Sobering Thoughts

Sobering Thoughts

Sobering Thoughts is a collection of articles, written during the time that I conquered my addiction.

It is hoped that they can provide you with solace during your own journey.

Its a personal statement from troubled times and there may be things that you may find upsetting in the process of reading. However please bear with me, for what you will find in my words, is all the questions you too will have to face.

Please note: The Sobering Thoughts Articles are the copyrighted by the author and consequently they are not for unauthorised reproduction.

The Next Day

So you've gone a few weeks without alcohol, the days are starting to get easier and the physical feelings are starting to settle.

You can do more, flare up less and the world is not such a hostile place to be apart of.

All is going well - until?

One day you wake up and the reasons that initially drove you to stop drinking have started to fade away. Life is good, your starting to hurt less and the guilt that haunted you for so long, is starting to become a distant memory. Your confidence is growing and you begin to think you can handle anything, perhaps even a drink?

Its all to easy to be fooled into believing that we can cope, that just a few drinks with friends wont hurt and that The Next Day we could just start giving up again. What we forget in the joy of our new found freedom is, that perhaps we are only one drink away from slipping back into the nightmare again.

Being an alcoholic means that you have a vulnerability, not a weakness, just a physical part of you, that cannot drink alcohol in a controlled way. Over the years this vulnerability has eroded away your mental resistance, in the need to satisfy its craving.

Can you guarantee The Next Day will ever happen?

Tomorrow or The Next Day is not an option for us, we all know it will never come. For The Next Day will lead to The Next Day - to The Next Day - to The Next Day - ad infinitum (it will continue for ever!).

You are only one drink away from awakening the beast inside, are you certain you could lay it to rest again?

Least we forget?

Reminding yourself daily of what this vulnerability has done to you and remembering the reasons why you gave up, is key to staying sober. A few years back in my search to end my battle with the booze, I came across a simple method to re-enforce my will to succeed, and I would love to share it with you today.

In many rehab centres around the world, as part of coming to terms with the loss of alcohol from their lives, patients are asked to write a letter saying goodbye to alcohol. As daft as this may seem, its a fitting ending to what was once a love affair that went horribly wrong.

Saying goodbye to alcohol is like parting from a lover who has hurt you terribly, but with whom you are still very much in love. You know the relationship will never work, but you still crave their company and the parting is literally breaking your heart.

To write this letter draws the deepest feelings from you, it strips away the illusion of any good this infatuation has done to you, and plucks away at the raw nerves of what compelled you to get away. Its a constant reminder of the pain you felt at that time and it documents the reasons why you will never go back!

Write it today, pack it full of enough emotional power that it will jolt you back from going over the edge again, mail it to yourself and when you wake up one day and feel the need to find that lost love, open it and take in what that person is telling you in the letter.

Today you are a different person to the one who wrote that letter, not a super human, just one that realised what drinking alcohol did to you, one - that against the odds took the action needed to regain their life. The person you see in the mirror is still the same vulnerable human being - its just learnt to cope better in a frantic world full of temptation.

When ever you feel the need to drink take that letter out, read it, be grateful that you are still around to be able to, and realise just how far along you have come from that point.

The Next Day - never comes, there is only the here and now.

You have the choice to walk the path of sobriety or take the highway back to your own personal hell - that letter you write - send and receive - will be the safety net that catches you when you fall and it will be the greatest blessing that you will ever bestow on yourself.

Write it today!

As ever - my thoughts are always with you...

Richard

Could this article help a friend or relative?