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The Sober Señorita Blog

Kelly Fitzgerald
| January 24, 2017

Community PartnerThe Sober Señorita is a sober blogger from the Philadelphia area and currently lives in Southwest Florida. She writes about her experience as a young woman living sober. “I hope that by sharing my story, other 20-something party girls and boys somewhere will gain the courage to quit the booze and have the confidence to live a crazy, fun life without it.”

After college I decided to move from my hometown in the suburbs of Philadelphia to Cancun, Mexico. I took a seasonal job there where all I had to do was party and help others party. Eventually I stayed all year-round and made a life there. I worked many different jobs including selling vacation packages, call centers, social media, dolphin swimming excursion places, medical writing, and finally for a group of hotels where I blogged, managed social media accounts, and honed in on my writing skills.

Throughout my years in Cancun I had one constant: partying. Alcohol and drugs had taken over my life and a binge drinking college habit had continued years after I graduated. In a weird series of events I met a man in 2012 who would first become my party partner, then my reason to get sober, and finally, my fiancé.

Getting sober had never really occurred to me until 2013 when I continuously got into arguments with this man about my drinking. The end of my drinking career climaxed on a trip to Punta Cana in May of 2013. I flew from Cancun to meet a group of my high school girlfriends for one of their bachelorette parties. There I did what I always did – loss control of my drinking. During the trip my then-boyfriend Fernando, told me via text that he couldn’t be with me anymore because he was tired of seeing me drink like that, it was like slap in the face. I was crushed. I spent the final two days of the trip drinking and crying. Finally, on the way home in the airport I decided that I did not want to be miserable anymore. I sick and tired of being sick and tired. I wanted something different and my only option was change. That was the first day of my new sober life – May 7, 2013.

Just two months into my sobriety I got the last job I mentioned, for a group of hotels writing blogs and doing social media. Coworkers of mine mentioned that they really enjoyed my writing and they encouraged me to start my own personal blog. So I did. When I consulted my sister about what I should name the blog she thought of The Adventures of a Sober Señorita, based on the premise that I was sober and an American girl living in Cancun. When I started writing on my blog my posts were about living abroad and what I did on the weekends, places I traveled to, and events I attended. I wasn’t sure how to address the “sober” part of my name. I attended a wine and food festival in the Riviera Maya shortly after starting my blog and I mentioned in the post that they had a lot of yummy mocktails and coffee there. But I never went into detail about why I didn’t drink. Until May 7, 2014. One year after I stopped drinking and taking drugs I published my very first blog post about sobriety.

It was called “A Year Without Alcohol” and chances are you’ve probably read it or have seen my face on the internet. That article went viral and was picked up by The Huffington Post and republished and shared millions of times across the web. It has been translated in 5 different languages. It gave my blog a boost and I obtained a lot of followers. The article was a simple list of 7 things I learned during a year without alcohol and it detailed my intense feelings about reaching one year. It was obviously well-received and that was the point in time when I realized I was not alone, that there are millions of people around the world who need and want to hear about sobriety. I decided that day that I would continue to write openly about sobriety because I believed my viral article was a clear message from the universe.

Today I continue to write about my life, my struggles, and adventures in sobriety on my blog. I also talk about events I attend, and books I’m reading, and anything else that contributes to my recovery.

I have a resources section on my blog where I list other sites I think are helpful for people trying to get sober and I have a section that is home to all of my published work. On my blog’s Facebook page, I share current addiction news and other stories of hope and recovery, in addition to my own blogs and favorite quotes. I want people to know they have a place to go where they can read about tough situations and how to get through them sober. I want them to know there are other people who’ve been through what they’ve been through. I want them to be inspired by sobriety. Everyone should have the knowledge and option to experience a life in recovery.

The Adventures of a Sober Señorita has become resource for people all over the world who are trying to get sober or stay sober. I believe this is a testament to how powerful sharing our personal stories is.

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