Sunday, February 23, 2020

Hi friends!

Oh my golly, golly goodness it has been a loooong time since I wrote here on my lovely original blog. But I never forget about you!

I've got a new job facilitating addiction workshops and as part of the day I have to tell my personal story. I stand up and relive my last drinking days and the lead up to quitting.. then I talk about this place, how I started writing to myself daily right after I quit and how powerful and awesome that process was. I talk about how a community of support built up around my blog and every comment (especially in the early days) felt like a hug.

This blog was my lifeline, my support blanket, my safe resting place, my powerful outlet. It was my everything for so long.

Now I am still writing and posting about sobriety and recovery daily, but my focus has shifted away from this site and to Living Sober and my social media accounts. But this site is still live hence me popping back here to say hi!

Sill experiencing a bit of anxiety as I wrote about in my last post. Not sure what this is about.. maybe because I've got some tricky stuff going down with some relationships in my personal life (not Mr D no way!), maybe because I'm heading into menopause, maybe because I'm running a busy household & raising 3 sons, maybe because I'm working two part-time jobs, or maybe because I'm about to release my 3rd book which I'm a bit nervous about (getting feisty about the priviledged position alcohol holds in our society and the impact it's having on women)... or maybe all of the above!

Whatever the cause, I am dealing with the anxiety and all the other emotions that come my way with the tools I have developed over 8+ years of being sober. And for that I am extremely grateful.

I love having alcohol out of my life. I love, love, love it. I never want to go back to where I was, locked in a booze habit that was habitual and heavy and deadening. If somebody said I could magically one day be able to moderate – I still wouldn’t choose to chuck that carcinogenic shit down my throat.

What I have gained from getting sober and living every single moment of every single day with a wide open brain is immense. Only because I live with my raw emotions, reactions and feelings 100% of the time have I been required to develop coping mechanisms that are grounding and healing and lovely. And for that I am grateful.

Every hard day that I have slumped around feeling glum, every sad day that my tears have fallen, every angry day when my fists have been clenched, every boring day when I’ve been crying out to create some fun, every tricky day when I’ve been gritting my teeth desperate to escape (but haven’t), every single day that I have lived sober has been a gift. A goddam gift I tell you.

If I go back to my early posts on here and read about all the hard work I had to do in those tough-as-hell early days to learn how to not drink.. I just feel so proud and grateful to the me back then who did that.

It was so worth all the blood, sweat and tears. So worth it. I have ZERO regrets.

Love, Mrs D xxx


15 comments:

  1. I too have no regrets nearly 16 years down the recovery line.

    Looking good Mrs D and good you're still helping others. I've had to retire now so I do some talks at university for nursing students, talk inside prisons and also at a community recovery service.

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  2. No regrets here! I’m actually in the better half of my life!
    xo
    Wendy

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  3. Hi Lotta.
    I've just finished your book and today is day 22 for me.
    Your loneliness early on resonates with me right now. In my life there are many women who are drinking excessively. I have decided not to be one of them, and yet the peer pressure and even insults, make it very hard, but give me all the more to stay off the booze.
    You are an inspiration.
    Thank you

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  4. Hiya,
    I ve been following for the last 4 years. I stopped drinking in March 2016,thanks to you ( and my f****** willpower)
    I lived in France, and I am stuck at home for an indefinite time( covid19).
    It's the first time that I feel like drinking again.
    At the moment people are joking about their alcohol intake to fill their long day of isolation. I try to keep myself busy...
    Thank you for everything. You rock

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  5. Hi Lotta just finished ur book. I'm 31 days sober 2day. Could really relate 2 most things u said. Thank u so much 4 writing ur book

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  6. great post absolutely loved it youre a inspiration to us all i also wanted to share with you this thing that has really helped me alot http://tiny.cc/howtodrinkless hopefully it helps others like it has helped me

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  7. Thank you Mrs D. I read your book which led me to your blog. You have now inspired me to write my own. I was too scared to begin with but now at day 130 sober I am ready and inspired by the blogging community you referred to often. I reckon tht will help me continue go it alone and stay on track.
    https://pistolanniegotsober.blogspot.com/?zx=3d8ded59a15f56eb

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  8. Great story and content. Thank you for sharing! I too am in recovery. We have many related articles with a focus on helping others at https://greatoaksrecovery.com/blog/. Take Care!!

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  9. Great reading coming up a year for me... A great place to be

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  10. Congratulations on the job! Have just read your first book for the second time,3 years ago I was curious and mildly concerned,this time I feel like I was reading about me,day four today,wish me luck

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  11. Hi Mrs D, after watching your zoom chat with Catherine Gray, I ordered your book and read it in two days. It was like reading about my life, I am in exactly the same position now as you were in. I have been thinking about going sober for so long now but having read your book it has inspired me to go for it as I want to have a piece of that sober life! Thank you Mrs D!

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  12. Hi Lotta,
    I'm half way through your book (Mrs D is going without) and I am clinging to EVERYTHING in there!!! ❤️
    I'm 7 years sober and going through a tough time with a controlling husband and a move back to my home country, Ireland, on the cards soon so my anxiety is sky high........but you inspire me and remind me to go back to the basics - one day at a time!

    THANK YOU so much for having the courage to share my dear - you are literally keeping me sober and sane 🥰❤️

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