Personal growth and acceptance in Sobriety

Being back in Brighton in a place is tough. It’s where I had the worst drinking habit in my life and where I stopped drinking. It’s also where I came to better myself academically and where I have bettered myself personally.

My dissertation topic is centred around addiction which fascinates me but also causes me pain when I hear or read things that resonate with my own experiences.

Today, I have been trying to reflect on all the things I have achieved but more what I have overcome. And I am so proud of my personal growth despite what has been thrown at me and what I have thrown at myself.

I’m not here to write about abuse or bullying or what has happened to me that wasn’t my fault. No pity party.
What I want to say is growing as an individual and changing your negative habits and relearning positive thinking is what I’m really fucking proud of.
AND IT IS ACHIEVABLE.

As many people know, I was a bit of a loose cannon as a teenager and even blowing over into my early 20s. I struggled with self identity, self esteem, self love and anything positive to do with myself. The only way I truly knew to deal with this was to ignore how I actually felt and either pretend to feel a certain way with a cocky, loud, no-fucks-given persona or to feel this persona but by using coping strategies which were incredibly unhealthy for my physical and mental health.

This is not normal and the sad thing is, too many people experience struggles with mental health through their biology or environment and most of what damages their mental health is not their fault.

Yet, there is still stigma surrounding mental health and there is still grudges held against people who make mistakes in their life.

The Kelly I am today was in that girl before but she was so squashed down and ignored due to unhealthy coping mechanisms and this persona I’d created and was battling with.

By creating this persona and unhealthy coping mechanisms, I created relationships and friendships with people I didn’t actually like and I partook in activities I actually had no interest in but I thought that was who I was.

I truly thought I was that girl. The girl in the left side of the attached photo. The girl who got drunk all the time and made bad choices every weekend. The girl who felt bad for the next five days and self medicated by getting drunk again. The girl who thought this was NORMAL.

But the girl I actually was, she wasn’t any of those things. She was smart and quirky. She was really loving and caring. But most of all, she wasn’t that confident and she didn’t know how to process her life experiences. She’d created this persona so the decent people and love she needed in her life was unable to access her.

I was squashed down inside that girl for years. Struggling mentally and battling everyday with who I was as a person and also, what I had experienced.

The biggest and best thing I have ever done was to decide enough was enough and to stop drinking alcohol.

It has encouraged me to be the best version of myself and also forced me to face unwanted feelings that I had ignored for a long time.

I am now able to properly recognise my emotions and moreover, I can cope with them healthily. I don’t need to numb my feelings or put on a front.
I have opened doors to the good people in my life that I had shut out for so long. I am able to go to them when I am struggling and be honest and they give me the love and support I have always needed because I let them.

Even better, I am able to apologise. I am able to truly take ownership in my flaws as a person and fix them. I can own all of the wrong doings in my life and apologise. I sometimes feel sorry for myself for what I’ve experienced but unfortunately, no amount of trauma can excuse negative behaviours especially when they hurt those around you. So now, I am able to have healthy relationships with others. I am able to be that friend to others like they were to me. I can be a good daughter, granddaughter, niece, cousin, friend, girlfriend etc.

And the best thing about feeling and dealing with real emotions and real relationships is that I can finally breathe.
I am free. I never gave up anything. I freed myself from negativity around me in my environment, in others and in my own mind.

Don’t get me wrong, I still struggle. I still get belts of anxiety where I feel completely overwhelmed and triggered. I still feel guilt and shame sometimes. I still remember unwanted memories and triggers.

BUT I have built this little world around me where I love who I am and I will continue to fight to love myself, where I have amazing friends and family and I will not tolerate anyone in my life who brings any form of negativity and where I am able to be the best version of myself, not only for me but those around me because love is a two way street and having positive influences and bonds with others in life brings more stability, self-assurance and self-love than you can imagine.

The girl I am now is on the right side of the attached photo (with a mocktail) and that right there is pure happiness.

