I turned 6 years sober yesterday. It was anticlimactic and tranquil. This was a big change from the previous year, when I had an absolute meltdown over my five year milestone. 

You can read about it in these blogs:

5 Years Sober, A New Home Inside of Me

5 Years Sober, Here's What I Wish I Knew on Day 1

5 Years Sober and I Want a Glass of Wine

And all previous annual milestone posts are here:

Reflections on 4 Years Sober

3 Years Sober is Luxury, not Deprivation

Reflections on 2 Years Alcohol Free

I Have An Announcement To Make - 1 Year Sober

I knew my soberthday milestone was coming up, and I was looking forward to it. I am used to feeling an onslaught of dramatic emotions leading up to sober milestones, but this one felt like it was quietly sitting in the background. Happily. Content. Not demanding a lot of attention or fanfare as it has in the past. I know better than to rest on my laurels, so I decided to withhold any conclusions until the day had...

I went to bed before 8 pm last night. My eyes were tired, swollen, and sore from crying. 

The dam of tears welling up inside me finally burst when I called my mom yesterday and spoke all my fears out loud. I admitted that I am lonely. My husband and my youngest have been gone most of the last 2 weeks. Competing schedules have made it impossible to get together with friends. I am afraid of rejection for my daughter, in her rush to sorority coming up in a matter of days (no longer weeks). I am afraid of rejection for me in taking on a new business endeavor. I can no longer push these feelings away into the future, they are all suddenly here, now. 

I am launching a new coaching business course at the exact same time my first born is leaving for college. It is bringing up every insecurity I ever had. I am reminded of every time I put myself out there and lost, failed, flopped. 

There was the  6th grade speech contest Final Championship. 

I...

This weekend was my first born daughter’s high school graduation.

My sobriety made everything so much better.

In some ways it felt like a stress test:

Host a party for 50 people.

Pray for good weather.

Say hello.

Say goodbye.

Introduce people to each other.

Lose sleep for 3 nights in a row.

Get the cake out at the right time.

Whoops you’re too late.

Host my family for 6 days.

There’s light bulbs out in the basement.

We need more coffee.

Host a houseful of in laws for a day.

The kids like root beer and Cherry 7 Up.

Get it.

Oh we already had it.

Father in law, Pops likes Diet Pepsi.

Bottles, not cans.

The kid is gluten free.

Remember both corn and flour tortillas.

Get the surprises for Lily out.

Do it now.

No wait.

Don’t do it.

Do it now.

Is everyone here?

Stay calm.

Don’t get sucked into other people’s emotions or stories.

Don’t control what you don’t control.

Woah a blast from the past comes out of nowhere.

I have feelings about that.

I just turned 5 years sober. For most of my life this accomplishment seemed so out of reach for me. What would I tell myself back before my last Day !?

 1. You can do it. You absolutely can. 

Put all of your energy towards that. Stop looking behind you. Keep moving forward. Just because you are not doing it perfectly, doesn’t mean you are not doing it at all. Keep doing it. It’s a process and not a single event. Stay curious and keep learning. Believe you can and you will. It has to start here. You must believe in yourself bigger than you ever have before. You must believe in yourself BEFORE you have proved anything. BEFORE you have reached your goals. This is how to start. Start believing and stop giving up on yourself before the miracle happens. Keep the faith and it will happen. 

 2. The relationship that matters most is the one with yourself. 

You will not be able to make this change and keep...

Today I woke up 5 years sober. 

It is a glorious achievement. 

It means I have reached “stable remission” from alcohol use disorder. 

Milestones are a tricky thing.

Just as a huge achievement was rounding the corner for me, a crippling wave of shame crept in even faster.

I spent most of the weekend in tears. 

My loud inner critic was shouting at me. Screaming that I could not celebrate, because my drinking hurt people. I could never take back my alcohol problem. It will never be over. I need to live in my darkest shadow forever. I should feel no sunshine. The only appropriate way to be is on my hands and knees in repentance. Forever. Joyless. 

That voice said, I am not allowed to be happy and free. 

How dare I celebrate? 

My drinking hurt the people I love most. I should nail myself to the cross and live under my dark cloak of shame forever. The dark forever sorry-ness closing in on me. Suffocating me. The only response is to...