You Can Do Anything You Use To Do Drinking Alcohol Free - Like Going To A Concert!

Last Friday night, we went to the Walker Hayes Concert! We are still doing the things we love to do AF!

Don’t believe the lie that you can’t have fun without alcohol! Be a Sober Rebel! Going against the grain!

It’s all about your mindset!

Why Can’t I Get This? Why Am I Falling Apart?

In the fall of 2015, I was at home. The kids had left for school. It was a very dark time for me. I was full of emptiness, Calling out for help. Dark thoughts of wishing I was dead or never born were swarming in my head. (My own George Bailey moment.) Praying for God to help me. I called Matt. “I can’t go to work. I need help!” I couldn’t move. I just sat and cried.

I got into counseling finally at age 47. Things got better. I gained tools to help me, but the one thing I needed to release was still in the room. The one thing I still leaned on and went to was alcohol. I never shared with my therapist that I was using alcohol to numb out from my own internal disappointment in my life.

I could feel the heat and anger rise! I just wanted to work out. Why can't my remote be where I left it? Just put it back. After 15 minutes of looking and searching the couch cushions, I went to ask for help. I went to my husband's office.

I yelled something to the effect of, "I am 'blanking' sick to death of having to look for the remote every morning!" "You need to tell your son if he wants to watch t.v. that he needs to put the remote somewhere it can be found!"

This is how I would often greet my husband at 6:00 am or 5 pm when he would arrive home from work. My temper at times was like a lightning bolt! I could be set off by the littlest of frustrations!

You step out in faith.

You set a goal, and you work hard. You get want you wanted and celebrate! Then, you see your beautiful goal in your hands, and just like sand, it falls through your fingers. There is nothing you can do but feel the disappointment and learn from it. But disappointment is hard to handle at any age, even at age 54.

You know that, ethically, you would not work that way. You've worked for corporations. You know contracts can be signed and rescinded at any time. The day before you are to start, in fact, hours actually. Ouch, that hurt! We live in a world of nuance, and sometimes the world you have left in the far past steps up and says, "hello, it's not personal, it's business."

888 DAYS AF!

As my son says, "It's all about the GAINS!"

But when I thought about quitting alcohol, it was all about deprivation! Like many of us, I was focused on what I would have to give up. A completely normal response, by the way.

I was so scared to give up my wine or craft beer because how would anything be fun without alcohol?

How could I socialize without a glass of wine in my hand?

How could I get through events without a beer?

How could I go on vacation?

Finally, how would I be able to toast my kids and their new spouses at their weddings?

I was fixated on missing out! I mean, how can we do anything without a glass or two of wine or a cocktail?

The Battle is REAL.

Cravings are the ongoing battle of your conscious mind versus your subconscious brain. The conscious mind has a desire to lose weight, so you make a decision to say NO to the Oreos or the glass of wine; but you may notice, as soon as you decide to not have something, the “craving brain” of the subconscious mind makes you believe that all you want is the thing you said you’re not going to have. It is maddening!