Dry January: how becoming a mindful drinker changed my life

This sounds small but it was a game-changer for me. I have huge gaps in my memory from all of the nights I spent drinking, slowly but surely I am now building a life that I can remember. 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 boundaries and form true connections with others. The basic disease model of addiction says that plenty of people use drugs or alcohol to medicate their problems away.

Nobody likes to think that they might end up with liver disease or other substance-related health problems. But people are diagnosed with these diseases every day, and if you abuse alcohol or drugs regularly, chances are high that you’ll eventually be one of them. When you’re sober, you don’t have to worry about developing sober life life-threatening complications from your habits. You aren’t the first person to overcome alcohol addiction or alcohol use disorder. A major benefit of staying sober is seeing all of the role models out there in the public eye. Johnny Cash was a great example of someone in long-term sobriety from alcohol.

Benefits of Living a Sober Life

For me, that’s the secret sauce; it’s the best lesson I’ve ever learned. But that has nothing to do with money or possessions, it has to do with freedom, happiness and joy. I had no idea that my life was going to have all of this meaning. I realized that I had been angry about many things in my life, all the way from childhood. Part of the program is recognizing that and letting it go.

Which means I have to keep being accountable and looking and reflecting on my behaviour. My business partner sat me down the following week and said, “About this Shakespeare thing …” I recoiled. In the light of day, the game was embarrassingly stupid. And perhaps that was one of my https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/boredom-drinking-and-how-to-stop-it/ more innocent drunken ribaldries. Everything about that goes against the way I make my living as a spirits and cocktail expert, author, and bar owner. I don’t think everything we do has to be “good for you.” Neither should everything we do lead us down a fiery path of ruination.

Build Healthy Relationships

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 history of bulimia. Long gone are the days where I have to piece together a night out based on snippets of memory, credit card transactions, oyster card logs and whispering to friends “What happened? ” Now I can tell you what I ate for dinner, what I drank & what we talked about.

• Then you have to make a list of all the people that you’ve harmed and make amends to them.
• When your blood pressure becomes too high or too low, it can cause your body to go into shock.
• 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.
• Recognizing this need for change means taking into account how drugs or alcohol have been causing problems in areas of your life.

Not criticism, a remotely bad day, an unreturned call or message – nothing. Not because sobriety is a quick fix or a magic pill. But because the steady base sobriety gave me enabled me to start to fix the other stuff that was going wrong in my life. SsClaudia Christian is a successful film and television actress, and founder of the C Three Foundation, which advocates for the Sinclair Method to treat alcohol dependence. She is also a member of Ria Health‘s Advisory Board. Finally, once I began following the Sinclair Method about ten years ago, going a whole year without alcohol no longer seemed necessary.

Enjoy the Benefits of Sobriety with Help From Silver Linings!

One recent study demonstrated the potential benefits of combining in-person and online support methods. Relapse can and does happen, but it’s also preventable. Knowing relapse signs can help you recognize your risk of relapse. You don’t have to be alone in your sobriety journey. Even if you don’t have a strong support network right away, this is something you can seek out to help support your goals. You will always need others to help you, friends (see above), or professionals.

• You can be more aware of who and what drains your energy.
• There are zero alcohol-related regrets plaguing my life right now.
• Drinking alcohol can repress and cloud personality traits that help make you who you are.
• The weekends always felt like they flew by, probably because at least one of those days would be spent in hangover agony.