The Clock and The Tick

Just because I had been sober since March didn’t mean that the Quit Drinking app had stopped being a part of my routine. I’d still check in often, especially when seeing others I had been tracking falling back into their temptations. Every time I unlocked my phone and clicked on the familiar icon, my heart swelled with a mix of pride and relief. With every second that passed, I was further and further away from the life I lived as an alcoholic. Sobriety began to feel like a superpower, and the more I looked at the lives of friends and associates on social media, the more I noticed how interwoven alcohol was into everyone’s daily lives. As I scrolled through the app, the screen illuminated the dim room, and I couldn’t help but remember the days when I had been in their shoes. It felt like a lifetime ago when I was drowning my sorrows in a sea of alcohol, losing myself in the hazy fog of inebriation. The way my fingers would grip the cold, slick surface of a beer bottle, the sharp burn of a shot coursing down my throat, and the numbing effect it had on my emotions and thoughts – it was all too vivid in my mind. Alcohol affects everyone in different ways, and I took notice of how there were some people who simply weren’t affected by it the way I was. Being a responsible drinker was something I never could grasp, and it was too late to try. I was willing to leave it all behind me, the countless beers and shots, the familiar feeling of sitting in a bar listening to the chatter of drunk patrons. I was done with it all, and every day, I chose to chase my dreams and make them reality. That was my new drug. That was the thing that got me in and out of bed every day. Winning. As the clock kept ticking, my desire to be on top of the world continued to grow. I couldn’t change the direction the world was heading in, but I was in much more control of the small world I had created for me and my family, and I was more than ready to maximize its value. And so, with every moment I resisted the siren call of my old life, my newfound power surged, and the urge to dominate the globe only grew stronger. Sobriety had given me clarity, purpose, and the strength to face the world head-on, and I was ready to conquer whatever challenges lay ahead.