Eight Months

7.8.25

Tonight marks eight months clean and sober—nights and weekends included. It’s not an official sobriety birthday, but it feels good to put another milestone behind me.

At the women’s meeting, we read from The Family Afterwards chapter during book study. For the first time, I didn’t get upset reading it. Usually, this chapter stirs up a tug-of-war inside me—so many conflicting feelings. I’ve been both the partner of an addict/alcoholic and the addict/alcoholic partner. It’s a painful place to stand, seeing myself on both sides of the story.

It frustrates me sometimes, wondering when I broke. When did I lose the strength to carry the burden of taking care of everyone else? Maybe it wasn’t that I broke—maybe I was simply too exhausted to keep holding up the world. That’s something I’m starting to accept: no one was ever meant to have endless strength.

I’m grateful that I’m learning to look at things differently now. I don’t have to stay upset over the past or the things I can’t change. I can see them more clearly, with more compassion, and let them be what they are—pieces of my story that don’t have to define me anymore.

Eight months of showing up for my life, one day at a time.