The Hardest Thing I’ve Ever Done

Lessons from one year of sobriety

One bite at a time.

If you’ve ever heard the old joke, “How do you eat an elephant?” then you already know this is the answer.

I’ve always loved this joke because aside from the insane image of someone eating an actual elephant, it’s surprisingly great advice for tackling just about anything in life, especially when it comes to the hard things.

Even though I’m in my mid-thirties, I honestly don’t think I truly understood this joke until today.

Why today? Well, exactly one year ago — Tuesday, July 11th, 2023 — I made a promise to myself and as of today, I’ve accomplished the hardest thing I’ve ever done and kept that promise:

I’ve gone one whole year without alcohol.

At the time, I didn’t think there was anything special about that day. After all, it was just another Tuesday.

I mean sure, it also happened to be my dad’s birthday, but we all have birthdays and after he moved to Maryland, all I could do was wish him happy birthday with a simple phone call and then go about my day.

Little did I know he would end up playing a very important part in me accomplishing this very hard thing, but more on that later.