Was 2009 a binge year?

How are folks dealing with alcoholism right now, right before the holidays set in (like the flu)?

I'd always feared being unemployed for a long period, with too much time on my hands, ultimately drinking myself to lower and lower levels of despair, but as it turns out, being unemployed (my company cut half its people almost a yr ago) helped lead me to become sober -- through being able to have that space away from having to constantly kiss up to authority, and through being able to obey my body's needs for rest and exercise, etc., rather than having to run around like an employed robot according to someone else's whims and scheduling. So the time not at work has been put towards just getting myself focused, getting perspective on everything, so that i can overcome my obstacles.

What i like most about being sober today is having a clear head, so that i can make good decisions and protect myself properly from the kinds of codependent people i surrounded myself with while being drunk for 2 decades. I realize it's still going to take some time to turn everything around, but i've been finding the strength to fight back against the people who bullied me, and to set new boundaries and maintain them.

Beginning december I will be 6 months clean, so i'm feeling positive about that, and the thought of encountering lots of drunk, miserable, codependent people feeding their habit during the holidays doesn't bother me. It will be a learning experiece to witness it all from the OTHER side of the window (or perhaps the bottle-glass). Tweet