What is Sober-Curious?

What exactly does sober-curious mean? It's a term created by Ruby Warrington, author of Sober Curious, who wants people to be more aware of each individual's relationship to alcohol. If you are interested in cutting down your drinking, or cutting it out completely, this might be of interest. Some of the things that I noticed when I reevaluated my relationship with alcohol is the feelings that came up after a night of drinking.

Often times it was several days of shame or guilt and new found anxiety about things that I previously never was anxious about. I became more aware of how terrible my hangovers were. Or as I like to call them, hangxiety, because it was more anxiety in the format of a hangover that would drag on for days. I also noticed I would blackout quicker and more frequently. I would take breaks from drinking, after a particularly bad weekend. And they would last several months, thinking I reset myself, only to find out it would get worse and worse after each break. I would also try to moderate, and try to be very aware of my intake. I would sometimes try to keep a record to look at later, and find out I would lose track or completely forget throughout the night and would never actually know how much I drank.

All of these things added up over time and eventually I had to get real with myself and think about what I was doing and, the more important question, why? The deeper I dug, the more it started making sense I was running from something, rather than dealing with whatever it was. I finally looked into therapy and realized that many of the things that happened in childhood were still haunting me. I didn't know how to deal with many of these emotions because it wasn't exactly a dinner table conversation growing up. I did, however, start to face the things I needed to do, and that was to take a much longer break from alcohol.

Sober-Curious doesn't mean forever, and it doesn't necessarily mean you have a problem. It just makes you extremely aware of your usage and the reason behind it. If you are someone who can handle having a drink or two and going home, that's awesome! For many of us, however, we sometimes don't want to admit how much we are drinking. Until we take a few minutes to sit down with ourselves and dig, we won't know what we need to do. Be open to the things that come to you at this time. Be ready to work through some tough emotions that may come up. Have a supportive group ready to be there when you need them. Reach out if you need someone to listen. We are here together to support and uplift each other on whatever journey you may be on. You can also DM me on instagram.