And 957 days sober. Boom.

Why have I defined my life by the men I have dated?

I have spent my life defining it by the relationships I have had with men and this has got to stop.

When discussing the past or reflecting on things that have happened, I remember it by the guy I was dating. This pisses me off…  A LOT.

The psychologist in me is determined to understand why I do this and also, to make a plan so that I NEVER do this again… because I am not and never will be defined by the men I had interest in.

Part of me believes it is due to being so emotional. I feel everything so deeply and at times, I have become so consumed by the relationship I was in, it became me.

Another part of me believes that I have always put my all into relationships. So, when they break down, it takes a part of me with it and therefore, makes me question who I am as a person.

It could also be the fact that I had a bad relationship with myself and instead of dealing with it, I focused on trying to fix relationships when I should have focused on myself.

Perhaps some weird shit happened in childhood and influenced the child version of myself to believe that my value depends on my relationship.

Who the hell knows?

What I do know, is that I will never define my life by the men I date. From now on, my life will be viewed by the challenges I have overcome and all that I have achieved.

The Lanson bottle of Champaign I never drank.

So, for the last day of 2018, I decided to clear through everything in my bedroom at my dads house. It is full of some really nostalgic stuff but also, lots of junk.

On top of my desk, was this…

An unopened bottle of Lanson champagne I received for my 21st birthday. I’m now 25…

I remember I was saving it for a special occasion but there was never a special enough occasion to open it. I don’t mean that nothing great ever happened, I mean nothing was worthy of getting myself black out drunk, aggressive and emotional and self destructive over.

Looking back, I never really drank to celebrate. I never drank a lot at weddings or real celebrations. It was like I wanted to actually savour those moments. Like I subconscious knew that if I got drunk, I’d ruin the memory.

I drank at a parties and gatherings and got completely wasted. I became a party girl who was hilarious and sassy. I had a reputation to uphold. Why was I so uncomfortable just being myself sober?

I thought I had a reputation to uphold. Little did I know, that I didn’t look hot or sassy or funny but I looked sad, desperate and a complete and utter mess.

Anyway, I’m sat here staring at this Lanson bottle of champagne and I’m not sad. I never got to enjoy this and I wouldn’t of anyway. I would of drank it fast and classless to get wasted.

I find it all quite funny. The irony in saving something for a time that would never come.

So, instead, I am going to take it to a friends house tonight where they are having a NYE gathering. I’m going to pass it on with only good wishes and hope that they can drink and enjoy this bottle of Lanson’s champagne in a way I never could whilst I’m sipping on my pineapple juice and lemonade 💁🏻‍♀️

The truth about a self-harmer…

If you know a self harmer, know that even if they have not harmed themselves in days, weeks, months or years, they think about it every single day especially on days filled with emotion.

I don’t remember why I started self-harming but for some reason, I saw it as an option. I was too young to drink and to take drugs and for some reason, talking about and facing up to emotions was not an option in my mind.

I was 11 years old when I first self-harmed. Absolutely terrifying. I am now 25 years old and the thought of a cousin, niece, nephew or even a child of my own doing that at 11 years old is heart breaking. I’m sorry mum.

The last time I self-harmed for a long period of time was about 5 years ago. It was one of the darkest times of my life and I really didn’t care if I lived or died.

People think self-harm is a really bad thing but I don’t. It is a coping mechanism. A really short term fix with negative long term results but it helped me cope. I enjoyed it. I looked forward to doing it. I would be able to breathe after. I would be myself again after. It was nice.

Reading this, I bet you are thinking I’m crazy. I used to think I was.

I had a slip up when my drinking got out of hand and it was like I was drinking excessively to self-harm because being drunk was my excuse and I was more confident about doing it. I would never talk myself out of it if I was drunk.

The last time I self-harmed was the last time I drank. I think thats pretty significant.

