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Luchea Green | Sober | Nurse | Lifter

@luchea.green

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Train the body | Steady the mind
Strength . Recovery . Connection 🖤
Falling in love with this sober life ✨

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i was an alcoholic. my drinking was ugly and around the clock. getting sober is where I was rebuilt.

addiction cost me relationships.
jobs. friendships.
health. happiness. inner peace. and teeth.

if you're new here, welcome.

this has been a turbulent journey of learning and growth.
the gift in all of it is being able to share anything of value with other people on the same path.

underneath all of it was a spiritual seeking.
for connection. for oneness. for my purpose in this life.

anyone at any stage of their journey is welcome here. 🖤 by @luchea.green

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33

a month ago

three mistakes to avoid in early sobriety.
quitting drinking is hard.
staying stopped is a different job entirely.

navigating life without alcohol can feel like a minefield, and nobody warns you about any of it.

one. your brain is not your friend.

the same thinking that told you hair of the dog is an amazing idea is still steering the ship.

so don't trust what it tells you when the cravings kick in.

two. not everyone in the rooms is trying to get well.

meetings are for identification, sharing, connection. they're also full of people who talk a very good game.

listen to your gut. look for the ones who walk it.

three. don't overstretch.

stay in the moment. one step. one action. go gently.

recovery starts in seconds.
seconds turn to minutes. minutes turn to hours.
days. years. decades.

it all has to start with the small ✨ by @luchea.green

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37

a month ago

in recovery, it's well known that problems of romance and finance can lead to relapse, avoidance, anxiety, ambivalence and codependent behaviours are baked into how we understand life. struggling with relationships and heartbreak, in and out of sobriety, is really common and needs to be talked about.

as a card-carrying avoidant, I can see how my sabotaging behaviour and difficulty with closeness have affected not just my romantic relationships but all of my relationships.

if any of these 7 sound like you, it's okay.
the work is ongoing.
find safe people in recovery and talk about it.
this stuff gets better.

tell me which one hit close to home and what I've missed off the list 🖤 by @luchea.green

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8

15 hours ago

as an alcoholic, moderate drinking was never an option. once i take the first drink, the horse has already bolted & there is no stop. sobriety didn’t make the addictive side of me disappear, but recovery showed me it’s part of who i am & how to embrace it.

it isn’t only drink.
 one of anything rarely works for me.
no amount of alcohol, food, shopping, exercise, love (insert addiction here) is ever going to fill the gap.

the longer i stay on this path, the more i see it’s simply how i’m made.
that’s nothing to be ashamed of.
 pointed in the right direction, it’s what makes us unstoppable.

what starts to fill the void is connection. with people who know exactly what you’re going through.

if you’re in the early days & it’s hard today, keep going. don’t do it alone 🖤 by @luchea.green

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23

2 days ago

if you’ve struggled with alcohol, addiction or substance abuse, there’s a good chance you could be a highly sensitive person. from the outside it can look like anxiety or introversion, but it’s acutely feeling subtleties like tone of someone’s voice, microaggressions, the energy in a room or a vibe that’s off.

i remember a teacher at school saying “don’t worry about her, she’s always crying.”
4 years sober and that hasn’t changed.

life felt too intense. one of the reasons i drank 24/7 was to take the edge off living in a world that felt like being held in acid.

getting sober means facing that world exposed. everything feels too harsh.
 the gift is, very often that message is our nervous system telling us this stuff isn’t for us anyway.

if you’re in your early days & feeling your feelings is too much, stick with it. you can do it ✨ by @luchea.green

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19

3 days ago

nobody prepares you for the unexpected challenges of early sobriety. when you first quit drinking and start getting sober, saying goodbye to alcohol isn't the only part of the recovery process.

feelings come back. people test you. boredom hits. your routine has to change. and your sleep could get worse before it gets better.

what other challenges have you encountered in early sobriety? tell me below 🖤 by @luchea.green

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20

4 days ago

if you're a real alcoholic, of think you might have a drinking problem, you probably have a string of drunk stories where things did not go to plan. with alcoholism the rock bottoms keep going down, so how many do you want to hit before you finally quit drinking and find recovery?

one that should have been an alarm bell for me: the time i got blacklisted by playboy.

i'd love to say it was the only time my drinking was that risky, irresponsible and selfish.

if you recognise yourself in memory lapses & cringy stories, and you're done, send me a DM or talk to another addict in recovery 🖤

if you're worried about your drinking or using, free support is here:

Alcoholics Anonymous GB: alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk (free helpline 0800 917 7650)
We Are With You: wearewithyou.org.uk (free, confidential online chat)
Alcohol Change UK: alcoholchange.org.uk by @luchea.green

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5 days ago

if you're an alcoholic, you're not sure, or you're just thinking about drinking less, these are the things that improved massively when i quit alcohol.

the benefits of quitting drinking go far beyond your health. giving up alcohol changes your money, your mindset & the way you show up for the people in your life.

