Experiences of sobering up with SOBERISTi
Experiences of sobering up with SOBERISTi
On this page you will find sober stories from those who have freed themselves from alcohol with the SOBERISTi® method. Read their experiences below and get inspired.
On this page you will find sober stories from those who have freed themselves from alcohol with the SOBERISTi® method. Read their experiences below and get inspired.
A YEAR of soberism behind me.
For years, I had been living as a prisoner of alcohol. When I retired, my alcohol consumption got out of control. When I no longer had to think about going to work in the morning, drinking became an everyday occurrence. Sometimes I started already during the day.
I was constantly feeling unwell and depressed. I had originally started drinking for depression, anxiety, and to drown my sorrows, but then alcohol made me feel worse and made me want to drink more. This created a self-feeding spiral.
I had read Ira's book (Free from wine - how life changes when you quit drinking) many times, but just reading the book was not enough.
This course, the exercises and the weekly Zoom meetings helped. When the urge to drink came, I thought, how dare I go on a Zoom meeting and tell people that I'd relapsed. It stopped me from falling apart.
The peer support was really important to me, and the fact that I could for once talk directly about something I was ashamed of.
What I also learned from this online course is that once an addiction is formed, there is no delete key to erase it. As long as I stay away from alcohol, I am free. But if I started to imagine I could drink in moderation, and I started drinking again, the slide back to baseline would be faster than going down a children's play park slide.
This is a decision for the rest of my life. I have gained peace of mind, joy in life, freedom from prison. Thank you Ira and all my other soberist sisters.
YESTERDAY was the sixth consecutive Friday (Friday was always my drinking day) without wine and now it's been over 40 days without alcohol. Many different feelings have come and gone, but the most significant is the lifting of depression and shame. The most surprising has been the sweet tooth! And a kind of PMS style grumpiness I've experienced quite often.
I guess my physical dependence on alcohol has been relatively non-existent, because I only (or should I say "only") drank once a week, but my psychological dependence was great and I knew that was the biggest thing about this project from the start.
I've been my own kind of closet drinker, who has been able to go without wine quite easily hanging on to the thought of being able to drink again later. Now there has been no promise and I feel like a child who has been deprived of a favourite treat. A similar kind of childish, internal anger is there, too. What a lot alcohol can do to us! Mental addiction is actually quite frightening, to have been so addicted.
MY FIRST year sober finished on 10/21 and it continued well even after that. But then came the sadness, etc. unpleasant thoughts, and I couldn't deal with them without wine.
I only drank occasionally because my wonderful job kept me in line, with my evening/work shifts. But every single time I took a drink, it led to insane depression and despair. The wine was certainly not a "joyful" one.
That's why I dug out the Free Yourself from Wine course and started again. BUT now with a different mindset; I dared to go to the bottom, to the root cause, and I didn't let myself off the hook. I normally like to stay in my comfort zone.
And the best realization in the world has been that when I decide that alcohol is no longer a part of my life in any form, it's like getting 1,000,000 volts of joy/energy/love and freedom. Then you are truly free. It's taken work for me, but it's all worth it.
THE BEST thing about the Free Yourself from Wine with Ease and Joy course is the freedom and joy of learning, not the intimidation/threats/randomness.
FOR MY 50th birthday party I enjoyed a non-alcoholic bubbly wine and cake recommended by Ira, so good! The best gift I have ever received is six months and a bit of sobriety. I can't believe I've made it this far, and it hasn't even been tough! I don't understand this myself!
This is the first summer in a long time when I've really enjoyed life, and felt a surprising sense of happiness. Before, following a few years of heavy losses, the gloom had seemed to engulf me. I would never have thought that you could enjoy summer sober, and you had to live to be this "old" to realise it. At the moment I am happy.
A YEAR has passed quickly, and the best thing about it is this soberism. Life is full when you have a wonderful job, children and, through them, wonderful grandchildren.
Even though I didn't drink in front of my grandchildren, I felt guilty about my thoughts going back to wine quite often; when I return the children to their own homes, I can drink in peace again.
I didn't want to be a drinking granny.
That's why I'm very happy that my youngest darling will never have to experience my alcohol restlessness.
I AM so grateful for this course! Without it, I would not have been able to free myself from alcohol. Now I feel like I've started a new life and I can do anything! This feeling is incredible <3
NINE months without alcohol. A great journey! So many things have improved in my life since I quit alcohol completely. I wouldn't have believed it when I quit it. It's exciting to be heading into the summer, when I used to have a tipple or two to celebrate summer and holidays. I wonder how I will feel about other people who are still enjoying the summer with drinks.
I'd like to shout to everyone about the benefits of not drinking, but I realise that preaching is not the way to go. It didn't bring me to this side of the border either. But many people have wondered about the subject of my non-drinking. That's enough.
Good luck and hugs to all of us. We're pretty tough for daring to change the direction of our lives.
I BOUGHT a motorbike on Monday! I used the money that I didn't drink away. And it's nice not to have to think about whether it'll be ready to drive in the morning. Dreams do come true, one at a time.
