7 Things That Happened Once I Stopped Drinking Alcohol
I stopped drinking alcohol on NYD in 2019. Just a few months after my 29th birthday. I guess that’s part of Saturn Return or something. I need to Google that again.
Needless to say, as a girl who loved nothing more than spicy margaritas every weekend, this shocked many people, including myself.
I wasn’t sure what I was doing, but I knew I had to do it. I wasn’t really someone who drank wine after work, I just liked the act of drinking and especially socializing. Now that I think about it, at the time, I liked who I became. I PERCEIVED MYSELF TO BE: more confident, more loving, more fun, more honest, (maybe sometimes too honest) and just more “me”.
WRONG. So wrong.
It wasn’t hard to stop drinking alcohol, but it was hard to start sitting with emotions and my feelings. Tbh, I’m still learning this 5.5 years later. What a beautiful journey it’s been.
Here are the 7 beautiful things that happened within my first year of cutting out booze for good:
1. Crushed Personal Goals:
I felt healthy, strong, and determined enough to run my first marathon 9 months into my alcohol-free journey. I’d always been a runner, and it was something I wanted to experience. I ran the KC Marathon in 2019. My dad, also a runner, ran the first half with me in the pouring rain. He’s ran many, many marathons, and just did this half. It was meaningful to me that he helped me get started and I finished on my own. I ran the ENTIRE TIME. I did not stop. I’m one of those all or nothing people and so I knew that if I stopped running, I wouldn’t start again, so at times I was running slower than a turtle’s pace and I loved it. I was so happy crossing that finish line. Runner’s high is real.
2. Creative Juices Were Flowing:
I had ideas!!!! And it wasn’t to call my ex-boyfriend and ask if he was still in love with me. I wanted to work on projects. I wanted to paint. I wanted to color. I wanted to write. I wanted to create. I wanted to build. I wanted to cook.I wanted to bake. I want to DO CRAFTS. I made at least 19 friendship bracelets in that first year, with the embroidery string and all.
3. Met my inner people-pleaser:
Well this one was fun. I considered myself to be super independent and boy was I wrong. I never felt “pressured” to have a drink when people asked me to, but I felt like I was letting them down because I wasn’t doing what they thought “I should be doing”. People didn’t understand my decisions and honestly at the time I didn’t either.
4. Also met my inner bookworm:
Yooooo books are my fav. Would it be weird to name my future child book? I kinda like it…. Anyway, I started to get back into my love of reading. I remember growing up, spending so much time at the library, and coming home and reading out loud to my parents, only stopping to ask if I could go to the bathroom? Not sure why I needed permission, oh guess that’s the people pleaser in me. I still love reading. My nightstand is 90% books and 10% alarm clock, if you have a book that changed your life, let me know. I’ll read it within a few days and then tell you everything I loved about it.
5. Slept Like A Baby:
This is my #1 reason to continue my sobriety. Sleep. Sleep is my boyfriend. Sleep is my passion. Sleep is my ride or die. My sleep before was sporadic and I had to fall asleep with the TV on. My college roommate was not a fan of this, lol, sorry Staci. I remember being scared to fall asleep with the TV off? I haven’t watched TV in probably 4 years unless it’s a Chief’s game or a Taylor Swift concert. Or even some stand-up. I do not watch TV at my house, this gives me so much time to do more things I love: like writing, reading, listening to music, or snuggling with my dog, Nelly.
6. Dear Diary:
I was reintroduced to my love of journaling. About 9 months into sobriety, I went to a personal development conference by Annie Grace, an incredible pioneer in the sobriety world who wrote, This Naked Mind. This is where I met my first coach, another beautiful woman named Michelle, who wanted to work with me. It’s such a beautiful story, she and I remain friends to this day, and I routinely thank her for getting me back into journaling. I vividly remember her telling me to get a journal and me saying “no, I don’t want to” and it took me a few weeks to try it, and I used an old college notebook
7. Mental Health Matters:
I started noticing symptoms of anxiety and depression, maybe in my early 20s? Maybe as early as my teenage years. Every person’s experience is so unique, and again, I just didn’t understand. I understood that I should be feeling better. Life was great, I had friends and family and a great job, and I knew there was something more for me. I saw my first therapist around 23 because I was scared of people breaking into my apartment. It was the first time I had lived in a city and I was scared that this was going to happen. We talked a lot about why I felt this could happen to me. Through the years, and through the therapists, I eventually started to feel better. Honestly with the world as it is now, therapy should be considered primary care. I paid attention to my thoughts and decided that I was ready to feel better.
About 5.5 years into this no alcohol thing, I continue to find more joy in life. I continue to learn more about myself and in turn, I love myself more.
If you’re sober-curious or alcohol-free, what were the first few things you started to notice once you became alcohol-free?
<3
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