Sweet Sobriety – Getting Drunk on Life and High on Nature

The poem that follows is from my book SWEET – Highs, Lows & Mystic Glows (an autobiography written in verse). It expresses my personal journey to the Higher High of sobriety.

Getting Drunk on Life and High on Nature

Drinking booze and
getting high on drugs,
was great fun for awhile.
Enhanced confidence, more laughter,
wildness, naughtiness—
it made me dance and smile.

What’s more it allowed me
to see and experience
strange altered states.
As well as see beauty,
feel wonderment
and discover my many traits.

Partaking in the
various, tantalising,
big kid sweets,
briefly made life more fun
and inspired me
to explore new streets.

However, these substances
that get you high, have a tendency
to also get you low.
The opposite of these fun feeling states
is usually what follows,
from what I know.

A vicious cycle of depending
on the substance
to get you back up again.
As a means to get you out
of the downward spiral,
or at least to numb the pain.

These days I have found more ultimate
ways to feel confident, get relief,
enjoy altered states and have fun.
These days I get drunk on life
and high on nature,
which works for me. Win – Won!

By having a deep connection
with nature, the cycles, trees
and the vast blue sky,
and by reaching deep
within myself to ask questions,
who, what, where and why,

I have a deeper sense of
who I AM and feel more at ease,
as a unique part of the Mystery.
I feel supported and guided in my
journey to wholeness, through
healing and integrating my history.

I have experienced getting higher
and more blissful,
while totally sober.
And the real beauty is,
there are no negative side effects
and no sign of a hangover.

Preventing the low
and striving for the high,
are not the end all goals.
As these poles are here
to teach us, to hear
the whispers of our souls.

I needed both extremes,
the highs and lows,
that drink and drugs gave me,
so I could see the greatness
of sobriety and be able
to choose accordingly.

If on your own journey you KNOW it’s time to let this habit go, and you’re not sure where to begin, ask yourself:

Why do I indulge? Why did I do it in the past and why do I do it now?

For fun? For relief? For confidence? For Connection? To belong? To escape your pain and problems? To celebrate?

Maybe it’s all of these?

Once you feel into the ‘why’, begin to seek out and explore what other activities, people, places etc bring you these things. What else brings, connection, fun, relief? Being in the woods, being by the sea, painting pictures, travelling, yoga?

And start making a habit of them.

Dropping the drink and drugs is a sure way to reduce anxiety and depression and open yourself up to experiencing the more empowering Organic High that’s available to all of us.