NOW, as a soberist, it's lovely to think about the summer ahead. No wasted days because of a hangover. Summer is too short anyway.
I HAD decided a thousand times not to drink any more, because I can't stand the depression that comes with wine. And the very next moment I was wondering when I could drink wine again. But now, after my last work shift, I realised that I wasn't in a hurry to do anything. It was a wonderful feeling of peace to concentrate on lighting the fireplace, watching the dog, noticing the nature around me. There was no rush to get everything out of the way so I could pop open the wine and relax. Now all the relaxation was in doing things and enjoying a sober life.
I HAVE 7.5 months of sobriety behind me. Without the support of this group, I would not have succeeded. This is where I got the tools for a new sober life and support in difficult moments. Zoom dates are important.
AT THE beginning of the week, it will be one month. Another weekend without shame or grumpiness. I've fallen in love with a new "sparkling wine" that I drink ice-cold from a large glass: lemon sparkling water. Just wonderful!
The first signs of toning up are now visible on my face. My eyes are brighter. But the best thing is the elimination of shame.
Thank you Ira.
I AM so very happy: tomorrow I will have been completely sober for a year! I found Ira's Free from Wine book a year ago. In the book, other women's experiences of alcohol use and the pain it had caused hit home with me. For a long time, for many years, I had been trying the all-too-familiar moderation, longer breaks, etc. Even a little drinking made me feel depressed for many days. Well, you all know these things.
So Ira's book hit the spot and I joined this Soberist community. In the beginning, all the emails, this Facebook community and the imagination exercises were really important. The first 3 months seemed the most challenging. I avoided the various parties and other situations where people would have a drink. Then it got easier. It was a challenging time at Christmas and at the beginning of this summer I was thinking a lot about what summer would taste like with sparkling water. And it has tasted good.
It's really nice to never have to think about alcohol in any form. When you don't use it at all, you don't have to spend a second thinking about it. It's so liberating!
The best thing is to wake up every morning without a hangover, feeling well and getting things done. I used to have hangovers, depression, guilt and anxiety. Even if all I'd done was drink a couple of glasses of champagne.
A few friends have faded away, but most of them have taken this well. Nobody asks many questions anymore. And I don't mind if you ask. Friends wonder if I don't miss it. No I don't. I don't think about it.
Then when I see drunk people, they are a good deterrent in themselves! But only those who have ever drunk and quit know that. It's good to be on this side. Hopefully for the rest of my life.
I want to strongly encourage you all to continue on this path of soberism/absolutism. A year ago, I didn't know I could do this myself. I have proved myself strong-willed, and I have proven the point of Ira's argument that you just know when your decision is final. All the other roads had already been trodden.
Have a great start to the autumn and remember that we all have those challenging moments, but one moment at a time we get through them.
A YEAR of soberism behind me.
For years, I had been living as a prisoner of alcohol. When I retired, my alcohol consumption got out of control. When I no longer had to think about going to work in the morning, drinking became an everyday occurrence. Sometimes I started already during the day.
I was constantly feeling unwell and depressed. I had originally started drinking for depression, anxiety, and to drown my sorrows, but then alcohol made me feel worse and made me want to drink more. This created a self-feeding spiral.
I had read Ira's book (Free from wine - how life changes when you quit drinking) many times, but just reading the book was not enough.
This course, the exercises and the weekly Zoom meetings helped. When the urge to drink came, I thought, how dare I go on a Zoom meeting and tell people that I'd relapsed. It stopped me from falling apart.
The peer support was really important to me, and the fact that I could for once talk directly about something I was ashamed of.
What I also learned from this online course is that once an addiction is formed, there is no delete key to erase it. As long as I stay away from alcohol, I am free. But if I started to imagine I could drink in moderation, and I started drinking again, the slide back to baseline would be faster than going down a children's play park slide.
This is a decision for the rest of my life. I have gained peace of mind, joy in life, freedom from prison. Thank you Ira and all my other soberist sisters.
I HAD decided a thousand times not to drink any more, because I can't stand the depression that comes with wine. And the very next moment I was wondering when I could drink wine again. But now, after my last work shift, I realised that I wasn't in a hurry to do anything. It was a wonderful feeling of peace to concentrate on lighting the fireplace, watching the dog, noticing the nature around me. There was no rush to get everything out of the way so I could pop open the wine and relax. Now all the relaxation was in doing things and enjoying a sober life.
I HAVE 7.5 months of sobriety behind me. Without the support of this group, I would not have succeeded. This is where I got the tools for a new sober life and support in difficult moments. Zoom dates are important.
YESTERDAY was the sixth consecutive Friday (Friday was always my drinking day) without wine and now it's been over 40 days without alcohol. Many different feelings have come and gone, but the most significant is the lifting of depression and shame. The most surprising has been the sweet tooth! And a kind of PMS style grumpiness I've experienced quite often.
I guess my physical dependence on alcohol has been relatively non-existent, because I only (or should I say "only") drank once a week, but my psychological dependence was great and I knew that was the biggest thing about this project from the start.
