Things I Learned from Sober January
Things I Learned from Sober January
By: Jenna Bailey Smith, Lifestyle Blogger
Hello and happy day to all 23 loyal followers of my personal blog and ever-changing brand!
Today I’m writing to update you on a journey I’ve been on since the start of this new year: Sober January. I’m almost at the finish line, people, and boy, have I learned a lot! I want to share some of my newfound wisdom in this newsletter.
Since removing alcohol from my life, I’ve noticed several positive changes in my mental state. First, I have SO much more time to engage in activities that I never could while I was drinking. For example, now, instead of spending my Saturday nights dancing with friends and making lifelong memories, I have endless amount of time to ponder things like: “Would my 10 year old self be proud of my current self?” (No). “Have I lead an honest life?” (No). And “why am I incapable of accepting love?” (Repressed fear of rejection from my most formative adolescent years). Although this time has been filled with some difficult self-reflection, I never would have realized these things during one my my “drinking sprees.” What good ever comes out of the warm and dizzying comfort of a hot toddy over pleasant conversation with a good friend, or a quiet night in with a glass of wine and an awesome Netflix show?
I also began noticing the benefits of telling everyone who didn’t ask, about my Sober January. Since tirelessly bringing it up in every possible conversation at work, for example, my calendar has inexplicably freed up. It seems like all my meetings, as well as office happy hours, company softball games, and monthly outings with my team, have been cancelled. It’s almost like some higher being has rewarded my sobriety with the gift of EVEN MORE FREE TIME! Round two of pondering why my dad left my mom for another family, here I come!!! (Note: All my coworkers who have not yet confronted the dark spell of alcohol still have these times marked as “busy” on their calendars. I wish someone would tell them what they’re missing!)
And finally, for all you health-freaks out there wondering just how much Sober January has impacted my diet—GUESS WHAT?! I don’t drunk eat anymore! I ONLY sober eat. And I didn’t even have to make sacrifices to my diet. I literally eat the exact same things (uncooked Hot Pockets, my roommates’ leftovers, and Vienna sausages by the can) at the exact same times as I did before (11pm, 2:30am, and 4:45am, respectively). It’s almost like, I never even needed alcohol to behave the way I did, it’s just inherently who I am. Neat!
Alrught, so i know some of you are wondering, “how do i do my own sober janury” to which I say IT’S E-Z!!!! All you need is a (as my psychiatrist calls it) “blame complex” where u blame ur own personal shortcomings on unrealated things in ur life, (like BOOOOZE) and remove them entirely as a “quick fix.”. It also hekps if u hav genreally low self esteyewn, a hsitroy of binge eatging, and are bada enough at ur jolb that it;s unimoprtant whethert or not ur in meetings.
I hope u alcoholics havefr lerned osnething godo from this! I know i have(n’t??? lol jk) ok G2G, it’s 4:44am and im’ just abour ready to eat a SHIT TON of sausage and ttrhink about my dad
IM NOT DRRUNK
-jennaaaaaaaa
