SOBER NEW YEAR
We asked these clean and sober individuals about the importance of a sober New Year’s Eve to kick off 2024.
BY PAULO MURILLO
MOST REWARDING
“This sober New Year’s Eve, I will be with my community, my chosen family that supported me throughout the whole year. We will celebrate the upcoming year with a goal in mind to stay sober for another year. Last year, I went to a sober party called Vibez in West Hollywood. That was my first New Year’s sober party. It was great to have a community come together where it was safe for everyone to come and enjoy music, dancing and having a great time. Before I got sober, crystal meth was my jam. I would spend New Year’s Eve with my family, but then of course, I’d hit the bathhouse right after midnight to be honestly speaking. Sometimes I wouldn’t even see my family and I’d go straight to the bathhouse. But today there is no more of that. This is the longest I’ve been sober. It’s been the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but also the most rewarding.”
—Jimmy Vasquez, sober since September 22, 2022.
THE SERENITY
“This New Year’s Eve will be a time for reflection, to really look back and take an inventory of the last year and how it went and what I could have done better. Like the Serenity prayers says—not to be corny—where it says “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,” there’s certain things that I could have done better and things that have been out of my control. When it comes to those things, I realize I have to let my Higher Power take it and just hope for the best for the next year. Then there are the things that I can change. I think of how other people have done it before me and ask them how they did it. This will be my third sober New Year and I can honestly say that I will remember it. Last year, we watched the ball drop and had a karaoke party, we had pizza, counted down, we all cheered, and gave each other a hug. It was fun. Before I got sober, I don’t think I even knew if if it was New Year’s or not. Today I know what day it is.”
—Reginael “Reggie” Rust, sober since March 28, 2021.
MY OWN SKIN
“This will be my first time celebrating New Year’s Eve sober. I think I just stayed home and isolated last year. This year, I get to be a part of this new collaboration where you have all of these larger movements and larger agencies saying it’s a worthwhile endeavor to have traditions and rituals that are actively saying we don’t need the alcohol or the drugs to have a good time. This year, I’m helping to compose a sober New Year’s Eve event in West Hollywood for hundreds of people. It’s going to be really cool. We get to shepherd people into the New Year in a great way. In my active addiction, as a drug addict, there was definitely a lot of isolation and depression. Today, I don’t have to stifle my feelings or drink liquid courage to get on the dance floor. I’m learning to be comfortable. I want to communicate, and to build community and friendships that allow me to feel comfortable and safe in my own skin. We are going to bring all of that to the dance floor this New Year’s Eve for Vibes New Year’s Eve Party put together by The Phoenix at Plummer Park in West Hollywood.”
—Gustavo Lopez, sober since November 3, 2022.
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