How ‘woke’ are you?
I hate the term ‘woke’ but it’s in right now, I guess I am trying to show you just how ‘woke’ I am referencing it! (Not really!) The word refers to being conscious of racial discrimination, oppression and injustice in society but now it’s used more generically to describe someone who is ‘awake’ ‘aware’ ‘clued in’ and ‘with it’.
And are you conscious? I don’t mean are you breathing, ( lets hope so!,) I refer of course to your level of awareness and importantly – empathy, towards what’s going on around you, and your own internal state. Consciousness means being aware of yourself and the world but your ‘conscience’ will be related to your morals and values, your sense of right and wrong. Often we think of conscious people as having some concept of higher power, source or spirituality.
Before I get too deep into any of this naval gazing, let me just tell you that I had an inner voice (my conscience) and it spoke to me daily, usually at 3am and told me in no uncertain terms to For God’s Sake STOP DRINKING!
It didn’t always shout, sometimes it was gentle and reminded me softly, ‘You’re worth more than that, please don’t poison yourself any longer, please look after your body, its worked so hard for you, given you four children, allowed you to dance and sing and on and on…just cut down on the goddam booze!!!’
It took years, but finally I listened to my conscience, and I become more ‘conscious’ It wasn’t until I ditched the booze that I finally became ‘woke’. I was literally awakened I became a nicer person, less selfish , more empathetic, kinder.
Being sober makes you more kind. (Factoid).
It took a while, but over time I found I had less anxiety and stress in my life. I got a sense of clarity and focus, I felt fully present, I become ‘conscious’ Of course being sober doesn’t sort everything, I’m very grateful the work I do comes under the banner ‘Imperfectly natural’ because I’m certainly not perfect and neither is life, but I do feel more able to deal with whatever life throws at me, I have become more resilient.
Being sober makes you brave (Factoid)
Bizarrely the majority of people are not conscious in the true sense of the word, in fact they are bumbling through life totally unaware of its beauty, and their own potential. They are probably, right now planning how they can become less conscious by the end of the day, and a few drinks in, they may well be unconscious (literally) Perhaps you believe you are very ‘conscious’ and yet still not ‘woke’ to the idea of ditching the booze. I’d challenge you to allow yourself to be awakened, its quite remarkable when the ‘scales drop off’ and you see the world in all, its glorious technicolour without the booze coloured specs.
Being sober invites you to experience joy (Factoid)
If you’ve got the 3am voice, (or whatever time it speaks to you) forget the old conditioning which allows you to ignore it. (We know it will feel ok again by 6pm the following day, then the voice will be the much happier ‘wine witch’ telling you its ok to ‘just have one drink’ ) Don’t ignore it, Listen carefully to the inner voice. It’s likely you will be amazed at how your life changes,’ especially if you decide to challenge yourself to 30, 60, 90 days without the booze. Maybe you have already ditched the drink and are slowly starting to feel more awake. Of course we are in the minority, us woke sober lot, Drinking is our societal norm, but the tide is slowly turning and we are starting to pop up everywhere, us joyful sober types, #soberandwoke
If you’d like support and inspiration from likeminded people join The Sober Club. So much advice, info teaching on nutrition, wellbeing, mindset, purpose passion and more