One Year Ago Today

Issue 19 is sobering

Feb 16, 2022

Hi Darlings. Seven days without you is too long. Let’s use our time wisely.

I haven’t had alcohol since February 15, 2021. I couldn’t have predicted I’d make it this long, nor that my newsletter’s 19th issue would ship on my first alcohol-free anniversary.

There was no glimmer of a newsletter one year ago. I wonder if this quote is a small piece of why:

“I realized to my horror that I’d become one of those people who were stagnating creatively and covering it with addictions.” —The Genius Zone

I hear stagnating creatively very loudly in that quote. It’s screaming.

Early in my sobriety experiment, while I drove my mom home from the hospital, she asked, “Are you sure you want to stop drinking now?” She meant, but didn’t say, “While I’m dying.” “Yes, I can think of no better time,” I said.

The timing wasn’t planned, but I realized this was the absolute perfect time for me to be fully present.

Alright now, last week’s letter was looong. I clogged your inbox with tips on how to unclog your inbox. This week, we’ll keep it short (like my mom’s hair in this photo).

An Improvised Crime Comedy

Murderville on Netflix.

Will Arnett plays detective Terry Seattle. A celeb (Conan O’Brien, for example) joins the case without a script. Skillful improvisation + actors breaking character from laughter = recommended viewing.

Austin or Bust

PSA: I will visit Austin in 2022. I’m thinking Hotel San Jose. Do you recommend?

The city has been calling and I’m finally answering. By calling I mean, I saw a guy wearing a Keep Austin Weird t-shirt and knew it was a sign. I want to love it there.

My writing-friend Arthur will show me around. Right, Arthur?

Arthur salsas. I eat salsa. We’ll make it work.

We’ve never met IRL and his name isn’t Arthur. We were months into our friendship when I learned the news. It was one more reason to love this new world I found. Who knew pseudonyms were real? (Everybody but me.)

I met Arthur in Write of Passage where pseudonyms and full-selves are welcome just the same. He is just one of the wonderful souls around the globe I now call my friend. Hi friends! 🌎

Write of Passage

Speaking of Write of Passage—the life-changing online course I took in September 2021, from which this newsletter was born—is starting again in March. I’m a mentor! (More on this in the coming weeks.)

David, the instructor, who’s doing 100x more with his life than I was at his age, is holding a What is Write of Passage hour for those interested in peeking inside.

Write of Passage came into my life at JUST the right time. I could not have received it any sooner, not by one day.

Having quit my job, an email for an online writing course landed in my inbox. To say I was dubious is an understatement. “Writing online,” I thought. What is that? Within moments I’d surmised, “It’s complete bullshit.”

Heeding the voice inside me that said, “What if you’re wrong,” I learned a little more.

I wanted to create something, to give brith, which meant I needed to do something different. This was different.

if you want to change what you put out, you must change what you put in. Beef in a grinder makes ground beef. Want pork? Start with pork. BTW I’m a vegetarian.

I kept going. Learning more. Applying. Joining. Paying. One step at a time, carried forward effortlessly. The 5-week course began and I shocked myself with my open mind and eager participation. “Who is this?” I thought, and I was referring to myself.

The Write of Passage experience was exponentially more profound than I expected. How magical it is when something exceeds our expectations. How incredibly rare! 🚀

Sobering

I wrote an essay on my choice to stop drinking here. There are two books by sober authors I recommend, This Naked Mind and Quit Like a Woman. Both will have you looking at alcohol differently and neither ask you to stop drinking. Cheers.🥂