What are your experiences with going sober for spiritual reasons?
I’m considering making an earnest attempt to avoid all intoxicants, which for me would mean giving up alcohol and cannabis. Currently I use both regularly. I’m not addicted, but I have noticed that they cause some negative states like cravings for these substances at times and health effects like hangovers or tiredness.
I’m not really interested in debating if these, or any substances, are ok for lay people in moderation, or if they help/hurt one’s practice. There have been plenty of those discussions on this forum already. Your experiences may be different than mine and I’m happy for you if you believe that marijuana helps your practice.
What I’m hoping to hear from the community is, if you have decided to live soberly, what affect has it had on your life overall and in particular your relationships?
I’m a little hesitant to fully commit to giving up intoxicants mostly because it seems like a radically different lifestyle than my current one and a different lifestyle than everyone around me as well. All my friends and close family drink and most smoke. I’m ok with that but I worry that we would drift apart as my lifestyle changes to include only sober activities.
Also over 90% of all American adults drink and cannabis seems to be more accepted and prevalent everyday. I feel exhausted just thinking about trying to refrain from something so common in our culture.
So just hoping to hear from anyone, who is completely sober, what was going sober like for you? What can I expect from the process of transitioning to a sober lifestyle? Did it drastically change your social life or the way people view you? Did you have to make a new set friends eventually? Do you feel isolated from others because of your choice? And was it worth the effort if you’re not addicted, but just a casual user?
Thank you! 🕉
TLDR- if you’re sober for spiritual reasons rather than due to full blown addiction, which I think we can all agree is not a useful mental state, what was the process of going sober like for you? How has it changed your relationships, practice, etc?
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