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Well, I did it. I officially survived Sober October without a drink. It was the worst of times, it was the best of times, and it was definitely the most eye-opening of times. Thank you for all of the moral support, virtually and otherwise, and especially to those of you who joined me in this new kind of sisterhood! Here’s what happened and what I learned when I got sober:
The first week was the worst. 

As with so many other detoxes, the initial shock to my system and my routine were the hardest. I was feeling rather proud of myself making it to Thursday (Five whole days. Wow.) but after an especially hard day, thought I was going to D-I-E if I didn’t have a drink. I think I distracted myself with Grey’s Anatomy and went to bed early. I also broke out into the cold sweats that first week, which scared the hell out of me. It turned out to just be allergies but still. It was clear that I used alcohol to take the edge off and was a little lost without it. But once I got over that initial 30 minutes when I walk through the door and straight to the bottle of wine, I discovered that the pain passes. Kombucha isn’t beer.

And sparkling water isn’t champagne. But they’re something, and they helped get me through. Our normally stocked wine fridge looked like the beverage cooler at Whole Foods. Seeing its contents reminded me how much we used to drink, and how much healthier I felt reaching for coconut water. I knew I w...