mariakoropecky By Maria Koropecky, author
I’m happy to say that today, Friday, August 28, 2026, I’m celebrating my 10th Sobirthday – 10 years since I quit drinking alcohol.
I’m truly grateful to myself for staying on this path. I feel it has been worth it and I plan to continue living a sober lifestyle for the time being.
I don’t have an interesting story about why I decided to quit drinking – it wasn’t one of those dramatic life-changing events that could be turned into a movie.
At the time, I had recently completed a coaching program and thought it would be a good idea to host a wellness cruise to Alaska for coaches so we could help each other professionally and get to know each other personally. I had been working with a travel agency and had rooms set aside on the ship and we were to set sail to on August 28, 2017 from Vancouver.
I realized that I didn’t feel right being a wellness coach and helping people with their wellness goals if I was drinking wine at night and nursing hangovers by day. I had enough with the headaches and fatigue and I also figured I’d be more intuitive in my coaching sessions if residual alcohol wasn’t clouding my thinking.
Alas, the cruise idea was a flop – nobody signed up – but I stayed sober anyway! I just kept on going past the sailing date and here we are 10 years later.
I’m not saying the last 10 years have been easy – far from it. I had plenty of chances to drink – going on my Camino in 2019, moving to inhospitable Calgary in 2020, enduring COVID lockdown – those were in the early days – but I kept on choosing to stay alcohol-free during each chapter.
Fast forward to autumn 2024. I started writing a workbook entitled, The Seven Wonders Within: A Workbook To Map Our Inner World. It’s like a hybrid textbook and journal with occasional stories from my own life and now it’s 300 pages!
I’ve written this workbook for spiritual adults in midlife and that includes people going through a major life transition such as menopause, divorce, grief, retirement, career change, a health condition or move to a new country, and people on a path of sobriety or are even sober-curious and would like some extra support.
My workbook is about going within, tuning into your emotions and chakras, regulating your nervous system, learning to trust your own guidance and moving stuck energy with the help of crystals, essential oils and dancing.
The Seven Wonders Within Workbook is the blueprint I use for my own self-care practice and I figure I’m much healthier today than I would have been if I hadn’t chosen the sober path 10 years ago. I also feel my senior years will be much higher quality as well.
If you’re interested in reading an early copy of the Seven Wonders Within Workbook as a support for your own journey, please let me know – I’ll put you on a list for the condensed preview pdf version and will email it when it’s ready.
In the meantime, keep walking your own path – who knows where it may lead.