However, there is something so dark and comforting about the thought of it. I don’t know if it’s the physical pain or seeing blood or something else…

But the worst thing about being a self-harmer is not actually self-harming, it’s the feeling of missing it.

Some days, the thought will come and it will pass.

Some days, I will be fighting the thought off for hours.

Some days, I want to do it.

And I hate that I want to do it but I also like it.

And I hate that I like it.

The reality of having a negative coping mechanism for so long and becoming attached to it in a way that you miss it is shit.

Trying to explain this to someone who has no idea around self-harm is excruciatingly painful and frustrating. I don’t expect everyone to understand but don’t judge a self-harmer.

They don’t judge you every time you pick up a cigarette or a drink because you’re stressed.

Don’t ever look at someone’s scars or listen to their story and think they’re weak.

A self-harmer in recovery is an incredibly strong person. Far from weak.

They are still here and still fighting daily battles.

They’ve developed healthier ways to deal and cope with emotions.

They’ve seen the darkness and they’re familiar with it but they’re still looking towards the light.

Also, know that like with everything, you will always have attention seekers.

I feel self-harmers are given this label too often and it’s completely false. Someone who self-harms to release emotions or to feel something or for whatever reason, will hide their harm. They will not flaunt it.

It’s not a trophy. It’s personal and most of the time, after the harming, it feels shameful so self-harmers tend to cover up.

People who walk round showing their cuts and talking about it like they’ve just made a cup of tea are attention seeking. For whatever reason, they want attention. You can take this as annoying or a cry for help or something they’re seeking as they’re missing it from other parts of their life.

But for those individuals who harm themselves because they can’t cope with their emotions, just hug them. Ask them how they are. And then ask them how they really are. These people are good at hiding how they really feel.

For god’s sake girl, let go of the guilt.

I have a really big issue with who I was and who I am now. Besides going through a lot myself, I constantly feel guilty for people who knew me before I was sober.

I remember times that I’d be drunk and gobbing off to people. I didn’t care what I said or what I did to others whilst I was drunk.

Even before my drinking became bad and I was an emotional, angry teenager who couldn’t deal with anything.

I feel awful for the people who stuck by me throughout everything because sometimes, I could be really nasty and selfish.

Because of this, I feel like I owe people something. I’m not sure what it is I owe them but sometimes, I feel overwhelmed with guilt.

I’ve tried to reconnect with people through social media. Sometimes it works and sometimes, it doesn’t.

I’ll sit for ages thinking about what people would say about me. If someone was to describe me, what would they really say?

It’s so silly because I don’t care for the negative opinions of others now but if they have some connection to my past, I feel like I have something to apologise for and something to prove.

It normally ends up in feeling really shit about myself and I become weak, almost wanting to beg for forgiveness.

And the reality is, most of these people hurt me. I may have been an annoyance in their life or have caused them some pain but they also did the same to me. Yet, I still put all the blame on myself.

The truth is no amount of guilt can change the past and no amount of worrying can change the future.

I’m not perfect, I never have been and I never will be.

Just know that everything I have been through, good or bad, has been a valuable lesson.

I don’t hold hate in my heart anymore. People can change.

I just need to find the strength in myself to let go of the past. The present is what’s important to build the best future for myself and by holding on to the past, I am just holding myself back and burdening myself with things that cannot be changed.

Give yourself a break girl, life’s too short.

 

 

 

 

I went to the worst place on earth… School.

Today my foster sister went to her school prom and she looked beautiful. She goes to the school that I went to at her age. I wanted to feel happy and enjoy the moment but instead, I felt insecure, anxious and sad. 

We went to a place called Foster Gardens where everyone has their pictures taken. It’s a lovely opportunity for people to meet up with their friends and take group pictures with a pretty background. Perfect for instagram.

However, I noticed so many people alone not having people to take pictures with and it broke my heart.

It reminded me of being at school and feeling isolated. Constantly battling to stay afloat whilst feeling like you’re drowning.

