trauma

The thing about life, whether you are alcohol-free or a raging alcohol dependent, is it is full of ups and downs. Highs and lows, good days and bad days. The big difference is that people who choose to live alcohol free now have to figure out how to handle the rougher days without leaning on a glass of wine or a shot of tequila. Tricky, tricky, tricky.

Just last week I was riding high on life!! I had finally published this blog, had pulled off an excellent event at work in celebration of Women’s History Month and was excitedly seven weeks pregnant. “Hurrah for me!” I proclaimed as I raised a glass of NA beer in celebration. 🍻

And then, trauma.

Maybe I took on too much, maybe I worked too hard, maybe it was just never a viable fetus. Either way, I started bleeding and I miscarried and now I have to deal with the fall out. Stone. Cold. Sober.

What non-alcoholic drink can even begin to help me with this? How can I be riding so high one minute and then fall so low the next? Will this be the trauma that tips me over the edge and makes me start drinking again? Thankfully, I already have answers for all of these questions because “Hurrah for me!” I am actually over a year alcohol-free and I have mechanisms and a support network in place for exactly this kind of shocker.

Question & Answers

1. Q: What non-alcoholic drink can even begin to help me with this? A: Tea, obviously
2. Q: How can I be riding so high one minute and then fall so low the next? A: That’s life. Suck it up, buttercup
3. Q: Will this be the trauma that tips me over the edge and makes me start drinking again? Never! Re-read ritual and get a grip.

This morning, as my body was bleeding and my tummy was cramping, I sat alone on my porch with my lemon water and I did my meditation. Harder than I had been meditating recently. With extra focus and extra fervor. And as I came back to this most critical daily practice, I remembered about the willpower in the bank aspect of this affirmation-based ritual. What I do in the mornings is setting me up for sanity in the afternoons and evenings and enabling me to fiercely and furiously continue to become the best version of myself I can be.

Then I made tea. A proper cup of tea. The only kind of tea that can really heal in these kind of moments. British, builders tea. Made with proper tea bags with water hotter than the sun. Cooled only a smidgey bit by a dash of whole milk. No, you cannot switch out cow’s milk for almond, oat, cashew or coconut milk, and still expect the same delicious and soothing beverage. This is British tea, done right.

A Proper Cup o’ Builder’s Tea

Sip slowly and let the magical powers of a proper British cuppa heal whatever ails you