Day 2 and glowing already

Well, 'glowing' might be a little hyperbolic.  But I am feeling brighter and I started off the day with a nice glowing green juice (aka glop) from my nutri-bullet.  So much nicer than just gulping pints and pints of cold water to slake that hangover thirst.  Yesterday was manageable, aided in large part by copious blog reading, some time on the Living Sober site and a fair amount of leftover holiday junk food.  Also I went to bed early :) and read about a third of Jason Vale's book which I liked, sort of a nice antidote/counterpoint to the AA disease model.  And for the first time in a long time, I did NOT wake up at 3 am with the sweats AND when I did wake up at 7, I felt good and clear headed.  Lovely!  

Reality is progressively marching back.  No office today, but I have work to do at home (next week is a big week with travel, big presentation, all kinds of stuff) and I am trying to undo the chaos of Christmas, etc and pack all that away.  Those tasks are so much easier to do un-hungover....the hangover lethargy is just lethal, and so painful.  Today's freedom from it inspires me to 'live another day.'  Sober that is.  

It's not worth the hangovers, the lost nights, the ruined next days, the abject misery of it all.  And for what?  My last drinking days (hell, almost all of my drinking days, particularly after my sober stint) were plagued with guilt and shame from the first sip of wine.  It didn't even taste or feel that good; it just operated to numb out some rough edges associated with a busy life - kids bickering, oh a glass of white will mute that a bit; Mr. SR is late for dinner or doing something annoying, a second glass will eliminate that irritation; stressed from work, let's transition to red; and now for the dinner, one more glass of red (for health benefits, haha or maybe to tune out the ongoing arguments of family members).  Followed by yet another glass to tidy up and 'relax' from all the prior activity.  Then the headachy going to sleep/passing out (always alarming to find that I cannot remember what I read on my kindle the night before), the 3 AM sweaty wake-up and the interminable hungover day to follow.  Good riddance to all THAT! 

So for today, I will just hold onto those memories and motivations and cobble another day on here.  My kids come home tomorrow and they'll undoubtedly bring some emotional challenges (that's what three teenagers do), but I know I can roll with those so much better sober than I ever did drunk or hungover.  I will stay strong and mindful.

Have a great sober day everyone!

Hugs,

SR