Everyone’s experience at school is different but I really hated school. Don’t get me wrong, I loved learning but I hated the social aspect of school.

I was a bubbly, sociable person but I was also insecure and suffering with my mental health. I hated injustice and couldn’t stand bullys which also got me into trouble.

I know I had friends at school and I know there were good times but it is so hard to remember them. Most of my happy memories are crushed by people letting me down or simply worse experiences.

School was the time that I started self-harming and drinking. I constantly felt out of control and I constantly felt like I had to prove myself to people.

When I went to watch the prom tonight, I remembered every single person who bullied me, every time I cried, every time I walked out of school because I couldn’t cope. I remembered all the rumours which were so silly but caused so much drama, all the people who said they were my friend and were not. I remembered the pressure of looking a specific way and I remember the people who got bullied because they didn’t fit the criteria. I remembered it all.

I really hope that the good and decent people never listened to those rumours. I hope that when I was really suffering mentally, people felt sad for me instead of believing that I was an attention seeker. I really hope that any one I ever upset or hurt, they can forgive me because I really am sorry.

And if we went to school together and you see me on the street, at a party, on facebook, then please say hello. And if for some reason I hurt your feelings, definitely say hello. Lets start again!

 

Still learning that self-love

So far on this journey of airy fairy self-love…

I have deleted unhealthy social media pages. I went through facebook, snapchat, instagram and said goodbye to all the fitness pages, healthy eating pages, models, celebrities etc. I knew seeing all these “perfect” people were affecting my mood but it wasn’t until I deleted nearly 300 instagram pages that I truly understood how social media was affecting me in such a negative way.

I’ve also stopped putting pressure on myself. I love working out but to balance university, work and some sort of social life is hard enough without adding the gym into it. Whilst I enjoy going, by making myself go, it becomes a chore and it makes me miserable. I’ve decided that my happiness will not be defined by weight. When I go to the gym, I become addicted (story of my life) and I put pressure on myself to constantly look better. I am never satisfied. From discovering this, I’ve realised I really need to give myself a break. I need to become happy in my own body before working out. I want to work out because I enjoy it, not to increase my levels of happiness due to weight loss.

I’ve realised that what I want most in the world is to be in a healthy loving relationship with a bestfriend and have a happy and healthy family. Such simple life goals. But in order to achieve this, I really need to chill out. I need to let go of the past. There is a lot in my past that I have let go of but for some reason, I define myself and my abilities on the successes and failures of past relationships. Absolutely bloody ridiculous! I know! When I am lonely, I reflect on past relationships and blame myself as the reason I am alone. I know that I have standards and the reason I am single is because the men in my past were just not right for me. We were at different stages of our lives. We were together for the wrong reasons. We wanted different things. Yet, I still punish myself for the failures in my life. I really want to and need to evaluate this section of my thought process. Failed relationships doesn’t make me a failure, it just means I’m strong because I didn’t settle for less.

It frustrates me that I am aware of what I am doing to myself. I’m aware I am punishing myself for something so ridiculous. So, this has got to change. I need to let go of every single person I’ve dated. I’m sick of holding on to memories that will never be the same again. I truly believe that in order to achieve self-love, I’ve got to say goodbye for the last time. It makes me really sad that people can come into your life, change your life and then leave forever. I hold on, hoping that they’ll come back and change their mind or just want to be friends because we did have happy memories. But this is not realistic. It needs to end now. I honestly blame social media for making this so hard. There are always reminders of the past and it’s hard to truly move forwards but I reallllly need to do this for myself. I want to do this for myself. 

Come on Kels, you got this!

Thanks lovers x

My Journey to Self Love

I have been feeling really shitty recently and for every socially constructed flaw in my life, I blame myself.

I feel like I’m having a quarter life crisis. 

