AINYF SHORTS
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year!
I’m not crazy about the “festive season”, all that pressure to be jolly is tiring and before I got sober it drove me to drink!
However I do I love New Year — somehow the idea of a “clean slate” and a whole clean shiny year ahead makes me happy.
I have always been a goal setter, it’s probably in my DNA after 25 years of corporate life! I still set goals but now it’s all around the development of Tribe Sober together with some personal goals.
Before I quit drinking I would always set a goal to “cut down” on alcohol. What a waste of time that was! Now that I have educated myself about alcohol I can see that it was rather a futile goal. Not only is alcohol chemically designed to be addictive but I just don’t possess an “off” switch and will never be able to “drink responsibly”.
By using will power alone I could usually manage a dry (ish) January but inevitably come February I would be out of control again — and feeling miserable.
In my ninth year of sobriety I don’t even bother to set goals around my drinking. It’s a no-brainer for me to stay sober and in fact my recovery is the foundation on on which the rest of my life has been built. Another advantage is that any goals that I do set are so much more likely to be achieved now that I am not drinking!
My life has changed so much since I stopped drinking on May 23rd 2015.
We were all saddened by the passing of Matthew Perry last year. He once said:-
“The thing is if I don’t have my sobriety I don’t have anything”
What a chilling prediction that turned out to be.
If you would like some support to get through a Dry January then please check out our Fundraiser.
Just $16 will sponsor one child for a whole year of yoga and life skills which gives them a sense of peace and safety. This is our ninth year of supporting Earthchild via our Dry January Challenge. You can read more about the Challenge and sign up via this link.
The Challenge is open until the end of January so you can even register on 31st January and do a “Dry February” — after all it is the shortest month 😉 Popular start dates seem to be 15th or 22nd January this year.
All you need to do is to make a small donation to a good cause and we will send you an email every day full of tools, tips and motivation to get you through an alcohol free month. We’ll also put you on a WhatsApp Group so you can connect with the other Challengers.
If you are looking to make a permanent change and go for an Alcohol Free Lifestyle then this Challenge could be the kickstart you need.
If you’re wondering what it would be like to quit drinking then here’s a few guidelines for you.
The first 30 days is the toughest time (so it makes sense to use the Dry January Challenge to get access some online support)
As people complete their first 100 days it gets easier as the brain gets “rewired”, the body begins to heal and not drinking becomes the new normal. During this time people say that they get GLIMPSES of the benefits of alcohol free living — and they like what they see.
After 6 months people tend to be in a completely different place mentally and physically. Anxiety levels have plummeted, energy is sky high, they have lost weight and no longer fear socialising without alcohol as they have learned the survival tricks.
The sad thing is that many people (and I was one) spend their lives getting on and off the wagon which means that they do those first few weeks over and over again. Of course those first few weeks are the hardest and you never get to experience any of the many benefits of sober living.
The result of wallowing in these dark days of trying and failing is that your subconscious mind picks up the idea that this is what sobriety is all about and that it sucks. That could be why sobriety gets such a bad press and is labelled as boring and difficult.
So whether you want to use the Dry January Challenge to get you through those tough early days on the way to permanent sobriety, or whether you just fancy a healthy start to 2024 you can click here for more info.
