I’m turning 23 next week, but I’m gonna be really swamped with work so I had a birthday celebration with some friends last night! I’m glad to say I got through it sober.
It was like -30C last night so five of my friends who were coming out for dinner cancelled last minute. That’s when my egotistical alky brain turned on–woe is me, they’ll all be sorry when I’m gone and they didn’t make a point of hanging out with me, they’re so selfish, etc. It was bad because the plan was to go to dinner then go dancing at a venue with a bar so if I had kept ruminating I could have ended up with all kinds of triggering stuff going down in a dangerous place.
Somehow I guess I snapped out of that headspace when my three remaining friends (two also sober alcoholics, one not alcoholic but sober by choice) showed up for dinner. They didn’t know each other from before but they all got along like old friends! When we went dancing afterwards, I ran into a bunch of other acquaintances and friends I know from around, and ended up being surrounded by a lot of people and a real sense of kinship that night. I was also grateful that I was able to be good company and show my friends a good time too instead of blacking out and compelling someone to drop everything and make sure I got home safe.
Currently feeling grateful for all that I have, grateful for the support that got me to this point (that’s you guys!) and hoping for lots more sober birthdays to come. 