Society makes me feel shit for being single. I worry that I won’t find the right person. Then I worry I won’t have children. I worry because I’m moving to a new place next year and I won’t know anyone. Then I’m moving back and a lot of my friends will be gone. How am I going to find stability? When am I going to be content in my life. Are people not attracted to me because of my life choices? My sobriety? Because I’m a “mature student”. Or is it because I’m ugly. Because I’m unhappy with my weight.

Then, I start to criticise myself. You are single because you are fat, ugly, damaged. You don’t fit in to society. You’ll never belong. You’re not as clever as you thought you were. Why bother.

When I used to have these thoughts or experience these emotions, I could numb them with unhealthy coping mechanisms. Now, I can’t and I’ve realised that it’s time to start to really love myself.

In reality, I know that I am beautiful, I have a perfectly fine body, I am successful etc etc. But it doesn’t stop my mind telling me otherwise.

So, this is my mission. I am on a mission of self- love. In order to be happy, I need to learn to love myself. I need to give less of a shit to what others think of me.

In all honesty, I have no idea how I am going to do this but I’m sick of being my own worst enemy.

So here is where it starts. Kelly, I love you girl.

 

 

My last alcoholic drink

*TRIGGER WARNING*

A year ago today tonight was the last time I drank alcohol.

I went into it with the intention of having fun and I was determined and positive that I could and would control myself under the influence of alcohol.

I was drinking Rosé wine with my boyfriend and I facetimed my mum at around 9pm all happy and giggly.

We then went to my house and played beer pong. I was still laughing by this point. We were ready to go to bed and by this time, I didn’t know what time it was. I went upstairs to the toilet and my boyfriend had just gotten into bed. My best friend called me whilst I was on the toilet and in all honesty that is the last thing I clearly remember.

The night suddenly turned into my worst nightmare and I feel I need to share it. People don’t understand why I don’t drink and I don’t need to justify my reasons why. However, when I tell people that I go crazy, they say “so does everyone” or “everyone has a night like that”, I want you to know that if you only ever have one awful night of drinking, that is a good enough reason for you to want to stop drinking. Don’t feel pressured by society to carry on because English culture is one of the biggest binge drinking cultures in the world.

Anyway, my memory is very vague by this point.

Just remember, I went upstairs happy. Giggly. Ready to come back and cuddle my boyfriend in bed.

I came downstairs and collapsed on the floor, crying and hyperventilating. I then proceeded to scream and hold my head. Mumbling about events I had repressed and also events I thought I had mentally dealt with. I don’t know what triggered this behaviour and that is what is so frightening.

I then became determined again but my determination had changed. It had gone from being determined to have a good night to now, being determined to harm myself.

I pretended to get a drink in the kitchen and took a knife to the bathroom where my boyfriend kicked the door in. I did this repeatedly with other sharp objects. I smashed glass cups, glass bottles and in the end, I smashed my wall mirror.

The strange thing about this is that I didn’t use my fist. I wanted to hurt myself but instead of punching the mirror, I grabbed my can of deodorant and repeatedly smashed the mirror. I then grabbed pieces of the broken glass, ran away and cut my arm.

Whilst this was going on, my boyfriend was trying to catch me, restrain me and calm me down but I only saw red. I knew what I wanted and I couldn’t stop myself. I didn’t care who I hurt in the process. I just needed to get what I wanted and in that moment in time, it was to hurt myself.

The next thing I remember is waking up in my boyfriend’s bed with a sore head. I sat bolt up right with the realisation of what had happened. I looked at my arm which my boyfriend had bandaged up and I felt so empty. I hadn’t been this out of control in 4 years. My boyfriend was fast asleep and I couldn’t even look at him. I couldn’t look at myself.

The feeling I felt whilst out of control drunk was a strangely comfortable feeling but it had to stop. It was dangerous. Every time I reached that level of drunk, I took it to the next step. I’ve never smashed a mirror before to hurt myself. I’d also never hurt myself to that extent before. What if next time I was so drunk that I ended my life. I didn’t want to die. I was just hurting.

