The End of "Exploring Sobriety"

Good morning,

Instead of this week’s normal newsletter, I have an announcement: I’ve decided to stop writing Exploring Sobriety, at least for the time being. First I’d like to share a couple logistical issues, then an explanation, and finally a thank you.

Logistics:

If you have a paid subscription through Substack, I’ve just sent in a request to issue a prorated refund. In other words, you’ll get a refund for however much of your subscription is left. If you had paid for a year subscription this morning, you’ll receive a 100% refund. If you paid for a year subscription half a year ago, you’d receive a 50% refund. Etc.

The refunds are all handled through Substack and Stripe. I’m not sure how long the process will take, but if you haven’t received a refund within a couple of weeks, please feel free to reach out to me and I can take a look on my end. I don’t expect there to be any problems, though.

Paid and free subscribers alike will stop receiving any new Substack newsletters beginning today. Over on Medium, I repost the free newsletters with a one-year delay. I haven’t decided yet whether to keep posting the remaining year’s worth, but you might keep seeing additional posts there for a little while as I work through the backlog.

Explanation:

Why have I decided to stop writing Exploring Sobriety? The short answer is that I’ve run out of things to write about. I quit drinking in December of 2016 and started blogging about sobriety in October of 2018. That’s nearly eight years of writing about addiction and recovery.

For the past year, I’ve felt like I just don’t have much new to say. While there’s certainly some value to repeating myself, it’s been getting more and more boring for me. I feel like as a writer, I’m getting less out of it, and I suspect that as readers, you’re getting less out of it too.

In addition, I’ve been making a broader shift in my life to use the internet and electronics far less. The average American now uses the internet over ten hours a day! And that statistic isn’t an outlier on the world stage. Most of us have come to rely on the internet nearly every waking hour.

The internet can be a great thing. It helped me quit drinking. It also keeps me connected with friends and family. On a societal level, it’s broken down massive barriers to sharing knowledge across the world. However, I think that most of the time that we spend on the internet isn’t nearly so noble.

One of the reasons I quit drinking was because my addiction stole so much of my free time. I worry the internet is now doing the same thing. So, I’m stepping away from it as much as possible.

Thank you:

I want to end this final newsletter with a massive thank you to anyone who has ever read my blog or newsletter over the past eight years. Writing about my experiences was a huge help in keeping me sober, and I hope that it has helped you as well. I truly appreciate you reading my work! Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Sincerely,

Benya