Good Times Sober
With fall season upon us and Halloween approaching, we asked a few local sober folks what they do for fun now that they’re in recovery, versus what they considered fun before they got sober.
BY PAULO MURILLO
REALLY FOCUSED
“I spend a lot of time with my new support group who are a lot of fun. For example, for Halloween, I know we’re having a sober function at my sober living and decorating the house and making it look spectacular. We’re going to Knots Scary Farm and it’s all LGBT-related with a sober group of people, so it should be cool. Before I got sober it was nothing but going clubbing, drinking and just getting high. I like to have fun, but right now I’m really focused on work and going back to school.”
—Joseph Robles, sober since November, 2014.
ENJOY MYSELF
“Do I have fun in sobriety? Oh my God, yes! One of my favorite things to do for fun now that I’m sober is to travel. I love to do other things like play cards with friends, my partner and I love to take our dog to the dog park and if I have the opportunity, I’ll take a walk or a bike ride along the beach. I enjoy going out to dinner, or having friends over. When I was using I would go out clubbing a lot and get loaded. I didn’t travel very much, I didn’t have any money, I was too young. Dancing is still one of my favorite things to do… I really enjoy myself in sobriety.”
—Jonathan Wallace, sober since July 1989
OUT HIKING
“I’m not sure if people would consider what I do in sobriety as fun, but I definitely have more fun than when I wasn’t sober. I like to exercise. I go out to hikes and I enjoy going to the movies with friends and doing normal fun stuff. Before I got sober, I hid out a lot. I would just wait around all day for the night to fall, but I didn’t really go out because I didn’t have any money to go out to the clubs. I mostly lived a life of isolation. Today, life is very different and I get to enjoy myself more.”
—Alexi Vinnick, sober since August 2010.
SKATING PARTY
“When I got sober, I thought the party was over. I was completely wrong about that. The great thing about being sober is that there are a lot of sober events. Just recently, I celebrated five years and I threw a skating party at a skating rink. It was a lot of fun just seeing all my friends there. I also get to go places. I’ve been able to see parts of California that I’ve never seen before and I was able to go to New York. Before I got sober, I didn’t do much. I was in a delusion that what I was doing was fun when I was in the grips of my addiction. I was mostly in a hotel room doing demoralizing things and too paranoid to go anywhere. I have a lot of fun in sobriety.”
—Cindy M. Davis, sober since September 2010.
MAGIC MOUNTAIN
“I think I have more fun sober than I did when I was using. I usually hang out with sober friends. I go to meetings, fellowship and I go to sober events. A group of us will go to the movies, go hiking and we recently gathered to go to the County Fair and we went to gay night at Magic Mountain. Before sobriety I didn’t really go to clubs and I don’t really to that now. It was mostly about sex—sex and using was my thing before I got sober. I definitely have fun sober.”
—Jose Gonzales, sober since January 2014
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