The Sober Squad- Alcohol Free Living

Hi Everyone! @RubyRed427 I don't even have much of a social life normally, but it's more that BC (Before Covid), I had the choice to see if friends would be up for a get-together. I'm trying to focus on creativity and being with myself. Because that's who I'm with 24x7. Also trying to do some soul searching work that would be easy to distract myself from otherwise. I did find a therapist who's a good fit. She reinforced what y'all have said here. For someone who has had a bad relationship with alcohol, moderating is next to impossible for biological reasons for most.

@FeelinFooFoo I agree w/ @donimfp - You are a beautiful magical unicorn! So proud of you!

AF since Thanksgiving and no plans to resume. Christmas will be interesting.

OK. Y'all won't believe this. And I'm kind of embarrassed to post this. But I need to. So . . . tonight I was sitting in bed reading a new cookbook I got. My husband came in and sat by me and was reading our monthly Texas Highways magazine, which arrived today. The cookbook ended, of course, with a whole "cocktails" section. They looked really good. I turned to my husband and said, "Would you please fix me a vodka and Perrier?" He looked surprised but said, "Of course I will if that's what you want. Are you sure that's what you want?" I said yes, but no hurry. He looked back at the magazine and said, "Hey, this article is about those things you've bought--Kin Euphorics." (Those are nonalcoholic cocktails I've bought a few times--the ones with adaptogens like the Curious Elixirs--which I like better). I looked over and saw a photo of a tattooed bartender and the article title "Toppling the Tipple." I said, "Why is that in Texas Highways? What does nonalcoholic drinks have to do with Texas???" He said, "The writer is saying she visited a bar in Ft. Worth and one in Austin where they are serving nonalcoholic drinks. She says she hasn't been drinking for 10 years but found herself in a new kind of bar." I said, "What's the writer's name?" He said "Sarah Hepola." She was the author of Blackout , one of the quit lit memoirs I read. Since then, I've noticed her byline a couple of times in Texas Highways. She is a writer after all, and from Texas, so I guess she has become a contributor to that magazine.

Anyway, I grabbed the magazine from him and said, "Never mind. I don't want a vodka. This is a miracle from God." He laughed but I really wasn't kidding. I was actually going to drink a vodka on day 170. I saw those recipes and thought, "I can handle one drink." Then God put this article in my face. That is SO bizarre.

So . . . I asked him to make me a "tequila sunrise" instead--POM juice, orange juice, a little Perrier, and a splash of Ritual Zero non-alcoholic tequila--a drink I've been enjoying. While he was making it, I read the short article. She talked about being sober for 10 years and being glad that there are finally these options, with entrepreneurs realizing there is now a huge, growing sober market. She mentioned that "Shirley Temples" used to be the only option and mentioned a really good NA cocktail she had in a Houston bar--cocktail named "Don't Call Me Shirley."

Anyway, I'm sipping my lovely drink. I swear that if that hadn't happened I would now be drinking alcohol. That scares me. I'm just an impulse away from drinking and hadn't really realized that. I really do think there was some divine intervention going on. Anyway, just had to share. Dodged a bullet. God sent me a message from Sarah Hepola, one of our peeps.

Good night all. Sorry for the long post.

Thanks, FooFoo. That’s really interesting that the UK takes such a hard-line stance about alcohol free alternatives. I wonder what the rationale is.

Hooray for you, @FeelinFooFoo! You're ahead of me, time-wise, by 6 hours, so I'm thinking of you as you head into Christmas Eve evening. You have done so great!

Wishing everyone a happy Christmas, enjoying the many, many things there are to enjoy without alcohol!!

@RubyRed427, I'm convinced that the phrase that will be my undoing, if there is ever going to be an undoing, will be "Just one." I have to remember that for me, there is NO SUCH THING. It's like the Loch Ness Monster or the Yeti. the "Just One" creature is a total myth. Good for you for thinking it through to the end. Have a blessed Christmas!

Last night on Christmas Eve, we went to my parents on the next street. Completely sober meal and evening- no alcohol whatsoever anywhere.
My sister and I who are sober said we imagine there are a few families out there who probably ended the evening with arguments or drunken harsh words being spoken.

I told @JenT304 anytime I romanticize drinking wine, I make myself imagine the worst aspects of my drinking (hangover, illness, puffy face, anxiety, etc.) Keeps me in line for now.

As much as this year was painful, the positive is several of us identified our desire to change our relationship with alcohol. That is such a beautiful result of this terrible year. If we can stay sober during 2020, then we can stay sober in 2021.