Five Gifts that Sobriety Gave Me

I recently celebrated an incredible milestone in my life: 3 years of sobriety. I have not had a drink since June 23rd, 2015. While I am not completely ready yet to share the entire story of what brought me into making the decision to give up alcohol, I do feel that it is important for me to acknowledge the gifts that sobriety has brought into my life.


Many people say that your twenties are years of discovering yourself, what you truly want out of life, relationships and career. I think that there are aspects to my own journey of self discovery that are still very unknown. When I reflect on that statement, I am still not completely certain of the career that I am meant to pursue, but I have become much clearer on the type of relationships that are worth nurturing and working on in my life, as well as those that are not. I will be turning 29 this year and when I reflect on the past decade of my life, choosing to live without alcohol and drugs was one of the most transformative decisions that I have ever made.

Some of the wonderful women with me at the Meditation Workshop

I celebrated my third 'Sober birthday' on Sunday, June 24th, with a meditation workshop at my husband's cafe that was facilitated by my dear friend Danielle. We then had lunch at a nearby restaurant and headed to a special meeting to continue the celebrations. I was surrounded by loving and supportive women all day. One of the most important aspects of sobriety for me has been the support systems that I have created for myself. 

I have learned that I can not do it alone, and that is truly a beautiful thing.

So in honour of it all, I would like to list five of the most amazing gifts that I have received in sobriety in hopes that my message can be of service to anyone else who might need it today.

1.     Health & Body: Although I have dealt with health issues in sobriety, they are no where near the same as the health issues I would create for myself when I drank. Alcohol is poison, and so, simple as that, I am not poisoning my body with it anymore. My body is extremely sensitive to alcohol, so when I drank my immune system weakened to the extreme. In my last few years of drinking, I felt physically sick (whether it was with a cold, a sore throat, the flu etc.) more than I felt well.  

·      I have also become much more attuned to my body. I have learned to pick up on signals in my body when my immune system is getting lower. The greatest cue being stress and fatigue. But simple things like checking if any lymph nodes are swollen, getting headaches more easily, or having any sinus pain, all serve as indicators for me of my physical health. 

·      Like most people I have several locations on my body that serve as 'Achille's heel'(s) in the sense that they will weaken first if I'm starting to get sick.  I have become much more aware of these in sobriety, and I feel good knowing that I have removed a major contributor to the stress that my body was under which in turn acted on those weak areas in my body.

·      Hangovers No More! There is not much more to elaborate on that, it is a wonderful thing waking up after a night out with bright eyes and a clear head.

2.     Emotional Well Being: To put it simply, I have learned how to process my emotions directly in sobriety. I have received so many tools that help me cope with my emotions, both dark and light, rather than turning to substance in order to not feel anything at all. 

3.     Real Friendships & Community: I am so grateful for the people in my life that surround me today. I have come to appreciate so deeply the people who put their time and effort into their relationships with me. I also appreciate those friends who, although we do not get to see each other often, are still true friends. When I was younger, it was truly quantity over quality when it came to friendships. I just wanted so badly to connect with others that I made no discrimination between anyone regardless of their true intentions with me which were not necessarily bad but simply not aligned with mine.

·      I am an open book, which is obvious just from reading this post. I have discovered in sobriety just how important it is to be willing to be open and vulnerable with me  in order to have a real friendship. Otherwise, it is just not worth my time. I now have a community of people who I meet regularly who share that same value with me. It is such a gift connecting with others when those walls have been taken down, one that I could not have experienced until I got sober. 

4.     I can be Present: Although this is not always easy, it's a hell of a lot easier to be when I am not under the influence of any substances. Being sober allows for me to truly experience whatever moment I am in. That does not mean that I am always present. I still live a lot of my life either dwelling on the past or anxiously anticipating the future; however, I always have the option of becoming present at any given time of the day. When I am present, I have the ability to be truly grateful and open to receiving the blessings in my life.

5.     Meditation & Prayer: In sobriety, I have developed a personal practise where once a day, I take time to centre myself and connect with my Higher Power. Just devoting 5-40 minutes of my day to connecting with God, with my body and soul, is such a gift. This includes journaling, praying, meditating, and asking for spiritual guidance. It might seem silly, but this practise of self-care means more to me than anything else that I do in my day. 

The view from a hike I took last week on Mount Daemosan.

I could sit here and continue listing the gifts that I have received in sobriety, but for now, these five amazing things will have to do. I am not writing this to encourage anyone to remove alcohol and drugs from their lives, but rather, I am simply sharing my experience after having done so. 

The past three years have been major in my own journey of self awareness and the journey continues. 

One day at a time....