"The Illumination" Wrap-UP

Reviewing week 1 of The Creative Sobriety Method

Are we feeling Illuminated? I know, it’s not always pretty or comfortable or even tolerable in the beginning, but it’s where we must begin.

This week we went down the difficult path of acknowledging where alcohol is keeping us stuck in situations, experiences, self-beliefs, and maybe even relationships that don’t have the capacity to hold us. We took an honest look at the pain points in our lives and allowed ourselves to start feeling some emotions we’ve been avoiding or at least start considering them.

Maybe you came up against some difficult truths, some overwhelming evidence of something that needs to go or be released or transformed. That’s enough for now. It’s no small thing to start telling ourselves the truth.

On Monday we will begin PT 2 of The Method, The Buy-In.

The next phase will see us building our vision of what the new version of ourselves, the version who starts to create change according to what’s been illuminated, is like. What does she want? How do they spend their free time? What are we eating for dinner? Stroke by stroke we will start to paint the picture of what this person looks like, how their life feels, and what they value.

Don’t worry. I’m not asking for any huge action, yet. This is a creative process and this stage will require only our imagination, some journaling and vision-boarding, and a little faith. We aren’t talking religion or woo-woo rituals or manifestation meditations (feel free to inject your journey with any or all of that if it’s something you hold dear), we are talking about agreeing to believe in the possibility of something we can’t see yet, a life that grows exponentially better with every day spent sober.

This weekend I encourage you to spend some time with your answers to The Illumination workbook questions and notice if you feel differently about anything you noted earlier in the week. Make note of any times that a familiar situation came up and you had a different reaction or made a different choice. Maybe you got some clarity about the way a certain person is always present when you drink too much or you recognized a driving force behind reaching for that second or third drink. Maybe you illuminated some insecurities you didn’t realize were hiding under the booze, some little pieces of yourself that have been neglected or forced to move on when they weren’t ready. This is huge progress and I’m proud of you.

PT 2, The Buy-In will hit your inbox Monday morning (5/12) at 9am ET.