My sobriety anniversary feels even more precious than my birthday.
A birthday is the day I was given life.
Of course, that is a sacred and precious day.
But my sobriety anniversary has a different meaning to me.
It is not simply the day I stopped drinking.
It is the day I decided, by my own will, to live properly again.
I stopped drinking on June 28, 2025.
The day before, June 27, was the last day I drank alcohol.
And on June 28, 2026, I will mark one full year without alcohol.
After I stopped drinking, my life quietly began to move
Nothing like a dramatic miracle happened just because I stopped drinking.
But reality certainly began to change.
The quality of my work as an administrative scrivener improved.
I received more work.
My income increased.
I graduated from Uber Eats.
After a health checkup, I started dieting and lost a significant amount of weight.
I obtained a large motorcycle license.
I began riding a Honda CB1300SB.
And now, I am even thinking about traveling around Japan by motorcycle.
For the version of myself who was still drinking, these changes would have been hard to imagine.
Why I stopped drinking
I did not quit alcohol because of one dramatic incident.
The final push came at the registration ceremony of the Kanagawa Administrative Scriveners Association.
By chance, I sat near another professional who told me that he had stopped drinking while studying for the judicial scrivener examination.
For some reason, those words stayed with me.
I think I already knew it myself at that time.
I could not continue as I was.
I could not keep escaping into alcohol.
I had to rebuild my life again.
So those words did not feel like a coincidence.
They felt like words that reached me exactly when I needed them.
There were painful years
Over the past several years, many things happened.
Painful experiences during my company employee years.
The administrative scrivener examination.
Divorce.
Fraud damage.
Rebuilding my life.
Working for Uber Eats while continuing my administrative scrivener practice.
There were times when I felt that things were beyond my control.
Financial anxiety.
Pain in relationships.
Worries about work.
Uncertainty about the future.
Alcohol allowed me to forget those things temporarily.
But it did not solve anything.
Rather, the next morning, my body felt heavy, my judgment was dull, and I had lost both time and money.
Alcohol looked like comfort.
But in reality, it was slowly taking away my strength.
Sobriety was not endurance. It was liberation
Before I stopped drinking, I thought life would become less enjoyable without alcohol.
But the opposite happened.
I could use my mornings again.
My body felt lighter.
My concentration at work returned.
My ability to write, listen, and respond to consultations became more stable.
The way I used money changed.
The way I used time changed.
Most of all, I slowly began to trust myself again.
By quitting alcohol, I did not lose joy.
I gained freedom.
My work changed
After I stopped drinking, I felt that the quality of my administrative scrivener work improved.
Replies to clients.
Document preparation.
Written statements of reasons.
Consultations.
Scheduling.
Judgment.
Each part of my work became more stable than before.
As a result, I received more work.
My income increased.
I began moving toward a life where I could support myself through my administrative scrivener practice without relying on Uber Eats.
I am truly grateful to Uber Eats.
It supported my life during a difficult period.
The experience of receiving direct words of thanks from customers also became part of my foundation today.
But now, I feel that I have entered the next stage.
My body changed
At the explanation of my health checkup results, I was advised to reduce my weight to the low 70-kilogram range.
That became the beginning of my diet.
On May 22, 2026, I reached 69.95 kilograms and 14.2 percent body fat.
Even now, I am maintaining my weight around 70 kilograms.
Stopping drinking and losing weight are not separate stories.
When the body becomes orderly, the mind becomes orderly.
When the mind becomes orderly, work becomes orderly.
When work becomes orderly, life gains more options.
I believe this is true.
I began riding a CB1300SB
I obtained a large motorcycle license and began riding a Honda CB1300SB.
In the past, it might have remained only a dream.
But now, I actually hold that handlebar in my hands.
I visited Lake Shirakaba and also stopped by Suwa Taisha Shrine.
I breathed the mountain air, stood by the lake, and placed my hands together at the shrine.
The road that I could not see clearly when I was drinking has gradually begun to appear.
By letting go of alcohol, I took back the handlebar of my life.
And now, I am actually holding the handlebar of a motorcycle.
To me, this overlap feels deeply symbolic.
The spirit as the subject, the body as the follower
There is a phrase I value: the spirit as the subject, the body as the follower.
It means that the spirit should lead, and the body should follow.
Not desire, habit, or escape, but the quiet will within should guide life.
For me, sobriety was exactly this kind of practice.
The bodily desire to drink.
The wish to escape from unpleasant things.
The weakness that says, “Just a little should be fine.”
Against all of those, I quietly decided, “No more.”
It may sound exaggerated.
But for me, it was truly a major decision.
Gratitude for everything
As I approach one year without alcohol, what I feel now is gratitude.
Gratitude to the professional whose words gave me the final push.
Gratitude to the doctor who warned me through my health checkup.
Gratitude to the clients who entrusted me with work during difficult times.
Gratitude to the customers I met through Uber Eats.
Gratitude to the people who supported me.
Gratitude even for painful events, because they taught me something.
And I also want to feel a little gratitude toward the version of myself one year ago who decided to let go of alcohol.
I am not a completed person.
I still get lost sometimes.
I still have weaknesses.
Even so, I have continued to live one day at a time without drinking.
That one year has brought me to where I am now.
A birthday is the day I was given life.
A sobriety anniversary is the day I turned that life back toward the right direction by my own will.
That is why my sobriety anniversary feels even more precious than my birthday.
One year without alcohol.
I let go of drinking and took back the handlebar of my life.
From here, I would like to go a little farther with that handlebar in my hands.
