Sober for three days

Being homeless is complicated; the loneliness is immense, and so is the misery. Not just the misery of the outside world, but also the misery inside your own head. Not having food is never the biggest problem; hunger is a small problem compared to your mental struggles. Often you just want to forget the whole world, including yourself, even for a moment, a little nothingness, a little peace, to live in a cloud. Alcohol then seems like a good solution; for a short while, you are no longer there.

But once the alcohol wears off, your problem is back, and you have an extra problem on top: a hangover and no money left for food.

And you want to get rid of that too, and then alcohol seems like a solution again. And so it goes on and on, in a very negative spiral, until it really stops. That is, until death.

But today we had something to celebrate. X has been sober for three days today. That may not seem like much, but these are the first steps. Tomorrow starts day four, which is a gigantic victory for him.

And yes, the chance of relapse is high, but today we celebrate the third day. Well done X, we are proud of you. Man, you look a thousand times better than you did a week ago. Keep going; we are here for you, step by step, maybe with some trouble along the way, but the steps you took in the last 3 days: way to go!