My First Christmas

I would like to share my thoughts and experience on what helped me with my first Christmas in sobriety. Last year was my first Christmas in the Programme and my first sober Christmas for around 25 years. And this year I also had my 40th birthday in lockdown, which presented a similar challenge.

I was only in a few months when my first sober Christmas rolled around and I - like I’m sure many others - began to panic. How would I cope? Christmas…without booze? Impossible!
 

I spoke to one of the old-timers in the Rooms and he just looked at me frankly and said, “I don’t even know if I’ll be sober at Christmas. All I know is that I’m sober now and my life is so much better for it. I trust in my Higher Power and this Programme to work to keep me sober for today.” This really stuck with me and although it’s just another way of saying ‘One Day At A Time’, it really helped me. I prayed to my Higher Power to just help me keep it in the here and now. A day at a time. An hour at a time sometimes. And each time I say it, I feel better. Each time I can look back on a day - or an hour - and see the change in me sobriety has brought, I feel better about myself. Which in turn gives me the strength to keep staying sober. And I also focus on my gratitude, which comes from how much better my life is now that I am sober. I am able to do so much more, be there for my family, interact with people… sobriety truly is the gift that keeps on giving. Focusing on this helps me deal with the occasional wobble or stressful time when otherwise I might turn to drink.

So, for me what works is to think about what sobriety has given me so far. Focus on the day, the time just gone, and not obsess over the time to come. It’s certainly not easy and I don’t always get it right - but when I struggle my Higher Power gives me strength, my Programme provides guidance and all the wonderful people in the Fellowship offer invaluable advice. I am so grateful and proud to be sober, and it’s all because I keep coming back to meetings and listening to what I’m told.
 

ROBBIE