I celebrate 3 years of sobriety on November 9th and each year I record an episode about the past year of sobriety and how it went. What stood out to me the most this year is that I am getting tired of sharing my story and I feel weird about being personal. Lately, I have been asked to share my story a lot on other podcasts. I think sharing our stories is very important because it helps newbies or people who are struggling to accept they need to get sober might see themselves in your story and realize they are not alone. However, I’ve shared my story a bazillion times and bringing up old, painful memories feels exhausting for me. At first, I felt really guilty, probably because guilt is my natural state, but then I realized it’s okay to want to move on. I want to focus on what happens after sobriety, not before. So instead of getting super personal in this one, I want to discuss how long it actually takes us to heal and recover. You may find yourself obsessing about sobriety or feeling frustrated that it’s taking you so long to feel better, but it’s a long journey. You don’t just quit drinking and go back to normal right away. In this episode you’ll learn how long it takes for the brain to recover and what you can do to take care of yourself while you’re healing. What to listen to next: E75: How Sleep Improves from Actively Drinking to Long Term Sobriety E73: The Obsession Eventually Evens Out (I’m 2 Years Sober) E21: I'm 1 Year Sober! Resources I offer: Community: Living a Sober Powered Life https://www.soberpowered.com/membership 30 Day Quit Drinking Course with daily audios to help you work on your mindset about letting drinking go https://quitdrinkingcourse.supercast.com/ Monthly office hours: ask me anything you’d like live. My audio will be recorded for anyone who can’t join live. I will not be recording the meeting participants. https://officehours.supercast.com/ Weekly emails on Thursdays where I explain the latest episode in more detail, share images to help you understand the concepts, share announcements, interviews, writing, discount codes and more. https://view.flodesk.com/pages/6107260617e156c4839768b5 A free 3 day quit drinking challenge https://view.flodesk.com/pages/62f2cb3de5ea6b3d8aea4ab2 You are not alone eBook with data from almost 700 sober people https://www.soberpowered.com/you-are-not-alone-ebook   Thank you for supporting this show by supporting my sponsors. Learn more: https://www.soberpowered.com/sponsors If you enjoyed this episode please consider buying me a coffee to support my work https://www.buymeacoffee.com/soberpowered Sources are posted on my website Disclaimer: all of the information described in this podcast is my interpretation of the research combined with my opinion. This is not medical advice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices