Sobriety and freedom were not words that I associated with one another until very recently. When I realized that I needed to stop drinking I was terrified that my life would become dull. Without color. Without creative focus. And then I read a book by Lucy Rocca called How to lead a happier, healthier, and alcohol-free life and that was the beginning of opening my mind to the possibilities. I could be alcohol-free! That word was so much lighter than everything I’d learned to associate with sobriety.

Words are powerful!

I’ll never forget the first word that I learned to read on my own. That word was special to me because rather than finding it in a book that an adult had handed me, I found it observing the world around me with casual curiosity. The word was BAR – B A R . It was painted in red letters on the white wall of a building that we passed every time we drove to my grandparent’s house for the weekend. I think that I was five years old and I would spell it proudly out loud, sitting in the back seat of the car. B A R – BAR – Proud because it was a word that I had found. My word!

53 years later I still remember many messages from my childhood about alcohol and drinking that came across loud and clear. Drinking alcohol routinely and even getting drunk now and then was something that most of us grow up thinking of as just a natural, normal and even sometimes amusing part of life. Remember Lucille Ball in I Love Lucy filming the Vitameatavegimine commercial and getting so comically, disarmingly drunk off the alcohol in the “energy tonic”? Remember learning how to count backward from 100, one beer at a time? On the school bus and around the campfire in the summer, we would happily sing together – Take one down and pass it around – 99 bottles of beer on a wall .. 99 bottles of beer on the wall 99 bottles of beer- take one down and pass it around .. 98 bottles of beer on the wall — ect etc etc

Did the 100 bottles of beer and the BAR eventually become a problem in my life? Did I find that I had to stop drinking even though I didn’t really want to because drunk was anything but funny for me? YES INDEED! But going sober was terrifying to me at first because when we’re growing up, on our way to becoming adults who could finally legally drink with the gang, what we learned was abnormal was NOT drinking. If someone doesn’t drink people often assume that they have a problem with alcohol and that can be an uncomfortable, shameful thing. The elephant in the room is the need to stay sober.

Since shortly after stopping drinking and getting my feet firmly planted on dry ground I decided it was time to start rewriting that narrative that I had grown up with. For me, sober is not about shame. I broke the status quo! I’m alcohol-free and proudly so.

RETHINK THE DRINK !

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. 

This is What We’re Talking About

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Paint it Free

lyrics rewritten to the Rolling Stones- Paint it Black by members of our BOOM Rethink the Drink community- music performed by and video made by a member of our community

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Living Alcohol-Free is

WONDERFUL

lyrics rewritten to Oasis Wonderwall – by members of our BOOM Rethink the Drink community- music performed by and video made by a member of our community with images as well by a member of our community

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My Best AF ( alcohol-free) Things

lyrics rewritten to Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Favorite Things– by members of our BOOM Rethink the Drink community- music performed by and video made by a member of our community

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Open your mind to the possibilities of loving life alcohol-free.

Who are we?

We are a Private, Anonymous, Online Forum, open to anyone hoping to stop drinking or take a break from the booze. An international group tucked away from the busy commercial noise of social media but there for you at the touch of a finger when you need us most. Sign up and sign in via our Web Site here or download the free Mighty Networks app and find us at BOOM Community Rethink the Drink.

More reading

22 Posts to Get You Started on Staying Sober in 2022 – Part 1

Books to Help you Stop Drinking and Fuel Your Sober Momentum