2-years sober today. What I have learned.

I took my last drink on 12/30 of 2022. I wanted to end 2022 "sober" so 12/31/22 was my first day not drinking. I haven't had a sip since. Here are a few reflections and considerations, hopefully encouraging and inspiring to you.

• If you're wondering if you should stop drinking, then you should stop drinking. Not for a month, not for 90 days, but just truly stop and be done with it. There you have it. That's the answer. It's the correct answer. It's a wonderfully free mindset to just be free and done with alcohol instead of counting days until you can have it again. More on that, below.
• The "key" to stopping is realizing once and for all that the alcohol does nothing positive for you and only sells you a pack of lies. Once you understand this truth, stopping is easy. Until then, stopping is really hard. That's why stopping completely is so much better than just trying to cut back. I'd failed at cutting back over and over.
• Once you actually stop, and mean it, you'll be so relieved and liberated that the joy of freedom from alcohol will be far greater than any fake joy alcohol ever gave you.
• Everything you're worried you'll lose in stopping drinking is an illusion or a net gain to be without. I haven't lost a single important friend, and many of my friendships are stronger. I haven't missed out on a single fun event. I haven't had any less fun.
• Every single thing you value in your life will be better within 30 days of stopping, and will be even better than that within 6 months of stopping drinking. And it keeps getting better. You will step off downward trajectories and start moving in better paths over time.
• You won't miss the alcohol, you won't envy those who drink. See above. You may have to remind yourself of this once in a while, but it's true so it's an easy reminder.
• You will be surprised and saddened by watching other people keep buying into obvious lies about alcohol and why they should have more of it. It's a weirdly huge part of society, and totally unnecessary. Upon reflection, it's pretty dark.
• Pouring out a drink symbolically feels really good. I've had incredible moments pouring out a glass of expensive wine that I "shared" with somebody. If they "get it" then they're very honored that I would pour out my portion in deep appreciation of what sharing the cup means. It's a pretty cool workaround to just opting out. I pour my cups out as an offering to Jesus. If you have something else worthy of your drink offering, feel free.
• I haven't saved any money, but the money I would have spent on alcohol has been spent on far more fun and worthy pursuits. For example, I've gotten back into running and run some epic ultra races in cool locations in the past 18 months. That would've been harder to afford if I was spending so much on booze. I regret how much money I wasted on booze. I relish the money I have spent on worthier pursuits.
• Your health, sleep, mental health, and peace of mind will all be exponentially better. All the issues I thought I had which required drinking (like "It helps me sleep, it helps me relax" etc.) were only concerns because of what the alcohol was doing to me. It was a crutch that was making me lame.
• Not drinking legitimately feels like an unfair advantage, like having a cheat code in life over people who drink consistently. My life is easier and better and less expensive and more fun and I physically feel better and sleep better and I have fewer worries and I make better overall decisions. What's not to love?
• All of this applies to you, and you deserve to live a better life. A lot of my drinking, behind all the excuses, was self-loathing and self-destruction. A huge amount of that self-loathing was the alcohol speaking. I'm sorry for what I was doing to myself and I didn't deserve it. You don't deserve it, either.
  

From the very bottom of my heart, I wish you a happy and wonderful New Year!