I am very excited about this moment – Publishing my very first post on this new blog that is focused on sharing my journey towards a happy life without alcohol. Not sure where to begin to be honest so… Let me start by showing you my latest acquisition, a brand new tattoo!
This is it, the Tt logo (which stands for Teetotaler) that shows my new dedication to sobriety:
See my happy face up there? This was right after 30 minutes of pure torture but how excited am I for this brand new start. I have tried for years (or decades even) to moderate my alcohol intake. It´s killing me when I think about the amount of days/weekends wasted away due to horrific hangovers. This and the constant brake put on my personal development due to feeling, both physically and mentally, like utter shit, made me decide to stop completely. No more alcohol for me, ever!
The exception
Except… in airports & airplanes hahaha I told you, I´m still working it all out, this is my journey towards sobriety, I´m not there yet. Reason for this one exception is that I (still) need that one out where I can drink íf I want to. I´m giving myself one year for this airplane/airport exception and then the time has arrived for no more outs. * HUGE UPDATE: I HAD MY LAST AIRPLANE DRINK ON 15th November 2021 – I have been 100% SOBER ever since…! *
Effects of my tattoo
I must honestly say that so far this tattoo has worked really well for me. Besides the fact that it is a great and constant reminder of my newly found happy sober life it also makes me talk about it – a lot! With family and friends but also with complete strangers. The tattoo is quite visible on my inner wrist and a vast amount of people ask what it stands for, Tt. And when they do I raise me arm and say, proudly and happy, “Teetotaler! I stopped drinking alcohol!” I have received many different responses to this… Most of them are very positive, people seem happily surprised to see how someone can A. ´not drink´ forever and B. be so bloody happy about it haha
But some people don´t see it that way and are a bit uncomfortable about it (You hear them think “Does she have a serious alcohol problem?”, “Never thought of her like an alcoholic”, or “Oh dear, what did I bring up”) and fall very quiet… To them I simply say that I prefer life without drinking alcohol as it lets me be the happy person I actually am!
Drinking no longer suits me
My drinking hasn´t brought me happiness for a long time already. Yes ok, the first glas was often super fun: Oh what will the night bring… and the excitement was hanging in the air. For about maybe one hour. Shortly thereafter I more often than not started worrying about many different things – Should I actually be drinking tonight? How much more can I drink tonight? How much of the bottle is left? Should I top up myself a bit more than ususal and then only have 3 glasses? What do I have to do tomorrow morning? Can it be cancelled? – I was no longer fully enjoying it, that´s for sure. And then I haven´t even gone into the horrible, depressing hangovers, oh man…
So why bother?
Without the regular alteration of my mental state caused by my alcohol intake, and its debilitating effects, I´m actually a very happy lady by nature. So why f with that? Why even bother drinking anymore? So happy life without alcohol it is!! I can´t wait to share my journey with you so please check back here for my progress and for the things that I encounter on my way and that I look forward sharing with you!
Also, if you are inspired by my tattoo (that I spotted in a very interesting article on how to re-brand sobriety into something cool and desirable instead of something that you should be ashamed of) and would like to receive a copy of the original Tt tattoo design, please leave a comment HERE and I will send it right over to you!
