I have not drank alcohol for an entire year as of yesterday.

My 'rock bottom' was never all that low, I've never been to jail, never hurt anyone, never shit my pants... but I knew enough was enough when I would have a few strong beers on a Friday, wake up feeling like shit on Saturday, cancel all my plans and good intentions to lay around and do nothing, then have a couple more strong beers on Saturday to cancel all plans on Sunday to recover and get to work on Monday, then repeat.

I have reached an age where I can't just drink whatever I want and wake up fine the next day, and I've reached an age where time is at such a premium that being hung over isn't just painful, it's extremely expensive in terms of opportunity cost. If I spend my weekend laying around with a headache, I have wasted the very few hours I even get to have for myself. I don't want to live a life where I spend all week at work, and all weekend dead on the couch.

When you stop drinking, the hardest part is the very beginning. If you haven't had a drink in 1 day, having another doesn't seem like such a big deal. But once you've been sober a week, two weeks, a month... it feels like a waste to throw away that streak. So now that I'm at a year, I feel very solid in my sobriety. I still have a lot of nostalgia for the brewery, hanging out with my friends and having a nice cold brew.

At my wedding in November we're going to have an open bar, and part of me wants to be able to celebrate with a drink. I worry though that "just a drink, it's a special occasion" turns into "okay just two drinks". And then the day after when my friends are still in town, maybe we have one more. Or two. And then the following week is Thanksgiving... maybe we have another? I can see the slippery slope and I think maybe it's best I avoid the entire thing.

I would consider myself an 'alcoholic' in that I have a life-long and innate tendency to want to drink alcohol, and although I can hold myself back to some extent, no amount of alcohol ever really feels like 'enough'. I always want another. This is unfortunately uncurable, so I will have to continue to choose sobriety on a day by day basis.

Anyway, cheers!