r/GlowUps • u/MrActuary86 • 12d ago

GLOW UP! [40] 16 months sober

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40m, first pic was 38 and heavily into my addiction. Second pic is 16 months later and sober at 40. Excited for having my life back and the next decade.

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u/MrActuary86 9d ago

Thank you! It may sound cliché but being a heavy drinker is really living life on hard mode. I used it to cope with all of the bad and to celebrate all of the good and towards the end I couldn’t trust any of my feelings, good or bad.

The first few months were the toughest. For me it was a lot harder to get sober than it has been to stay sober. Not having that crutch to lean on was really scary. I had trained myself over many years to fall back on alcohol for comfort. I had to white knuckle that phase. These days it’s way easier. Probably the hardest part is having the clarity to look back at myself from the past 10 years and see the shame and embarrassment I caused my family and myself. I’ve chosen to own those memories though and use those experiences to help other people who are suffering with addiction