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Sober living

My Biggest Takeaway From 5 Years Of Sobriety

By January 31, 2020January 27th, 2025No Comments

By being so open, I absolutely give others permission to judge me, to have an opinion about me. But, it’s OK for me to not worry about what they think … or what I think they might be thinking. I have learned so much in the past 5 years of my sobriety, and I continue to learn more every day. I am grateful for every morning that I get to wake up and be on this journey. It’s been an amazing 5 years – here’s to many more. But what I’ve come to learn is that I was a disaster which was far from fun to be around.

However, it is important to note that our information is not a replacement for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. It is recommended that you seek advice from your physician or other qualified healthcare providers. Over the past year, this mindset has resulted in tremendous development as an independent journalist, photographer, artist, and sober person.

And, as often accompanies shame, I wondered when the guilt would hit. Someone else’s opinion of me is none of my business. I stay in my lane and keep going the way that works for me. Chances are, the opinion I think someone else has about me isn’t even real; it’s something I’ve imagined they might be thinking. It’s me judging them for judgement I perceive they’re passing on me. It pulls me out of my zone, knocks me off task, and fills my head with stuff that doesn’t serve me.

5 years sober meaning

I Stay In My Lane

5 years sober meaning

Like, that’s not always reality. Get my needs met, but also try to meet the needs of the other people in my family. So her advice was propose any changes that you want to make as just for this year. It’s literally like, 1 breadcrumb at a time. You don’t actually know where you’re going. You’re just following the goodness.

Rise of the Sober Bar

I don’t know about forever, but like, let’s just try this and see if I’m happier. And one of the things you told me early on that really resonated with me was the image of like, like basically you are a bad ass, like you are doing all this stuff and you’re drinking every day. That’s kind of a metaphor and 1 of the things that keeps me going, which is obviously just the example that we are setting for our kids.

The vast majority of people have been incredibly supportive and accepting, but a minority have refused to accept it. For them, the problem drinker has a very strict definition – one which I don’t fit. Their problem drinker is someone who drinks high strength cider from dawn until dusk, on the streets, from a brown paper bag, heckling people as they pass by. He (it’s almost always a he) is unwashed and unkempt, penniless and homeless. He no longer has friends and his family have long since disowned him.

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You know yourself better than anyone, and sometimes you have to accept that people see things differently. The 7 out of 10 I just Sober House Rules: A Comprehensive Overview described was me from around 2005 to 2012. All of the above used to happen regularly and yet, there remain some in my inner circle who fail to accept that there was a problem. They dismiss the anxiety as ‘a bad hangover’ and the life destruction as ‘high-jinx’. They suggest I just try to have a few – as if someone, who used to love ale, wine and lager, hadn’t tried that already. We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers.

Why Long-Term Sobriety is Worth It

I can go back and drink again and when you get back to that same place, especially if you’ve had a period of feeling better without drinking, you’re like, Oh, it’s not a situational issue. And my life, you know, we talked about, this was so boring. And then, I stopped drinking and I was going to downtown Seattle to these dinner parties on Sunday night that were incredible with and the women were just one was an author and one was a stand-up comic. So, I made one friend through an online group.

  • I haven’t done that in a really long time.
  • This is why I am pleased to announce that we are officially rebranding.
  • That’s kind of a metaphor and 1 of the things that keeps me going, which is obviously just the example that we are setting for our kids.
  • I have a life full of joy, love, purpose and contentment.
  • What I do feel is free; free to make my own choices.

You can literally notice the personality change. I have to know how I get an A plus and so even in like current things that I’m thinking about doing, I have to stop myself from like planning it all out. I feel like if it’s meant to be, then it’s going to become very obvious how it’s, how something’s going to happen. Like for instance, starting to work for you was something that just was a divine breadcrumb. Like, they are placed in your life and you can choose to see them or you can choose not to.

And I actually feel like they were there all the time. Those things are there for us to see or not see all the time and we can either receive it or not receive it. So, It helped me because she educated me about what that means and the ways to combat it. And she also really encouraged me to try taking medication again. And one of the ironic things is that, I was totally willing to drink like a carcinogenic poison every night, but I was hesitant to take real medication prescribed by a doctor. And then, there were just, I just felt like I had sort of outgrown that.

  • There you have it…five things I’ve learned in five years of sobriety.
  • This is perhaps the biggest surprise of all to me – I feel no guilt or shame at allowing myself alcohol after 5 years, which is a huge thing in itself.
  • Yeah, what that reminds me of is, you know, after I stopped drinking somewhere between 3 months and 6 months, my husband didn’t necessarily want me to totally stop drinking.
  • So much of life in recovery is changing the way you think so you don’t fall back into the way you once acted.
  • Alcohol distorts our memories, but so does shame – and together they aren’t a pretty combination.

Were you like, Oh, I mean, I was kind of like, I feel like this is in the phase where I’m like, I don’t care. I https://appsychology.com/living-in-a-sober-house/ don’t care what anybody thinks. Like, I’m doing this and I’m saying it in a nice way, but I’m not going to just do things out of obligation anymore. So, we had to pack it up and mail it home. And so, then you get home and the kids are waiting on their gifts from UPS for like 3 or 4 days.

5 years sober meaning

Yet it hasn’t been hard for me, at all, to be sober during this time. I don’t take it ‘one day at a time’ (though I have full respect for people who do). Not drinking takes no effort at all. Well, making mistakes and finding it hard was all part of the deal when I was quitting drinking. Beating myself up hadn’t been working so I had to try something different. And when I spoke to myself like this – Ellie it’s OK.

Which means not rushing the process and getting comfortable in the stillness. But that’s the antithesis of what life is about. And stay there while gently pushing your way out of your comfort zone. I can’t even begin to stress this one enough. And believe me, I understand how difficult it can be when we’re living in a society obsessed with consumerism, keeping up with Joneses, and instant gratification. Preet Joneja is the Clinical Director at Lighthouse Treatment Center based in Anaheim, California.

Also, please do share this post with anyone who may benefit from it. This was bar none the hardest thing I had to learn. However, it was also the most liberating. So much of life in recovery is changing the way you think so you don’t fall back into the way you once acted.

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