Define Sober for You

Define Sobriety For yourself

What does recovery mean? I believe recovery means finding fulfillment and what you're doing. It's the path to the best version of yourself. The simplest way I could break recovery down is that it's asking yourself how and where can I do better today? When you wake up and you feel shame and regret, and you feel like shit, basically it's because you're not fulfilling the maximum potential that you actually have at some point in life, you found yourself like I did strung out drunk.

Maybe it's happened a couple times. Like it did for me the first time that I really found myself in this messed up FUBAR situation was 22 years old. I was sleeping in my truck with a knife, held against my chest like this, mainly because I was in a Walmart parking lot. And I was asking myself, what am I have to get through tonight? What am I gonna have to survive tonight? How am I gonna survive it? How am I gonna stay warm? How am I get high? Without even anybody messing with me? Those were questions that I ran through my head. As I laid in this parking lot in my truck, in this parking lot, I should say, I knew I wasn't fulfilled. I knew I wasn't doing the best version of myself whatsoever, but I also didn't know how to change.

That's the part that's so difficult. I believe because nobody could tell me exactly what to do. Don't get me wrong. There's programs out there that wanted to tell me exactly what to do. And I knew that it wouldn't fulfill me. Like I could already tell as soon as I enter it, like wasn't wasn't for me. And I went to some religious groups and quite honestly, I grew up around religious organizations. That's one of the main reasons why I started using and drinking because at least with drug addicts and alcoholics, they'll call it what it is. They won't tell you one thing on one side and then act a different way on the other side, when the door's closed.

So traditional methods like these anonymous groups like these rehabilitation centers, inpatient and outpatient treatment centers, wellness centers, not all of 'em are there to serve me first. They're there to serve themselves first. So how do you get better there when they're looking out for their best interest, not your best interest you can't. This problem is what I ran into 10 years ago. When I was strung out on heroin. I also knew that there was a huge stigma associated with using drugs and alcohol. Like even my own family had it pay to make comments when someone would stink like cannabis, but nobody was making a comment. When Theo drank half the bottle and hopped in the whip to go buy some more, it seemed so messed up to me. And so skewed to me that I became frustrated. And in that frustration, I decided to just make my own decisions. Now they weren't the best decisions by any means, but I made them and I'm here to talk about them. My name is Nico Morales, and I'm the owner of no halo speaking. It's a brand that advocates for sober living, how you define it.

I believe that each individual should have their own definition of sobriety. And I understand that in this experience that we call life drugs and alcohol may be a part of it. There's some individuals who never have these experiences. There's some individuals who can have two beers and stop. There are some individuals who can feel danger since danger and leave. Now there's some individuals who can't, there's some individuals who feel danger and prep get ready for it. There's some individuals who keep on drinking and drinking because that's the most nurturing comfort that they've ever felt. Some individuals inject substances into their body because that's the only way that they feel comfort. I'm here to talk to those individuals because I can relate. Like I said, 10 years ago, I was shooting heroin, sleeping in my truck in a Walmart parking lot. I grew up in a good home. It wasn't my parents' fault. I'm a minority. So yeah, I come with traumatic events no matter what, but quite honestly, it's a United States.

If you were born in the 19 hundreds, you probably experienced some sort of traumatic event. Mental health, alcohol drug use is now just a topic that people are more comfortable in discussing for many of us though, it's been a topic that we've had to live through. I wanna make sure that there is a platform and an avenue for individuals to know that you're not the only one thinking these thoughts and that there is ways to get better to do better, but it really relies on you defining one. What recovery is for you, what's your definition of sober two. What's your path two, that, how are you gonna get there? You don't have to map it all out, but what you do have to do today is at least make the choice, make the choice to figure out a way to do better today.

Look, I understand how difficult it is. I really do no rehab, no jail cold Turkey is what they called it in the same environment that I was using it. I understand how change happens cause I've had to live through some change by no means. I'm trying to say that I'm perfect. But what I am here to say is that I understand that there's a lot of change happening around us. And if one of the changes that you want to make is reducing or even stopping the use of drugs or alcohol, then I wanna make sure that there is a opportunity for you to do that without going to rehab, without going to jail, without having to deal with some of the social stigmas that I've had to deal with, because it wasn't fun. It still isn't. But I don't want you to have to deal with as much pain as I had to deal with. Cause I already know how painful it's gonna be. I already know what the cold sweats are like.

I know what the whiskey shits are like. I know what it feels like to not be able to sleep and catch the 4:00 AM news for no other reason. Then that's what time it is in your eyes are still open. Hangovers. Chronically are not a healthy way to live. Being strung out on alcohol. Heroin is not any other drug. Substance is not a way to live. Shoot. Some of these people who are strung out on sugar should be listening to this. But really what I know is males need to hear it from another male that is okay to not be okay with the amount that you drink. My family said, Hey, as long as you don't do drugs, we're okay with it. And then I was drinking two bottles every day and they weren't okay with it. We must define for ourselves what is okay? And we do that by finding out the best things for us. This is an exploration, a journey recovery journey is why they call it a journey because it's not the same for all of us. It is very unique. I'd like to help guide you.

Can't do it for you, but I definitely can give you some tips and tricks. So in this first video, the first tip trick resource that I can give you is define what sober is to you. What is sober in your world? And maybe write out how a day in sober looks, being sober looks, if you can do a whole day. And that seems easy, great. Do a whole week of what sober looks like. And then do it. If a whole 24 hours is too large. And if a whole seven days is too large, then first thing that you must do is just define what sober is. Make it your definition. Look, the reason why I call my business, no halo is because you're not created to be an angel you were created to do better each and every day, that's the goal.