1 year alcohol free: Expectations, challenges

Hi everyone,

A couple of weeks ago I achieved a year with zero alcohol in my system. My life was off track and I was not recognizing who I was becoming. I’m 41, 10 years ago I was able to quit 6 months and felt like a million dollars, unstoppable to say the least. Amongst the many reasons to stop drinking: 1) motivation, to be able to achieve professional and financial goals 2) Health, weight loss. Naively I though that I would be able to pull off what I did 10 years ago, that life would be kind to me if I started being kind to myself. And of course, my life is much more manageable now, but life has a way to always teach you a lesson: This year I lost three of my main corporate clients in a matter of two months (I work as a photography contractor), about 90% of my income, to a point where I’ve had to push myself out of my comfort zone and do other kinds of minor photography jobs and other odd jobs I’ve not done for years to be able to make enough money to pay my mortgage and support my family. I also though I would automatically lose a lot of weight (I would like to lose 10 pounds or so, I don’t have an obesity problem but I would like to do it to be healthier and have more energy). Without any questions I was less swollen, but over time I began gaining weight due to my habit of eating dessert when anxious and now I weight even more than when I stopped drinking. Humbling experience to say the least but the morale here is: my demons are trying to convince me that If I drink again I will not have the bad dreams I’ve had since I stopped drinking and perhaps my money problems will magically disappear. What I think is: if life slapped me in the face when sobering up,I can’t even imagine what would have happened with my incontrolable/reckless former drinking habits, I would have probably lost it all. Thanks for your feedback. Please be considerate.

: for motivation