Lessons from a year of sobriety

I gave up drinking a YEAR ago today. It’s hard to believe I’ve been sober for a year.

It’s been a year full of crazy ups and downs, two moves, a major career change, the sale of my beach house, new amazing friendships, and the continuation of a global pandemic.

Yet along the way, I’ve learned some incredible life lessons.

I’d like to share a few…

I’ve learned how to:

❤️ Let it go
Accept what is OUT of my control, change what is IN my control, and how to tell the difference (the Serenity Prayer is truly the answer to all of life’s problems!)

❤️ Establish boundaries
Decide what my own personal boundaries are, and stick to them

❤️ Feel all of my feelings
My feelings aren’t so scary, and even when they are, a feeling can’t kill me (running from them harms me more in the end)

❤️ I’m NOT a victim
I’m only a victim of my own thoughts and feelings

❤️ It’s ok to change
When you change, it’s sometimes uncomfortable for other people and that’s ok. I can’t own other people’s discomfort

❤️ Ask for help
It’s MORE than ok to ask for help – it’s a beautiful thing

❤️ Love myself
If I am going to love myself, I must love ALL parts of me – my T1D, my alcoholism, ALL the messy

❤️ The more I love, the less I judge
Said another way, the more I was judging, the less I was loving (“you spot it you got it”)

❤️ My identity is ME
I don’t need to be a “party girl” or the “fun girl” to define me. My identity is Lauren

❤️ I don’t need alcohol to have a good time
In fact, I’m much more real, authentic and present, without it

🙌🏻 I’m SO grateful to all of my family and friends – new and old – who have helped me through this past year. If there was ever a phrase I’m feeling today, it’s an ATTITUDE of GRATITUDE. 🙌🏻

❤️❤️❤️❤️