Before alcohol took center stage in my life, I was a fitness freak. In fact, that helped me keep drinking because I told myself that no one who has a drinking problem can possibly go to the gym or run. It fed my denial. I was in denial. I didn’t want to be an alcoholic. Who does? I also didn’t want to have to say goodbye to my “good friend booze”.
When I finally decided I had to stop, I set all these goals about health and fitness. I want to lose 25 pounds, go to the gym at least 5X this week, eat only real food, do yoga…………
That was part of my denial. I wanted to hide my real reason for getting sober. My real reason was that drinking was killing my soul. I knew if I kept it up, it would take whatever I still had of me.
In AA they have a saying. “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result”. I had tried AA many times and always went back to drinking. I thought, “By their own admission, it would be insane for me to try that again”.
LOL!
I googled, looking for something other then AA and I found Hello Sunday Morning. HSM was an Australian web site where you could challenge yourself to 3 months or a year alcohol free within a community that functioned a bit like a private facebook group. You could post your story, thoughts, or images every day and follow other people working toward the same goal. The focus was on not drinking as an achievement rather then a necessity, and setting fitness goals was a big part of it for many.
I will say, being able to set those goals helped me. It also helped that I could set a 3 month goal. Even though, in my heart, I knew it had to be all or nothing when it came booze. I knew that had to be the primary goal. Being able to soften the blow to my ego and know that it didn’t have to be forever, and that one drink one day wouldn’t erase ALL I had accomplished, encouraged me.
Those silly little goals in post boxes on my HSM profile page sat there uncompleted forever while I stayed focused on the real prize.
Sobriety.
Sure, I would love to shed those 25 extra pounds and have some sexier upper arms. Maybe I will someday. That is just vanity stuff. Really, it is. Without sobriety, for me nothing matters.
The Hello Sunday Morning Community platform is no longer there. So we set up our own community.
Come Join Us for 100 Days of Change.
Maybe you’re ready to stop drinking and that will be the daily goal you’ll set. Maybe you’re not ready yet but want to read and write and share your thoughts for 100 days of preparation .
BOOM Comunity Rethink the Drink
Private, anonymous, and away from the busy commercial noise of social media.
Open Your Mind to the Possibilities
