#Soberliving

[dianeandrews]

876 days sober AF

[choasinthemaking]

5 more days until we’re 7 months clean!!! Recovery is possible!

[letsgrownnhealtogether]

Something I saw that I thought was worth sharing, and may be helpful and needed for someone 🫶🫰 you got this!

[moss-gender]

addiction recovery tips

1. Protect your space. You don’t have time for bullshit anymore. Cut out the people you’ve been meaning to cut out. Make the most space for the people who have chosen to believe in you. Spend less time on social media. I’ve deleted my facebook and instagram apps. It doesn’t have to be permanent but you need to avoid triggers and to an emotionally sensitive person like many addicts are due to Post Acute Withdrawal Syndrome social media is full of triggers. It’s shown that social media makes you compare your lives to others leading to a lacking mindset rather than one of appreciation for what you have.

2. Find a recovery group. The important part is making community outreach a regular part of your week. Some people go to meetings everyday. There are plenty of meetings out there. AA, NA, DRA, SMART recovery, recovery dharma… if you don’t like the meetings you have available I recommend going anyway to connect with people. Take what resonates and leave the rest behind.

3. Take it a day at a time. You don’t have to commit to being sober for a lifetime, though hopefully you get there eventually. Just be sober today. 24 hours. And then do it again tomorrow.

4. Be as open about recovery as possible. Shame is a normal part of recovery but the more people you’re open with the more chances you have for increasing your support network. Outside of meetings, a support network is very important. No one is an island.

5. If you need to, “kill” yourself. Kill the old you. You have a blank slate. You’re starting fresh. You aren’t defined by your past. Reinvent yourself. Dare to dream big. You’ll need to have hobbies and goals to distract yourself when you get urges. Because you will get them. And sometimes it will be very bad. It helps to have a routine activity you enjoy to engage your brain and tap into your rational mind.

[germ-t-ripper]

10JAN24 You know it's a good sign when your driver from the airport to the hotel is a total stud!

[dreamytine]

10 months sober on my late mommas birthday!(today)

That’s got to be some sort of good omen 🥰

[redlettermediathings]

❤️ ❤️ ❤️

[109moons]

Was really feeling myself today.

[tythezawmbieslayer]

TW: RECOVERING ADDICT, SUBSTANCE ABUSE

Look how big my pupils are and how tired I looked. Benadryl can kill you, and it could’ve killed me.

Say no to drugs.

[cleanaf]

bill and bob go to NA ...

[dianeandrews]

As of today, I am 612 days (a little over 20 months) sober. The time between these photos is almost exactly 2 years, so the photo on the left was about 4 months before I finally dropped the bottle. I was drinking HEAVILY at that point. As you can probably tell, my entire body was quite literally soaked in booze.

Now that I've been sober nearly 2 years, I have done a LOT of healing, reflecting, soul searching and very painful emotional and mental growing. In that growth, I have learned some very important things about myself.

One of the biggest things that bothered me about my insane level of drinking was "why?". I was finally in a relationship with someone who OBVIOUSLY loved me for exactly who I was/am. I was doing well in basically all aspects of life. So, why was I drinking my life away and continually searching for that numbness?

It has taken me 20 months, but I think I finally have a big part of the answer: I was afraid of being happy.

The last time I thought I was happy had been 22 years prior. I was with a man who I thought was "the one". Long story short, things went downhill fast. He wasn't the one and I ended up nearly dying from stress. Literally.

I spent the next 22 years undulating between sober and drunk. Trying to grieve as eloquently as possible. Working my ass off to raise my daughter by myself, while also self-medicating and trying to live the life I though I deserved. Nothing I did felt fulfilling and no amount of booze could take away the pain of what I had lost. I had not only lost my trust and love in someone I thought was my soul mate (ah, stupid youth), but I had also lost the full use of what used to be a very strong, athletic and incredible body.

Fast forward to 2021 and here I was again in love with someone who this time actually was worth trusting and worth loving, yet I was still unable to allow myself to be happy.

Why? Fear. Plain and simple. Fear that my past was returning to play out exactly the same way it had before. That fear then led me to drink to cover itself up, which then progressed to full blown addiction and having a shot of tequila immediately after waking followed by one every hour until bed. In between that time, I was ruining everything good in my life. Alcohol has a way of doing that so you will continue to love it and nothing/no one else.

Since realizing this truth, I have found myself at peace. Peace knowing that I understand myself better. Peace within myself to allow myself to let go of that past pain and continue to tell myself things are different. I am different. I have healed in many, many ways. I am no longer that 20 year old inexperienced girl. I am a full grown very experienced and very wise woman. I am powerful. I am more powerful than my fears and I am certainly more powerful than any substance that tries to call me back to the dark side. No thank you, I prefer the light.

Many people have said that you can see how withdrawn I was in my "before" photos and now see how alive I am in my current. It's true. Not only is it obvious in my photos, but I feel it in my heart and soul. I still have some healing to do and will always be a work in progress, but I am beyond grateful I have found more of myself and have learned to love who I am and what I have to offer.

In the words of a wonderful man; I am Wonder Woman.

[choasinthemaking]

We made it to a year clean! So blessed

[adhdmommanl]

[tinypawsllc]

Thinks about sober life again - but why tho?

#soberlife #boozer #13reasonswhy #mentalhealthcheck #doglife #thank dog

[hauntedthoughtz]

So I’ve been diagnosed with ptsd recently and it kinda makes sense. Apparently the intense memories I get sometimes are actually ptsd flashbacks and why normal therapy hasn’t helped and why I’m still “caught up” in the past.

It’s from my abusive ex that I started dating 10 YEARS AGO and for some reason the flashbacks, dreams and triggers are getting more and more intense. Maybe it could be bc it’s (TW) 10 years since I tried to take my own life or maybe it’s just simply bc I’ve been working so hard to heal myself and I have made progress that it’s become more obvious it’s happening. I don’t know but I guess maybe I have some hope that I can now work on this specifically and try move forward?

A cool thing happened to me the other day though. I lost a weeks worth of work on video I had been editing, that I was about to complete (that isn’t the cool thing) and naturally I was devastated, I cried and processed it. But in the back of my head I was like things like this happen for a reason and you will be able to do it again it will be even better than before! So many years the negative thoughts out weighed the good, but it seems slowly I’ve trained my brain to actually think AND believe the positivity. And that was a pretty fucking cool thing.

So even though I still struggle and I still wonder if I will ever get “better” or be “normal” there really is a hopeful light keeping me going. I have faith.

[agirl-whosold-theworld]

With and without make up, hiiiii ✨✌🏻

300 days sober 😊