1. finances. drinking was priority number one. was anyone else constantly looking at their bank account thinking “how did that happen?”? when you're not counting your shrapnel to make sure you can afford the next drink over everything else, life gets a bit easier.

2. skin. that oil slick on my face every single day? it cleared as soon as i stopped putting alcohol into my system.

3. relationships. they're not perfect overnight. but it's astounding how much better things get when you're not a hungover ratbag every single day.

4. work. show up on time, do what you agreed to do & don't be an absolute tool in the process. you can get promoted. you can do anything.

tell me, what have i missed? 🖤 by @luchea.green

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8 days ago

if you're an alcoholic or thinking about cutting down your drinking, these are the physical habits that helped me in the early days of sobriety.

if you decide you want to stop, these practices build your resilience & tolerance to discomfort, so you're more equipped for the challenges that come when self-soothing with alcohol is no longer the go to.

1. exercise. if you've got an addict's mentality, that energy has to go somewhere. for me it went into the gym & meetings.

2. cold plunge. i didn't like it at first. doing something that sucked on a regular basis built up my tolerance to discomfort and gave me a physical practice of surrender.

3. meditation. it's NOT doing, it's an intentional practice. sitting in silence is one of the best ways to reconnect to yourself after divorcing from emotional and physical pain for so long

4. not debating. take the mental block away & free up the mental bandwidth you would have used procrastinating. if i'd made a commitment, i just got on with it. deliberating isn't free. the energy you spend arguing with yourself is the same energy you could use to get the task done.

which one would you argue isn't physical? & what did you do in the early days that made putting down the alcohol easier? 🖤 by @luchea.green

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20

9 days ago

more red flags of alcoholism i couldn't see until i got sober.

part 2 of my problem drinking habits that i used to think were normal in active addiction.

choosing your drink by its strength.
not what you like, what it costs or what it goes with. just the alcohol percentage.
what do you mean wray & nephew doesn’t pair with fish?

picking up a resentment when other people don't want to drink with you.
bonkers, because if you’re like me you'll end up drinking on your own anyway.

trying to match the pace of whoever you're drinking with.
& absolutely hating it.

clocking other people's drinks all the time.
even into my first year of sobriety, i couldn't walk past someone holding a can without checking what it was.
was that the same thing i would have been drinking?

which one hit home? & what would you add to my list? 🖤 by @luchea.green

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15

10 days ago

in active addiction, this kind of secretive thinking around my drinking used to feel normal.

now i'm sober, i can see these alcoholic behaviours were absolutely mental.

part 1:

never ordering one drink at a time.
you know the saying "less is more"?
well, all i knew was "more is more".

one was never enough. if your drinks order was a nightmare balancing act tray full of drinks, you're in the right place.

pre-drinks before the pre-drinks.
i needed time with just me & my bestie before meeting anyone.
i needed to establish a good buzz before actually peopleing 🫣
this kind of behaviour invariably ruined what could have been a good night out.

convincing yourself you I could do any task better with a drink.
there was no activity i didn't think dutch courage could improve.
now, in sobriety, i can find the joy & gratitude everywhere.

what secret squirrel thinking can you add to my list?

part 2 is coming 🖤 by @luchea.green

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11 days ago

the early signs of my alcoholism were there at 14.

for a lot of us who make it to recovery, the symptoms of alcoholism were visible really early on.

my first house party.
some friends over 18 could buy alcohol.

we were all excited.
i waited in the car for the stash.
they came out with boxes & boxes.

i remember looking at that trolley of alcohol at 14 & thinking...

that's not going to be enough.
the ism was alive and kicking that early.

if you're an alcoholic too, when did you first see it in yourself? 🖤 by @luchea.green

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36

13 days ago