So today, November 3, is my birthday, and as an alcoholic, I’m expecting a parade. Won’t happen, but for the past 10-13 or so years, I’ve found that my sober anniversary is a much bigger, more important and brings me much more joy. It marks the anniversary of a change of the better of me, something I am proud of, and something I feel good about when I help others. In three days, November 6, if I can get to three more midnights, I’ll celebrate 13 years of being sober. There will be others celebrating that with me, those who made the same decision I did, and found that their life really began at that point, rather than ended. Oh, and I will get a present---not the one I get every day by being sober, but the one below. I'm very excited to receive it! (Plus read the features of this thing! High Quality 3D Graphics, for example)
So in three days: November 6.
If you follow me or read me, November 6 marked a
decided milestone in my life. On that day in 2010 I stopped drinking, stopped
using, became clean and sober, without ever having the need to go back to it. (Note:
Need is different than want, and I may have thought that I wanted to, but when
push came to shove I didn’t).
I’ve thought about this and a lot of other things today, (because I tend to overthink),
and concluding that stopping was not because of something associated with that
particular birthday. Perhaps I was reflecting upon my life on that day (I tend to do
that too) and it had some influence, but mostly, I stopped, was because my life wasn’t what I
wanted it to be. I was settling for less, my emotions were all
over the road, and my personal relationships were pretty non-existent. I was in rough shape physically and mentally.
I’ve written about this subject here in the past nearly every year
and if you want more details go to the right side of this news/blog thing and
open up entries from early November, 2010 and on. (Let me help you)
Also, there in the search bar (look hard, it's small) if you plug in
words, for example, sober, sobriety, alcohol etc., various entries will
also come up. (Go ahead, stick your name in there too, to see if I wrote about
you).
Mostly, three things stick out about how my life has changed.
1) I am more even tempered, level-headed, and when there are issues I am able to walk through them.
2) When my son was married in July, I was asked to speak. This never would have been asked because there was no way anyone could predict what would come out of my mouth. Also, at the wedding my new daughter in law stated, "When it comes to father-in-laws, I hit the jackpot." Yes, again, drunk Tim would have been described by other jackpots.
3) And most important. Four years ago, almost to the day, my mother would jump straight from a cancer treatment appointment to hospice care. Because of my sobriety I was in a) good standing in my job. b) had enough sick, and vacation days accrued and c) was able to be with her almost every day until she passed. What a gift!
