Having Fun In Sobriety
(Really…It can happen!)

We are sure God wants us to be happy, joyous, and free. We cannot subscribe to the belief that life is a vale of tears, though it once was just that for many of us. ~Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, Chapter Nine

I once thought it was impossible to have fun without drinking. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Sometimes I just shake my head in amazement that life is so much more fun in sobriety than it ever was during all those years when I was drinking. I really do have fun in sobriety.

When I compare my life while I was drinking with my life in sobriety, I can’t believe the difference in terms of fun, excitement, and happiness.

There is, however, a vast amount of fun about it all. I suppose some would be shocked at our seeming worldliness and levity.

~Bill Wilson Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous

The first time I realized I was actually having fun in sobriety happened during a trip to California with my two children. I was about two years into my recovery, and my kids were full of life and excited about spending the day at Universal Studios. They begged me to go with them on a ride (I can’t even remember now exactly what it was), and I reluctantly agreed. During all the years that I drank, I wouldn’t have dreamed of going on a ride. But I put my fears and my old ways aside and got on.

couldn’t believe how much fun it was! I let go and laughed and screamed and when it was all over, I wanted to go again!

That was a turning point for me. When I quit drinking, in the beginning days of my recovery, I thought the fun was over. I was sure that from that point forward my life would be dull and boring.

After that trip to California, I realized my life was going to be about happiness and joy. I was absolutely going to have fun in sobriety!

But we aren’t a glum lot. If newcomers could see no joy or fun in our existence, they wouldn’t want it. We absolutely insist on enjoying life. ~Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, Chapter Nine

Speaking of FUN: DISNEY WORLD Vaction Savings and Travel Guide!

Fun in Sobriety in the Rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous

I think I’ve laughed more in AA meetings than I have anywhere else in my life. Maybe that is what attracted me to this particular group in my beginning days of sobriety in 1995. There were some hilarious people who told some outrageous stories at those noon meetings I went to every day! I needed a good laugh back then because I was not having fun in sobriety otherwise at that point. Those beginning days can be rough.

But am I to be consigned to a life where I shall be stupid, boring and glum, like some righteous people I see? I know I must get along without liquor, but how can I? Have you a sufficient substitute? Yes, there is a substitute and it is vastly more than that. It is a fellowship in Alcoholics Anonymous. There you will find release from care, boredom and worry. Your imagination will be fired. Life will mean something at last. The most satisfactory years of your existence lie ahead. Thus we find the fellowship, and so will you. ~Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, Chapter Eleven

For some of us, the hardest part is just getting up and getting there – to an AA meeting, that is. We make an excuse not to go one day, and sometimes have a very legitimate excuse. Then it becomes easier to makes excuses the next day.

Just do it! When I debate with myself whether to go or not, I’m usually very glad when I do show up. I always learn something new or take something that is said away to benefit me. And I just might get a good belly laugh out of the deal, too. See what I mean? Fun in sobriety.

. . . it is a wonderful thing to feel a part of. The joy of living we really have, even under pressure and difficulty. ~Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, Chapter One

Also, don’t miss the fun after the meeting. Here’s a good link I found with some good stories about fun in sobriety (Go Here.)

Fun Without Drinking

I’ve found, too, that I have much more fun at gatherings and parties without a drink in my hand than otherwise. Well, I’ll rephrase that. I usually have a drink in my hand. It’s just not alcoholic.

I used to think that the booze gave me courage to be around people socially. Really it was just a mask. I was pleasantly surprised, the longer I stayed sober and the stronger my relationship with God became, that I really did have a personality under there! As it turned out, I had more self-confidence than I thought.

So where did this new-found self-assuredness come from? Was I having fun in sobriety and enjoying being around people just because I stopped putting alcohol in my drink?

To explain the change in me, I think of what Jesus said to his disciples, "Apart from Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). That belief and understanding is what I leaned on to stay away from alcohol one day at a time in the beginning days of my sobriety – and it is still what I lean on today. It’s that Power greater than myself that it talks about in the Twelve Steps.

So I use the same principle in my dealings with people. I lean on an intimate relationship with God, where I draw on His power, and that, over time, translates to a sense of well-being, self-assuredness, and an ability to relax and enjoy myself. See? There it is again. Fun in sobriety!

We are going to know a new freedom and new happiness. ~Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, Chapter Six

Get Out There!

It’s like I was given a chance to start all over again. It’s like being a kid again and I can just get out there and have fun with my life.

So GET OUT THERE!
Dive in and start having some fun in sobriety!

Speaking of fun. I am having a blast with this website! Who would have thought that someone like me, with so little computer knowledge and certainly no experience with web design could build something like www.new-life-in-recovery.com?? Wondering how I did it? I stumbled upon Site Build It! in my surfing one night and started reading what they had to say. I really wonder if it wasn’t the Holy Spirit urging me on because it just isn’t like me to make snap decisions like I did that night. I signed up on the spot to learn how to build a website.

The Action Guide that comes with the program makes it incredibly easy to work through the STEPS needed to learn the ropes. Maybe that is why I was so attracted to SBI! It deals in Steps, too!!

I started with something I am passionate about, Recovery from Alcoholism, and began building. Then I discovered what a perfect complement to my recovery program this is.

During all those years I spent drinking, I never felt I had any real purpose in life. Alcoholics Anonymous taught me that, as a sober alcoholic, I have a definite and very special purpose – a purpose that is exclusive to us recovering alcoholics. It is