Day 3378 – World Mental Health Day – or – I Learned So Much About Myself After I Got Sober

When I got sober four years ago, so many things changed in my life. Some things were expected – more money in my account, less weight on my body, overall better sense of well-being. But there were a number of things I didn’t expect.

I think the biggest was how being sober forced me to really get to know myself and deal with the things that I found. I saw how I have a tendency to use any excuse to do the things I want to do. When I was drinking, it would be “oh, I’m having a good/terrible/wonderful/awful day, let’s have a drink!” Now it’s, “oh, Bret is off work, I’ll take off work too!” Recognizing this about myself allows me to really dig into the why of it all – bottom line, I can be a pretty lazy person.

Another thing I learned is practicing extreme self-care. There are things that upset me, things that make me happy, and things that I think other people think is weird. I’ve learned I HAVE to say no to things that upset me, oh heck YES to things that make me happy and accept that I am who I am and I cannot control how people see me.

And the best is that people can change. I was locked in alcoholism for years, but God freed me from the shackles. In the years since I have changed in SO many other ways.

If someone you know is struggling with something, and you have thoughts that they’ll never change – take heart, change is possible. Oh and know that sobriety is FUN! I mean, look at all this fun I had AFTER getting sober.