Super Sparkly Sober Saturday

Pre Soberdom, weekends were for one thing only and that was getting hammered. On Friday nights, the habit was real. There I was, like a bee to a honey pot, hurtling down the wine aisle to check out the offers. In summer, it was white or rose; in winter, heavy red. Two bottles (one was never enough) were slung unceremoniously in my basket followed by brief stop down the ready meal aisle and not forgetting a nice fresh pack of 20 from the cigarette kiosk. Boom, I was ready to launch. Home. Bags dropped to the floor. Wine poured before anything else and slugged down in three. One fag out the window. Breathe (smoke). Another fag out the window. Glug. And breathe (smoke) once more. Happy weekend. When I look back at this little ritual, I can still remember the panic. The excitement. The race. All to get home to slurp and smoke. I attribute it to habit and relief and stress. In my former job, the weeks were long perpetuated by excruciating hangovers, shouty angry customers and a Hitler style management regime. It was a celebration to leave the workhouse each week and get home to safety. It was what I’d always done, rewarded myself for surviving another week on the planet. After all, I deserved it right? Now, it seems such an alien concept to reward myself with poisons and toxins. In fact, it’s just plain bloody bizarre! Oh I know, I’ve had a hard week at work and I’m really tired, emotional and stressed so I’ll just fill my body up with stuff that generally makes me even more tired, emotional and stressed, resulting in a shit night's sleep followed by vomming all day on my day off! Yeah, what an incredibly genius idea! When you stop drinking alcohol, weekends morph from ‘over in the blink of an eye’ to ‘every minute becomes an hour’. It’s almost off putting at the start. One Saturday, I remember waking up, writing, eating, walking, cleaning and it was still 9am. I was thinking ‘how on Earth do I fill my day?’ and rather than being pleased, the prospect of so much sober time, was daunting. There was too much time to think about drinking. Now, there is never enough time. There is always something to do. I write, I cook, I blog, I walk, I edit. I breathe fresh, clean air. I did none of those things before. Hangovers literally stole my joy. They stole my creativity. They stole my weekends. If you want to be successful in sobriety, you will have to change your weekend routine and planning is key. Do activities that don't involve drinking; get outside, go for a long walk, go to the cinema, drive somewhere you've never been before. You have to train your brain to expect different things from a weekend. Your brain will expect to get bladdered if that's what you've always done. You have to show it who's boss and get it to look forward to something else! Chocolate, exercise, reading, sex. Do whatever it takes! I'm not sure I'll ever get over how fantastic Sober Saturday's are. They are truly one of the best parts of sobriety. To feel alive and full of possibility is a very beautiful thing. Time is precious; don't waste it. #day595 Written by Sober Fish 2018 CLICK HERE FOR A FREE AUDIBLE TRIAL https://www.amazon.co.uk/Audible-Free-Trial-Digital-Membership/dp/B00OPA2XFG?tag=soberfish22-21 CLICK HERE TO BUY ‘YOU LEFT EARLY’ BY LOUISA YOUNG https://amzn.to/2uxbD6R CLICK HERE TO BUY 'RECOVERY' BY RUSSELL BRAND https://amzn.to/2JjdSQt CLICK HERE TO BUY 'THE SOBER DIARIES' BY CLAIRE POOLEY https://amzn.to/2LgdqnW CLICK HERE TO BUY 'THE UNEXPECTED JOY OF BEING SOBER' BY CATHERINE GRAY https://amzn.to/2uxP1Dr CLICK HERE TO BUY 'DRY' BY AUGUSTEN BURROUGHS https://amzn.to/2ultRZB