Once you stop drinking and get some sober momentum going the challenge is not to slip. Staying sober is all about finding the tools you need to fight the triggers. Things that trigger you to drink need to be consciously challenged by the reasons you know you want to stay sober. It’s like listening to the angel on one shoulder, not the devil on the other.
Lately I’ve been finding that the change in the season is triggering me to slip. Seeing people out on their porches enjoying a beer or wine, has some pull on me, but I’ve no interest in paying the price that a few drinks would cost me. At five and a half months sober, I’m through the initial stages of recovery and am now most interested in repairing my brain.
A moments break from life, with a handful of beers, is occasionally tempting, but when I think of the cognitive toll it would take I gladly steer clear. I’ve finally debunked the FOMO, or Fear of Missing Out trigger. There is no missing out if you‘re living a full life sober.
We asked the members of our online community BOOM Rethink the Drink, people who have been sober from a few days to several years, What are the things that keep you sober? What are the triggers that could make you slip? These are some of their answers.
What keeps me sober?
Remebering Hangovers, I can vividly recall feeling so foul for the whole day.
Slip?
…….. and knowingly induce the subhuman hangover feeling?
Nope.
related reading : Play the Tape Forward – Protect Your Quit
Being impulsive could trigger me to slip. I need to put barriers between myself and alcohol. I dont keep booze in the house. When I first stopped drinking almost a year ago, I didnt go into shops in the evening. I avoided boozy events for the first 6 months.
I’ve stayed sober by working on my whys. Those whys are the reasons I stay sober.
Why do I stay sober ?
I want to grow and experience an authentic life without the alcohol filter.
I dont want to die from anything related to alcohol.
I want to dance with my son on his wedding day (hes 6) and I want to be proud of myself.
I remeber that if I want a pause, a temporary escape from your life, the alcohol wont help. I either find another way to release the pressure or find a way to prevent the build up in the first place.❤❤
related reading : Filling the empty Space in Early Sobriety and Feeling Everything
The things that keep me Sober
My family
My mental health
My productivity
My physical health
My clear thought
My hopes and future
The triggers that could make me Slip
Complacency
Bordem
Missing out being normal
Stress
Mental illness self med
Pain in my arse checking on myself
from the author of : Mapping out 110 days Alcohol Free – BOOM! and Looking Back to the Side Effects of Drinking Alcohol from a Newly Sober Perspective
Today I am 50 days sober thanks to the support I found in this online community. I never expected that joining an online community was what I needed to help me stop drinking. As a secretive and deeply sensitive person, the social nature of this community, Boom Rethink the Drink, has provided a completely new approach to healing: to post daily, to commiserate, joke, relate…to rework my stories about my own drinking through communicating with and providing support to others. I am shocked when I look back at even a few months ago and remember how many negative side-effects I was ignoring, how isolated I had become, how protective I was of my drinking, how desperately I didn’t want to identify alcohol as an issue. Until I started talking about my perspective on my addiction, I didn’t understand it at all.
Triggers That Could Make Me Slip But WON’T as long as I keep writing daily in BOOM : depression brain telling me the aforementioned qualities are pointless, anxiety brain telling me alcohol is the only way to quiet down, insecure brain telling me that I am destined to be a beer guzzling redneck so I may’s well embrace it, social anxiety, certain triggers that help me lie to myself about the impact of alcohol on the bigger picture, fear of “missing out” on certain cultural/social experiences, a desire to commiserate/bond with certain people I love who are alcoholics, certain types of humor (a fear that if I am a sober monk I won’t be able to laugh at myself in the same way ever again/will alienate people)…I guess a fear of losing connection with some communities/perspectives that I love.
I’m Staying Sober For : my health, my relationships, my creativity & intellect, my development (I feel like I am emotionally 15 and need to grow), my self-esteem, my safety, my mental well-being, my future goals, my empathy, my desire to be of service to my community, a sense of accountability to people I love who have been at the mercy of my inebriated self too many times and desperately want me to stop drinking, accountability to all you Boom folks here, curiosity of what I can achieve in life if I walk away from alcohol at this early(ish) age..like, wondering how I will feel in 20 years looking back
I’m fugly when I drink
My mind is beautiful sober!
F Forgetful
U Understanding goes out the window
G Gratitude for what I have doesn’t exist
L Laughter is too loud & inappropriate
Y You get the picture?
The Things that Keep Me Sober:
Husband sober in recovery
Auntie had alcohol issues and died at 50
Hate feeling hungover
Boom
Lockdown
Kids
Poison and carcinogen
The Things that Could Make me Slip:
Stress
Anxiety
Time
Reward thinking
Idea of romance sober
Arguments
Not being in control
So I Remember my Sober Joys
• Clean teeth, fresh breath
• Enough quality sleep
• Always ready for a hug
• More motivated at work
• Remember conversations and they are more meaningful
• When I flirt with my husband I won’t be a drunken mess
• Did I mention food tastes better ?!
• Feeling calmer and capable
• I can find a map out of the overwhelm maze not get stuck there
• More organised which makes me feel calmer
• No FOMO, atm anyway, not one bit
• I can give away a bottle of wine and not have anymore in the house and feel relieved and smile
• Feeling like a weight has been lifted
• Just fcuking happier!
PS. Not stamping my feet anymore but punching the air! 👊😃❤🤷♀️🥰🌤🙃
Life is just sweeter with booze out of the way
It doesn’t have to be extraordinary
Just a beautiful new normality
I didn’t see it before but I’m seeing it now
Life just has more colour somehow
Things that help me stay sober:
Memories of Past drunken disasters.
Waking up refreshed.
Watching people close to me struggling 😢
Being with myself and my daughter .
If you’re “sober curious” … If you are drinking too much too often and want to stop or take a break…or if you have stopped drinking and are trying to stick to sober! Talk to Us.
We are an independent, anonymous and private community who share resources, support and talk it through every day. It helps to have a community behind you in a world where alcohol is the only addictive drug that people will question you for NOT using
You can read more about us Here And join Here
community support 24-7 or sign up and sign in here
Don’t let the shame of the stigma keep you from saying
“I think I have a problem with drinking”
How do you go Sober? ( more reading in blue titles)
B Be accountable Talk to Us We Understand
A Avoid alcohol like the plague Ideas Here
L Let yourself enjoy regular sober treats Ideas Here
A Allow yourself to cry when needed Ideas Here
N Nourish your body with good food Ideas Here
C Create happy & fun memories Ideas Here
E Enjoy the precious moments in your day Ideas Here
W Work hard to get what you want Ideas Here
O Organise things for less stress Ideas Here
R Realise you can’t control it all Ideas Here
K Keep going & prepare for success Ideas Here
S Sleep enough for body & mind rest Sleep SolutionsFacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedInWhatsAppCopy LinkShare
