This is the holiday season you become a Winner (Guest Post)

A lot of our community are struggling this Silly Season feeling confronted by all the boozy get-togethers and family gatherings that are happening around them. Our beloved member @prudence had some fantastic wise words to offer in the Members Feed the other day and I thought them worth sharing here in a blog post. Enjoy. 

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@prudence: It’s okay. Don’t despair. We’ve all felt like this and it’s real and it’s big.

Thinking of a whole holiday without alcohol can be daunting, and thinking of yourself as a misery guts who’s company your poor husband will have to endure is also a pretty ghastly picture.

So how about we try to turn that picture upside down?

This is the holiday that you don’t need to pour mind altering substances down your throat to have a good time. You don’t need to spend all your money and calorie intake on booze to turn you into good company.

This is the holiday where you look sparkly eyed, glossy, shiny, slimmer, trimmer, happier, fresher and way more gorgeous.

This is the holiday where you get time to read books, and do all the stuff you usually want to do but feel a bit hungover, or else too busy drinking.

This Christmas and New Years, you will probably be the envy of some of your friends and family, even though they might not admit it.

This is the holiday where you feel a new sense of self respect, and where you challenge yourself to be the best version of yourself you’ve ever been since childhood.

This is the holiday season you become a Winner. You are gaining so much more than a stupid little wine drinking interval, You are gaining your life back, and so, so much more.

Be VERY PROUD xoxoo

@Prudence

16 Comments
  1. bingerwhinger 7 years ago

    love this just what i needed xxxxxxxxxx

  2. Ang75 7 years ago

    Love love love this!!!!! Xx

  3. Anonymous 7 years ago

    Such a good post for this time of year, thank you.
    This is going to be my first Christmas sober and I am looking forward to like and a little afraid. I think I will be reading this a lot.

  4. Trisha 7 years ago

    What perfect timing. Will be my first sober Christmas and your words are so comforting. I love the sparkly eyes reference. I will remember that and read this post daily as a reminder of how good the holidays will be.

  5. Julz3798 7 years ago

    Love this. I’m struggling with the holidays. Im on day 111 and this is a great way to look at the holidays….. thank you!

  6. Anonymous 7 years ago

    Thank you, thank you, thank you. Needed to hear this since this will be my first holiday season sober. I am so determine to make it, I know they will be so much better without alcohol. Just seem to be struggling a bit the past couple of days and am working to keep myself on track.

  7. reena 7 years ago

    Prudence wrote this to me at the beginning of summer, I changed the words to Holiday it was so inspiring to me because it didn’t warn me or tell me not to because I am a shameful person, it reframed the whole idea of being alcohol free to something attractive and alive and something I WANT TO BE!!!
    Love Prudence and I reread those words many times, in fact, I never get tired of reading them. xo @Mrs. D!

  8. Bondi 7 years ago

    More wisdom from our @prudence, thank you. My third sober Christmas and sooo looking forward to spending sober time with my family, I am not boring I love playing silly games and hanging with the grandchildren, they only know the sober me thank goodness. Alcohol just took up so much time, watching the clock for wine time, drinking it, waking in the night feeling guilty, waking in the morning feel shit, sure dont miss those days. Looking forward to Christmas lunch, beach cricket, surfing, water sliding all the fun things to create family memories. xoxox

  9. janabel 7 years ago

    I needed to read this. I will read this again before i head away to family at Christmas. Been feeling a bit apprehensive this year about the Christmas period. (family all big drinkers). Thankyou Prudence. xx

  10. HappyNess 7 years ago

    Love this! Make me smile and feel ‘bubbly’ inside. Perfect timing and so very true. I’m going to screenshot this and refer back to it often, especially if non alcohol free people start to get under my skin this holiday season. Thanks so much for sharing.

  11. JM 7 years ago

    This so bang on, thanks Prudence and Mrs. D for posting it! This will be my 3rd sober Xmas. In the past, I would seriously test my limits of alcohol consumption and suffer largely for it. There is a sense of true calm and peace within myself as the season approaches. xx

  12. barnmomma 7 years ago

    Love this, @prudence! Think I may write it out and keep it in my journal to reread during this “silly season.” Thank you!

  13. Deede 7 years ago

    Thank you @prudence …Ill be needing that advice for the xmas party tonight. I shall read it once more before I leave. You are so right

  14. Emjaycee 7 years ago

    So true! Every last word @Prudence .

    • EllieO 7 years ago

      So need to read this post right now. Thank you

      • peacelily 7 years ago

        Thank you, thank you, thank you! This is going to be my first sober Christmas in literally decades. And I don’t think it’s a coincidence that I am way less stressed than I’m accustomed to being, at this time of year. My baking’s all done. 90% of my wrapping is done. I feel calm and relaxed. What irony, eh? So many of us had been using booze in order to cope, in order to relax – I know I was using it to “get through the holidays” which had become nothing but stress for me – who knew that being sober would feel SO MUCH BETTER? Thank you for the lovely reminder that everything is better sober!

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