Ok I am officially a sober freak! It’s Saturday morning and I woke today at 6.20am, picked up my iPad and spent half an hour checking on on the Members Feed and my other online sites. Then I jumped out of bed at 7am to have a nice long hot shower. Got dressed, then popped down to the living room to say good morning to the boys who were watching TV.
Then I made the guest bed, vacuumed the living room, dining room & kitchen, changed the rubbish bag, put out the recycling, put on a load of washing, filled the sink with hot soapy water and washed last nights dishes plus everybody’s lunch boxes, went downstairs and changed the sheets on the boys beds and added extra blankets, came back upstairs and started fixing breakfast, boiled the jug, made myself a mug of tea, fed the boys breakfast, broke up their fights, put the washing in the dryer and now I’m writing this post.
It’s 8.30am.
Ok – this isn’t a normal Saturday morning for me and I’m sorry if I sound like a domestic show-off. Normally I’d still be schlepping around in my nightgown at this time. But today I needed to get organised early because we’re off out at 9.30am and my Mum is coming to stay the night later … but the point is I was capable of doing all this early activity without too much pain because I’m sober.
And I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t aware of this fact the entire time I was bustling around. I am always aware and grateful of my clear early-morning hangover-free head. And I never want to stop being aware and grateful of my sobriety. I want to always keep reminding myself how clever and cool I am for getting sober. My life would be SHIT if I was still boozing.
We’ve got to snatch these proud moments when we are happy doing ordinary things that in our previous (boozy) lives wouldn’t have been possible. Someone wrote in the Members Feed the other day that they were delighted to have been out late-night shopping! I still get a buzz when I drive at night (and hopefully one day soon I’ll be breathalysed!). I NEVER used to drive at night! Being alert to late-night conversations with my kids is wonderful. Never do I spend the first half of the day going over and over in my mind about how much I drank the night before.. worrying worrying worrying about my alcohol intake.
All of that brain noise has gone. The headaches have gone. The sick-churning guts have gone. The guilt has gone.
And in it’s place is a lovely, ordinary, wide-open, raw brain. And I am very appreciative of that.
Love, Mrs D xxx
Such a great post! I love knowing that the appreciation for the clear head 100% of the time will never fade. It is my favorite thing about sobriety. The mental freedom. Simply amazing.
I’m about to get up and bake. It’s 6.37. The kids love getting up to the house smelling of fresh baking. A still warm muffin for breakfast (happy treat) and another one in the lunch box. So easy to do for us sober warrior bakers 🙂
Hi, newbie here,
Being sober for me has given me so much more energy to get back into life again,
35 years or so I needed a crutch to help me give up the dreaded booze, or something to replace it so I thought I should get myself a new Hobby, yes a Hobby sounded good, So I went out and looked at black powder shooting, Muskets and canons and loud noisy stuff with gunpowder………..
No that was not going to do it so I moved on……
My next hobby trial was Hot rods and classic cars.
Having been slightly interested in classic cars for a while and I wasn’t spending all my money on booze I had a bit of expendable income and I could kind of afford a car hobby so I started out on this journey and it has stayed with me ever since.
I have found that a special interest whether it be cars or music it can help you get over drinking, and in my circle of friends a lot of people drink and when they find out I don’t drink some of them are fascinated and it can lead on to better friendships and in some cases people seek me out on the subject of giving up booze,
you see you don’t have to give up your life, when you give up drinking, you just give it room to grow.
Good luck everyone and stay strong one day at a time,
Thanksamuch.
Yes!!! It feels so great!!! You go Mrs D! It’s amazing how much pleasure is extracted from the “normie” everyday stuff now!!!!
Laughed my socks off . It is incredible how much we do sometimes !!! Good to write it down !
Fantastic post mrs d as always! I love these everyday boring housewife posts cod we can all so relate! It’s the little things like being organised, the satisfaction of a clean tidy house and the pride of being a great mother and making your kids breakfasts. I’m sure they can make their own but there is a little bit of joy attached to making food for someone cos you love them and you can! And you can cos your not in bed nursing a headache and sleep deprived from that awful alcohol induced insomnia! Go you and have a great day!
Lotta, I have had mornings like that too. It always blows me away with how much we can achieve when we are on a mission. Just checked my days and it is at 301 days. I wake up every morning so proud of myself. I went away with friends to see Ed Sherian and we were at the supermarket at 2.30pm buying wine etc. I opted to get snacky-dos while they were in the wine aisle. I felt a little on the outta and then I was chuffed with myself that I was actually doing it! For the past 10months I have been doing it, quietly. I had a fab night and I am really open to why I have given wine away, for good. At 42 I’m finding more friends talking about our age and how we have to start taking care of ourselves. We are doing that by saying No. Thanks Lotta for inspiring us all. Xxxx
Great post! Well done on 300 days!! Whoop whoop
I came to the realisation recently that so much of my day would be wasted on booze…. Thinking about it, drinking it, recovering from it and then left with a residue of guilt….. then I would be… thinking, drinking, recovering and so it goes on….
That’s now gone, and I am left with choices and productivity. It’s great!
That is really cool to hear. I am a newbie and when I watched your Sunday segment and it showed you cleaning and cleaning, it started me thinking. I started to imagine that maybe that is why other people have tidy houses, they get up early on the weekend. I don’t think I will ever be a domestic goddess, but maybe just maybe there will be some energy left to do these things – or maybe it will never come, who knows.
As No Booze Brit says you are an inspiration and this site is awesome. Just hope it is the extra push that will make me join the sobriety path. Take care.
That is such a great observation and you know what over the next few months you may just surprise yourself!!! I spent the last 20 years struggling with never being able to get on top of the housework and slowly gaining weight and I can honestly say both these issues have disappeared. My house is usually tidy now and lost 10kgs in last few months. Hadn’t really analysed why but you hit the nail on the head! Friggin alcohol has a lot to answer for eh?
This is probably not the right place for this (I am so not hip to the comment-leaving blogging thing), but I just have to tell you how awesome you are. Your original blog CHANGED MY LIFE. I really wrestled with the idea of giving up alcohol for years. I didn’t drink that much, quantity-wise, but I was emotionally dependent on what I did drink. I knew that it wasn’t doing me any health favors, either. But I was scared, because I didn’t want to become a boring sober person! The way that you shared your work getting through that same problem helped me so much. And that fact that you are sober and still use the word “fuck” helps me a lot, too. It’s nice to know that by giving up alcohol, I don’t have to give up my colorful language. You have demonstrated that sobriety is anything but bland. Thank you, Mrs. D!