Sober Mummy

I met Sober Mummy today.  Many of you will be avid readers of her brilliant blog, Mummywasasecretdrinker, and I can report that she is as fantastic in the flesh as you would imagine.

We had given brief descriptions of each other over email so we knew what to look out for at a busy station; I glimpsed her orange bag as I got off the train, and felt a huge sense of relief and excitement that we were finally meeting.

We talked and talked. It was fantastic. She is full of grace and wisdom. Her clear eyes shone as she spoke of the joys of sobriety: she’s a walking advertisement for getting sober, an example of what is on ‘the other side’. She asked me what I was afraid of.  She listened when I told her, and had advice for how I could master these fears.

What I will never forget, however, is the faith she has in me. She wants me to do this; not just to keep ‘trying’, but to actually do it, to move forward. And what’s more, she thinks I can! She had loads of practical advice, too: for example, to make a list of alternative activities with which to distract myself every evening when the cravings hit (dog walk; piano; bath; bed), and though I may have considered these before, it was the idea of a list which struck me, and the actual DOING of the list, not just making a list, the equivalent of doing one’s exam revision, not just making pretty timetables. She also promised that getting to 100 days really does make a difference, it’s not just a story sober people spin, it’s reality – that things do feel and get easier around that 100 day mark.

Hours later, I felt as though I had known her my whole life. I got back on the train, came home, and felt new.

I feel as though meeting Sober Mummy today has breathed life into my previously flailing attempts at sobriety, that she has given me strength to make this work. I am so very grateful to her.