The Top “Exploring Sobriety” Posts of 2020
By: Benya Clark
Tags: Addiction, Mental Health, Sobriety, Alcoholism, Self Improvement

I’ve been writing more than ever this year and want to thank each of you for reading. As the year wraps up, I’ve gathered the ten most popular “Exploring Sobriety” posts of 2020 into the list below.

If you’re a new reader, this list is the perfect starting place. If you’ve been following me for a while, it’s a great way to catch up on any posts you missed or wanted to read again. I hope you all enjoy these and find them interesting or helpful.

10. Why Addicts Do Endless Mental Math

“One of the things that non-addicts rarely realize about alcoholism is how much planning goes into it. This is especially true among so-called ‘high-functioning alcoholics.’ My drinking days required constant calculations, as I tried to balance law school and work with getting drunk every single night.”

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9. Why Recovering Addicts Become Obsessed With Healthy Living

“After quitting drinking, other health changes followed. I ditched the cigarettes, started eating better, and became an avid runner. Today, I’m living a healthier lifestyle than ever before.

I’ve become a bit of a stereotype. There’s a trend among recovering addicts to get obsessed with healthy living, and I’m certainly a part of it. My drinking years had been on one extreme of the health spectrum, and now I’ve swung to the other.”

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8. My Biggest Personality Change Since Quitting Drinking

“Although I didn’t realize it at the time, years of heavy drinking had turned me into an incredibly dull person. I didn’t have any serious interests or hobbies. I worked hard in school and at my job, but spent the rest of my time mostly just watching television.

Quitting drinking gave me the room I needed to discover who I really am. I became happier and more optimistic. I also started to develop interests outside of work, and I stopped sitting in front of the TV all night.

Among all the changes that my personality went through though, there’s one that stands out above the rest: I gained an extraordinary amount of self-discipline.”

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7. How to Relax at Home Without Alcohol

I finally quit drinking around three-and-a-half years ago. At the time, one of my biggest fears about sobriety was whether I could ever learn to relax without alcohol.

I was an incredibly tense and high-strung person. When I pictured life without booze, I imagined one long anxiety attack.

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6. The One Thing Harder Than Getting Sober

“My sober life was nothing like I imagined it would be. I had been blaming alcohol for all of my problems, and I thought that everything would get better as soon as it was gone. The reality was that my life had even gotten a bit worse since I had quit drinking.

Getting through those months was tough. I came up with every excuse I could think of to go back to drinking. I considered throwing in the towel and resigning myself to a life as a drunk.”

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5. The Most Dangerous Risk a Recovering Addict Can Take

“One of the things that helped me to finally stay sober this time, after failing again and again in the past, was that I learned to stop sabotaging myself.

Whenever I’ve tried to quit drinking, it’s always felt like a war raging between to halves of my mind. One side recognizes the danger of alcohol and is ready to quit. The other side is still ruled by my addiction, and wants more than anything to go back to drinking.”

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4. The Biggest Mistake I’ve Made Since Quitting Drinking

“Throughout most of my adult life, I’ve struggled with two serious addictions: alcohol and tobacco.

My drinking and smoking habits grew hand-in-hand, both becoming daily vices during college. By the time I graduated, I was smoking a pack of cigarettes a day and getting drunk every night.”

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3. How Long Does It Take Until Sobriety Starts to Feel Good?

“Like a lot of addicts, I regularly daydreamed about how perfect my life could be if only I could give up alcohol. I imagined living every moment to its fullest, reaching my full potential, and never having another regret.

Often I’d even plan out my hypothetical schedule for my first days sober: waking up early to exercise, cooking every meal from scratch, staying focused at work and spending all my free time productively.

Of course, the reality of being newly sobriety didn’t live up to those over-the-top fantasies.”

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2. Why I’ll Never Go Back to Alcohol

“Drinking in moderation sounded so easy in theory. It was the same thing I was already doing, just less. How hard could that be? For me though, it wasn’t just hard — it was impossible.

I think non-addicts might never quite be able to understand how strong an addict’s compulsions are. No amount of logic, reasoning, or desire was ever enough for me to resist the pull of another drink.”

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1. How An Alcoholic Thinks About Drinking

“Whenever I used to drink (which was daily for many years), my goal was always the same: to get as drunk as possible.

I would say that I liked the taste of beer, or that I needed to unwind, but the real point of my drinking was to get as intoxicated as I could by the end of the night. The only lines I tried not to cross were getting sick and passing out, and I even crossed those lines with embarrassing frequency.

In my mind, the drunker I was, the better. My thinking was really as simple as that.”

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