It was only a matter of time.
You might have some questions right now from the title. What does a beach ball in a pool have to do with alcohol? Didn’t I just write an article about how I’ve forgotten all about drinking?
That’s the great thing about being in recovery- you never quite forget about it, even if months go by without a craving. And this new craving was brought on by the most surprising of events.
So what happened?
The temperature is rising
As dumb as that sounds, what eventually brought on cravings for alcohol was as simple as it being close to summer.
It had been a couple…
From thinking about it all the time to forgetting it even existed.
A realization hit me a couple of nights ago- besides the one month last year where I drank, I have been doing this whole sobriety thing for almost two years now. While I regret drinking in the first place, it was the moment I got 100% confirmation that drinking just wasn’t for me.
But this realization had hit me hard and suddenly; it was the first time I had even thought about my relationship with alcohol and sobriety in months. From thinking about it almost daily to forgetting it even existed, what changed for me? …
Spoiler alert: It’s not just beans.
When I first went vegan in January, it was such a major shift in my diet I actually stopped weight lifting to focus only on what I was eating. I had this idea that weight lifting as a vegan would be hard; I would be forced to drink protein shakes to make up for lost protein and it’d be a high carb diet full of beans and pasta. From January to the middle of February, I exercised by walking more and just did all that I could to stay vegan with my main carbs being vegetables. But as time went…
And 3 that absolutely didn’t.
Oh, I could never go vegan. I just love cheese too much!
When someone’s not asking about how you get protein on a vegan diet, it’s usually reasons why they could never go vegan. Spoiler alert- the top reason is because of cheese. No judgment here from me, I was vegetarian for a while because I was in the same boat. The idea of completely eliminating cheese from my diet seemed insane. Why would someone willingly give up cheese? I put cheese on everything from tacos to pasta so it was a significant change. …
Will I keep it up?
If you ever wonder who the 30 day food/drink challenges are marketed towards, it’s me. It’s not easy to commit to a new lifestyle so the challenges always feel like a nice baby step, or a glimpse into what your life could be. You can do anything for 30 days and it’s a long enough stretch of time to really see how your body reacts to the change. And just like I had been flirting with sobriety with #soberoctober, #veganuary was my chance to take my flirtation with being vegan to the next level.
Before…
Tropicana really needs to learn how to read a room.
Tropicana is not my first choice for orange juice but it is one that’s readily available in most stores, even gas stations. More often than not, if there’s not another choice for OJ, I’ll pick it up.
Until I saw their latest ad campaign running on Instagram.
If you hadn’t seen it, Tropicana ran the worst ad possible during a global pandemic where alcoholism is on the rise. In this campaign, three celebrities, Molly Sims, Jerry O’Connell, and Gabrielle Union, showcase a mini fridge filled with ingredients for a mimosa…
What it is, and what it isn’t.
I’ve had trouble with self-care, or the lack of, basically my entire life. To make matters worse, we’re led to believe self-care is putting on a face mask and taking a nap or binge watching TV. And I couldn’t imagine being able to take a breath and slow down, not without missing out on all of the things I could be doing instead like studying or working out. But when I’d drink heavily the night before, I would wake up so hungover, I would be forced into it, resting the entire day in my bed watching TV shows on my…
What you should focus on instead.
It’s that time of year, folks! It’s the most stressful time of the year and it’s also during a pandemic. Whether you’re able to visit family, or you’ve decided to quarantine yourself for the holidays, it can still be a time where your sobriety is the most vulnerable. We tend to associate celebrations and holidays with alcohol, so the absence of that is prevalent.
Here are some tips so that you can survive this Thanksgiving both stress free and sober.
Be selfish
One of the biggest triggers for drinking is the holiday season. You’re having to deal with a lot of stress…
Time sure flies when you’re sober in a pandemic.
Last year, I kept my milestones to ones that I felt were the most impactful so I only wrote about the really big milestones like 3 month, 6 month, and a year. I even referenced writing only about the big milestones in my three month milestone post.
Because it didn’t feel like those between months were valuable, I lumped them all into single posts. Why would someone care about what happens after two months, or even four?
But now that I’m going through it again, I regret not doing it every month because every month is so nuanced, it’s a…
Even if you don’t think it’s “cool”.
I’ve always been a cautious person. If there’s some kind of protective gear, I’m going to buy it and I will use it all the time. This goes for bouldering with crash pads, helmets with bikes, and now pads with a helmet with roller skating.
And I’ve always wondered, am I too cautious? When I see others out there skating, it’s rare that I’ll see them wearing protective gear unless they’re at a skatepark. If someone’s riding a bike, I generally don’t see a helmet.
So who’s right? While I won’t go into statistics on safety gear, here are some…
Kelly Tompkins
Austin,Texas sober girl. Lover of horror movies, cats, and fitness. Occasional bad poet.
