You Can Stay Sober by Doing LESS
Doing less is absolutely OK
One of my favorite sober tools is "doing less".
In my drinking days, I often found comfort from overwhelm in a drink. Overwhelm that looked like:
Too much on my to-do list I could never accomplish.
Trying to clean and cook and be a perfect mom.
Attempting to be a perfect mom AND be super creative.
Single parenting while my husband traveled for work.
Hosting events and doing all the planning and executing alone.
Agreeing to social engagements I didn't really want to go to.
We all have unique gifts, talents, passions, and purposes. None of us has ALL of the gifts, talents, passions, and purposes.
We need to know what we're good at and stay in our lane.
More than that, we need to know what we ENJOY doing, and let the rest go.
How To Reduce Overwhelm
I hate cooking. The whole process from menu planning to grocery shopping to cooking makes me sweat.
But I like my family to eat healthy, wholesome meals.
So there were seasons when we got boxed meals. Not having to plan or shop reduced overwhelm.
In other seasons, I prepped everything for the week on a Sunday.
Now I've found a crockpot freezer meal system that has reduced overwhelm even more.
We get to eat healthy-ish, and I'm not overwhelmed and feel like drinking during the entire process.
Let It Go
Especially in early sobriety, do less.
Whatever that looks like for you. Do less.
Eat out, get takeout, order pizza, eat cereal. Don't even worry about healthy just yet. Just do less.
Eventually you'll be able to add a little, but only what you want to add and what you enjoy adding.
Don't go out if you don't want to. Say NO a lot.
The goal now is to stay sober...not to be a perfect spouse, parent, neighbor. Not to make anyone happy.
You can do that later.
For now, less overwhelm means do less.
