If you feel as if you’re hanging on by your fingertips at the moment, you’re probably not alone. The struggle is real for those of us who make the decision to abstain from alcohol at this time of the year.
I had the experience yesterday of travelling back from Waiheke Island on the ferry. There are a number of vineyards on the Island and I guess a lot of companies are having functions for their staff--or maybe people are just holidaying and letting loose for the end of the year.
I’ve been sober for nearly two decades, but I can spot a party of people ‘going up the curve’ from a long way away. Those kind of people were on the boat. I would have been one of them at one time.
I also couldn’t help but notice the number of people who were purchasing alcohol at the bar to drink on the 35 minute ferry ride. I would have been one of those people as well.
Instead, today I choose to plug myself into my phone and listen to something uplifting for the 35 minute trip and blot out the insanity going on around me.
The pressures of the holiday season can become great around about now. Alcohol seems to be everywhere. Honestly, it’s not if you change your focus.
Today, I choose to focus on how well I feel when I wake up in the morning. I choose to focus on the restful night’s sleep I had last night. I choose to focus on the fact that I didn’t need sugar and caffeine and lashings of Vitamin B to get me started this morning.
Today, I’m free of the crippling after effects of one too many at the office party. I can enjoy my day and I’m travelling full of gratitude for that very fact.
If you’re not feeling grateful, if you’re feeling too many tricky emotions and you have a sense of being left out of all the fun, focus on the good things that you have in your life today. Think forward to what would have happened if you’d had that drink. Where would you be right now? Not practising gratitude and feeling well, that’s a fact.
Treat yourself well over the coming days. Pamper yourself. Have that extra piece of cake or chocolate or that amazing cup of scented herbal tea. Go for a massage, or see a show. Run a hot bath and fill the water with bubbles and the bathroom with tealight candles.
This madness will pass and you will stay sober.
Take time for you, because you’re worth it.
Yours in love & gratitude,
Toni xxx