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The Joy of a Non-Alcoholic Christmas
The greatest gift is something I choose not to do
The image above represents the way I used to see alcohol.
Magical.
Ethereal.
A comforting elixir.
A solution to any situation.
This Christmas is my third consecutive sober Christmas.
Choosing not to drink and finding a path to overcoming alcohol use disorder is an amazing gift.
Not doing this one thing opens up so many doors.
Speaking of gifts, I wrote once about a birthday gift of bourbon — a gift I wish I’d given back.
Early in recovery, I read tons of articles about overcoming alcohol. I still read a lot of them.
In that spirit, I thought this might be a good time to share some of my stories about finding a release from the grips of alcohol.
Alcohol can be an insidious master — wrapping you in a comfort that quickly turns to seemingly unbreakable chains.
In this piece, I attempted to capture that feeling — the desire to stop combined with the desire to use again. Both happening at the same time.
Freedom from those chains is an amazing gift. And all it takes today is not picking up that first drink.
I started out by talking a bit about the magic of alcohol.
I’ve had my fair share of magical experiences — with and without alcohol. And I’ve also had some pretty magical opportunities. But when I was drinking, all the magic seemed to get washed away.
