Be Proud Of Your Sobriety, But Don’t Let It Define You

You Are So Much More

Photo by Hans M on Unsplash

Have you heard of the red car phenomenon? If you buy a red car, suddenly you see red cars everywhere. This is also known as frequency illusion. Similarly, once you quit drinking, you realize alcohol is everywhere around you, but unfortunately, it’s no illusion. It’s in your co-worker’s casual conversation, interspersed with practically every other commercial on television, slipping through your social media stream. Faced with a never-ending deluge of “Drink! Drink! Drink!”, sometimes staying sober can take all of your focus.

Good on you for getting it done anyway. If you can make it through the beginning, when it’s the hardest, I’d like to tell you it gets easier. It probably will, but for some of us, the battle to not have a drink can last far longer than we’d like. Staying buried in the trenches, fighting the addiction enemy, for months or years at a time can wreak havoc on you psychologically. Sometimes it may feel like nothing exists except for the fight for your sobriety.

Though it can seem that your sobriety is all you have, and all you are, it’s not true. You are a complex person, and you have something to contribute to the world, even if you haven’t figured out exactly what that is yet. Don’t get me wrong, your sobriety is important to who you are. And…