A Big Deal

 What does two years of sobriety mean to me? It means don’t f*** up!

Seriously, this is something you don’t mess with. It’s not fifty years, but it is golden, and it’s not physical,  but it is palpable. It’s the next best thing since sliced bread. It’s a gift I gave myself. And it could last forever.

My two year birthday ( I like to say birthday instead of anniversary. It’s more fun) was on Good Friday of this year 2026, and I realized I never wrote about it, even though I occasionally do write about my sobriety (which is so boring, I know). This was a big deal for me.

The first serious sobriety I maintained lasted only five months. I have to give myself credit for that because I did try really hard. I was obsessed with other people’s drinking, my roommate in particular; it seemed like the whole trailer park drank except for me; well, because they did. It was everywhere. They say people white knuckle it— I totally understand that phrase. I broke my sobriety on Valentine’s Day ‘23 when the neighbor gifted us a six pack of budlight bottles. And I drank all six, of course (slow down, cow girl!). Then I threw up :/

So I never thought I could be sober living in this place, when almost all the neighbors drink. It sucks. If you want friends here, you have to put up with their alcoholism. Now, there’s a handful of sober people that I know, so small in fact if you sprinkled them on pasta they’d be three sprigs of parsley. People that drank and gave it up, without AA. And only one person I know who never had a problem with it and just doesn’t do it (and I live with him). 

So it’s possible to maintain your abstinence if you stay in your bubble. I don’t mean stay inside, but use that protective bubble god gave you. Find your coping mechanisms. Use your strength. Change your thinking about it. Get a hobby! There’s so many things to do besides drink. But I get it, it seems to rise to the top of the list. Nothing compared to it, right? I know. 

What sobriety really means to me is doing things my way, not alcohol’s way.

I’m not trying to quit soda or sugar or caffeine or nicotine. I know, it’s bad. But it’s the sacrifice. And I gotta indulge in something, I’m not superhuman! 

If you’ve got any kind of sobriety, from whatever substance or behavior, give yourself a pat on the back. You’re doing good! It’s a big deal.


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