What An Alcohol-Free World Looks Like

When I was drinking, I worried that life without alcohol would be boring. As it turns out, that was a lie. I also believed alcohol helped me cope. That is another lie. Drinking makes things worse and increases your anxiety. Alcohol does nothing to enhance your life.

Most everything is the opposite of what I believed. I thought quitting drinking would be a death sentence. The truth is, quitting drinking is the absolute best thing I have ever done. I don't even have to think twice about it. The lies of addiction kept me stuck in an endless, hopeless cycle, for years.

In this article, I show you the life waiting for you on the other side of addiction. I love being sober and want everyone who struggles as I did to experience an alcohol-free life. Perhaps catching a glimpse of what that world can look like, exciting and purposeful, can help. 

Five Life Elements

When I was drinking, I had no idea how alcohol impacted me. I thought if I could just get a handle on my drinking, I would be ok. In this lesson, I demonstrate the impact of addiction on a person’s life and the transformation that can occur when you quit. I will do that through the lens of the five life elements. The five life elements are the different aspects of a person that together make you whole. 

1. Emotional
2. Mental
3. Physical
4. Social
5. Spiritual

When you make the positive choice not to take the next first drink, over and over and are willing to learn to live a different life, it sets in motion a powerful transformation.

Let’s take a quick look.

1. Emotional Life Element

When we drink to avoid dealing with pain, we think we are making it better, but we are making it worse by suppressing it. When I quit drinking, I was back to being that scared little girl on the playground whose emotional development stopped when she started drinking. Life goes on, whether drinking or not, and you learn how to get through difficulties as a sober person. With each obstacle you overcome without drinking, you become stronger and more confident and empowered.

2. Mental Life Element

Alcohol changes how your brain functions and puts it into survival mode, where it believes it needs alcohol to keep you alive. This causes things like the obsession to drink. BUT THIS IS A PASSING PHASE. Imagine going through the day not thinking about drinking or feeling guilty or ashamed because of your drinking spree the night before. Once you are no longer drinking and your obsessive thinking is not running the show, you are mentally free to make more positive choices.

3. Physical Life Element

Imagine waking up without a hangover and feeling energized and ready to tackle the day. Also, think of all the added calories you consume with your cocktails. Then, there is your skin. Alcohol dehydrates your skin and makes you look older. Quitting drinking is the foundation of youth and our bodies are incredibly resilient. You will grow to have reverence for yours and all it has carried you through.

4. Social Life Element

When you lose the chains of addiction, you are free to do what you like! You are free to make plans. You have freedom of choice. You can walk down the street with your head high because you have nothing to fear or be ashamed of. When you are participating in life rather than hiding away drinking, people will come into your life and change you. And it is through meeting new people and all your hard work that you will discover your talents, interests, and purpose.   

 5. Spiritual Life Element

My earliest memory as a child is the feeling of not fitting in. It was like I had a hole where my heart and soul were supposed to be. I thought I would die of loneliness. Alcohol was like medicine. The problem, though, is that there was never enough. When I quit drinking, I had to replace my connection to alcohol with something else. This is different for everyone. For me, this a higher authority, nature, spirituality, and tapping into my own life force and intuition. I can assure you this is more powerful, reassuring, comforting, sustaining, and forgiving than addiction.

Please let me know in the comments below how this article has helped you. If you are addicted to alcohol or other drunks, you deserve so much more than the struggle. An entire new world is waiting for you on the other side of addiction.  Yes, it is hard work but anything worthwhile is hard work. You already know hard. Recovery is a different kind of hard, where you get results.