Sobriety vs. Abstinence

There are many different ways in which alcoholics can choose to go about getting and staying sober. Recovery is such a personal experience and it varies from person to person. The most important thing despite no matter what our sobriety looks like or doesn’t look like is that we sought alcohol addiction help, and got/stayed sober. With that being said there is a huge difference between sobriety and abstinence. Sobriety is when we do things like go to a Los Angeles rehab, work the steps, or perhaps go to a California alcohol rehab program. It’s when we are taking a proactive approach to our recovery and go to any lengths to stay sober. When we do this our lives start to blossom and we are at peace, start loving life, and know happiness. Whereas abstinence is simply abstaining from alcohol. This type of alcoholic is also known as a “dry drunk.” There’s not much involvement in their recovery and often times they are grasping onto their sobriety while barely hanging in there. They are often miserable and, whether they are aware of it or not, they are in the grips of their disease. They can be well restless, irritable, and discontent until they either do the work or drink. They go back to blaming others and acting out. The dry drunk becomes the poster child once again of self–will run riot. It is often time inevitable that they will indeed drink again if they dont change. The good news is that no matter what category we fall under we get the chance to change it. We don’t have to drink to start over. We can simply pick ourselves back up and start with the basics again. In AA it is often said that we never have to feel the way we felt before we got sober ever again and we don’t. What a beautiful blessing!