I accidentally went sober this year!

I accidentally went sober this year.

One of my positive disruptions.

Yep – no booze since New Years Eve 2019. I had no plan to quit booze, it just kind of happened.
I haven’t drunk very much in the last few years anyway. I could mostly take it or leave it. A big contrast to how I was in my 20s. With a combination of worsening hangovers, anxiety and if I’m honest I never really enjoyed the taste anyway (apart from an Aperol spritz), it really wasn’t adding anything to my life. In fact the balance tipped to it taking more than it was giving.

So this year of not drinking hasn’t made a huge impact in my life. I’d love to have had that renewed sense of energy and clarity that people talk about, but my slow reduction over time has been too subtle to get the wow factor.

Anyway, that’s not what I was looking for. I wasn’t looking for anything, and that’s the point.

Sometimes a positive disruption isn’t the big wow factor, or a quest for a result. It is subtle. It is incremental. It’s the things that you do or not do because something deep inside of you knows what’s best for you.

And the reason it’s a disruption is because it has disrupted a pattern that I used to follow, often unconsciously. When we change our patterns from this place of deep knowing, we become the new pattern. It’s like part of our identity. I’ve become the person who doesn’t drink. It’s just part of who I am now. Maybe forever, who knows.

I could talk and talk about the benefits of quitting the booze. I was a drug and alcohol support worker for 10 years, and alcohol has brought a lot of pain and destruction to my family too. But I’m not here to tell you that, because information alone makes no difference.

What makes a difference is learning how to listen and trust yourself. To know how to make changes from a place of deep knowing, so that it doesn’t become a battle.