The feeling I felt when I woke up that morning is one I will never forget and sometimes it haunts me. It’s not because I felt bad about what I did to myself. It’s because of what I put my boyfriend through. The responsibility of looking after me. Trying to control someone who was uncontrollable. Watching them self-destruct and being so determined to harm their body. I then remembered everyone else who had ever suffered in that position. My mum, my best friends, even people who weren’t that close with me but felt obliged to fix me at that moment in time.

I felt disgusted. The person who I became when I was drunk was so detached from who I was sober.

Sober, I would put 100% into my work and my studies. I would go to the gym. I would enjoy spending time with family and friends. I had goals, ambitions, dreams and I was determined to have an amazing life.

But as soon as alcohol entered my system, I was gone and this monster who hated herself came out. She would remind herself of ever traumatic experience she’d been through and make her relive the pain. She was self-destructive and dangerous. But most of all, she didn’t know or remember what exactly she was doing. It was like she had gone into auto-pilot.

Saying that my body and mind had gone into auto-pilot is not an excuse for my behaviour but it is exactly how I felt. My body would continue to act and behave in certain ways and I would have certain thoughts but I would lose my eyesight, my memory and my self-control.

This night was the last night I drank alcohol and I made the biggest and best decision of my life to stop drinking.

I wasn’t giving up something, I was freeing myself and allowing myself to be the best version of who I am.

It is important for me to write this, not only for other people to understand or to relate to and know it is okay to have a problem with substances but it is important to write this for myself.

It is really horrible to remember what I was like and what I did when I was drinking but it is so important. Reflection is incredibly important and it keeps me striving forwards with my sobriety and pushes me forwards to be the person I am and who I want to be.

Lastly, this is an apology. To anyone I hurt physically or mentally whilst I was under the influence of alcohol. You might remember horrible words I said or disgusting behaviour and the worst thing is, I probably don’t remember. So please, forgive me for who I was before I stopped drinking. I was suffering with my mental health and with substance misuse. There is no excuse for anything I ever did but know that I am truly sorry and I am not the person I once was.

Nearly 1 year sober.

Peace out xx

I miss you

Sometimes, when I’m all alone, I lay and think about you. I think about all the laughter and the good times. I think about what could of been. I think about how much I miss you. Sometimes I battle with myself to send you a message. I convince myself that I miss you.

Today, I realised I don’t miss you. 

I miss the idea of who I thought you were. 

I lay and think about how amazing I thought you were. How I thought you were the start of something new. How similar we were in so many ways. How compatible we were.

I imagine your face, your laugh, your smile. The way I felt when I was with you. The way you smelt. The comfort I’d feel in your arms.

And I can’t. I can’t remember and I can’t imagine. My thoughts have twisted into a fabrication of reality. I don’t remember what you look like and I don’t remember how you smell.

Because actually, none of that is true. We weren’t compatible. We are not similar. I thought we were because of the outlook I have on life. I had my rose-tinted glasses on.

And then I realise, I miss the idea of you. and by ‘you’, I don’t mean you. I miss the idea of having someone to laugh with. Having someone to run to and tell my exciting news. Having someone to unwind with in front of the tv and relax with. Having someone to love who loves me back.

Sometimes, it can be so hard to distinguish between emotions and feelings. Feeling lonely does not mean I am alone. Feeling needy does not mean I am dependent on others. Feeling sad does not mean I will never be happy again.

All of those feelings and emotions are temporary.

I need to remember the truth and not the false memories my brain is trying to recreate. I have missed you, a lot. I wanted you to turn around and change your mind. and you didn’t. And that’s okay. Because actions speak louder than words and now I remember the truth about the situation. 

So, when I’m next in bed, missing ‘you’, I’m going to remind myself that whilst I’m missing ‘you’ for those 15 minutes in bed because I’m tired, the other 23 hours and 45 minutes in the day, I’m focused, fabulous and fearless.