don't have time or am too tired. But I WILL get it into my routines eventually :-)
Thank you so much for your book recommendeations, I will get those books - maybe they even exist as audiobooks.
And at last my must say I loooove your blog, I love YOU and thank goodness that you're sober! Such a beautiful person, lots of hugs to you mrs D
Love your blog!
ReplyDeleteThose who hire Sober Professionals to be by their side typically do much better in their recovery. Typically, the cost factor for both types of care are the same.sober companion NYC
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