I've been my own kind of closet drinker, who has been able to go without wine quite easily hanging on to the thought of being able to drink again later. Now there has been no promise and I feel like a child who has been deprived of a favourite treat. A similar kind of childish, internal anger is there, too. What a lot alcohol can do to us! Mental addiction is actually quite frightening, to have been so addicted.
AT THE beginning of the week, it will be one month. Another weekend without shame or grumpiness. I've fallen in love with a new "sparkling wine" that I drink ice-cold from a large glass: lemon sparkling water. Just wonderful!
The first signs of toning up are now visible on my face. My eyes are brighter. But the best thing is the elimination of shame.
Thank you Ira.
MY FIRST year sober finished on 10/21 and it continued well even after that. But then came the sadness, etc. unpleasant thoughts, and I couldn't deal with them without wine.
I only drank occasionally because my wonderful job kept me in line, with my evening/work shifts. But every single time I took a drink, it led to insane depression and despair. The wine was certainly not a "joyful" one.
That's why I dug out the Free Yourself from Wine course and started again. BUT now with a different mindset; I dared to go to the bottom, to the root cause, and I didn't let myself off the hook. I normally like to stay in my comfort zone.
And the best realization in the world has been that when I decide that alcohol is no longer a part of my life in any form, it's like getting 1,000,000 volts of joy/energy/love and freedom. Then you are truly free. It's taken work for me, but it's all worth it.
THE BEST thing about the Free Yourself from Wine with Ease and Joy course is the freedom and joy of learning, not the intimidation/threats/randomness.
FOR MY 50th birthday party I enjoyed a non-alcoholic bubbly wine and cake recommended by Ira, so good! The best gift I have ever received is six months and a bit of sobriety. I can't believe I've made it this far, and it hasn't even been tough! I don't understand this myself!
This is the first summer in a long time when I've really enjoyed life, and felt a surprising sense of happiness. Before, following a few years of heavy losses, the gloom had seemed to engulf me. I would never have thought that you could enjoy summer sober, and you had to live to be this "old" to realise it. At the moment I am happy.
A YEAR has passed quickly, and the best thing about it is this soberism. Life is full when you have a wonderful job, children and, through them, wonderful grandchildren.
Even though I didn't drink in front of my grandchildren, I felt guilty about my thoughts going back to wine quite often; when I return the children to their own homes, I can drink in peace again.
I didn't want to be a drinking granny.
That's why I'm very happy that my youngest darling will never have to experience my alcohol restlessness.
I AM so grateful for this course! Without it, I would not have been able to free myself from alcohol. Now I feel like I've started a new life and I can do anything! This feeling is incredible <3
NINE months without alcohol. A great journey! So many things have improved in my life since I quit alcohol completely. I wouldn't have believed it when I quit it. It's exciting to be heading into the summer, when I used to have a tipple or two to celebrate summer and holidays. I wonder how I will feel about other people who are still enjoying the summer with drinks.
I'd like to shout to everyone about the benefits of not drinking, but I realise that preaching is not the way to go. It didn't bring me to this side of the border either. But many people have wondered about the subject of my non-drinking. That's enough.
Good luck and hugs to all of us. We're pretty tough for daring to change the direction of our lives.
I BOUGHT a motorbike on Monday! I used the money that I didn't drink away. And it's nice not to have to think about whether it'll be ready to drive in the morning. Dreams do come true, one at a time.
NOW, as a soberist, it's lovely to think about the summer ahead. No wasted days because of a hangover. Summer is too short anyway.
I AM so very happy: tomorrow I will have been completely sober for a year! I found Ira's Free from Wine book a year ago. In the book, other women's experiences of alcohol use and the pain it had caused hit home with me. For a long time, for many years, I had been trying the all-too-familiar moderation, longer breaks, etc. Even a little drinking made me feel depressed for many days. Well, you all know these things.
So Ira's book hit the spot and I joined this Soberist community. In the beginning, all the emails, this Facebook community and the imagination exercises were really important. The first 3 months seemed the most challenging. I avoided the various parties and other situations where people would have a drink. Then it got easier. It was a challenging time at Christmas and at the beginning of this summer I was thinking a lot about what summer would taste like with sparkling water. And it has tasted good.
It's really nice to never have to think about alcohol in any form. When you don't use it at all, you don't have to spend a second thinking about it. It's so liberating!
The best thing is to wake up every morning without a hangover, feeling well and getting things done. I used to have hangovers, depression, guilt and anxiety. Even if all I'd done was drink a couple of glasses of champagne.
A few friends have faded away, but most of them have taken this well. Nobody asks many questions anymore. And I don't mind if you ask. Friends wonder if I don't miss it. No I don't. I don't think about it.
Then when I see drunk people, they are a good deterrent in themselves! But only those who have ever drunk and quit know that. It's good to be on this side. Hopefully for the rest of my life.
I want to strongly encourage you all to continue on this path of soberism/absolutism. A year ago, I didn't know I could do this myself. I have proved myself strong-willed, and I have proven the point of Ira's argument that you just know when your decision is final. All the other roads had already been trodden.
Have a great start to the autumn and remember that we all have those challenging moments, but one moment at a time we get through them.
