{"id":1222,"date":"2025-06-30T23:18:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T22:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/?p=1222"},"modified":"2025-06-30T23:18:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T22:18:11","slug":"guilty-pleasures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/2025\/06\/30\/guilty-pleasures\/","title":{"rendered":"Guilty Pleasures"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

We all have them. Remember, recovery is meant to be enjoyed and not endured. Personally I\u2019m on a journey of finding things that interest me and make life that little bit more enjoyable. In DBT they would call it \u2018pleasant activities\u2019. For me I\u2019m currently enjoying my rollies and Coke Zero. I am yet to meet an angel in recovery. The closest I have come is being introduced to Our Lady in Cuan Mhuire. If you’re gambling but not an alcoholic enjoy a pint. If you’re not addicted to porn why not masterbate? You see where I\u2019m going here, if you’re an alcoholic but not addicted to gambling enjoy a game of bingo or play the lotto. A lot of it comes down to replacing bad habits with good habits. It comes down to connection too. As human beings we are attracted to human connection. It\u2019s in our DNA. At present I\u2019m not doing a very good job at connection. My current connections include my family, service workers that support me and from today my long time addiction counsellor. I plan on going to one online and one physical meeting tomorrow, I\u2019m essentially dipping my toes in the water. I\u2019ll be surrounded by people just like me. I\u2019ll be lucky enough to relate to their stories. Some will have long sobriety and some will only be in the door just like me. But at least I\u2019ll be in the door, back in the sobriety game. I suffer from BPD so communicating with others is a huge challenge for me. One I try to avoid as much as possible. Life is to be enjoyed, that\u2019s my mantra for the week. I\u2019m having a good week this week and happy with my progress. I do know however if I don\u2019t start connecting with others at a deeper level I\u2019m at danger of relapse. My aim next week is to go back running, something I should consider is joining a running club, again doing things by myself hasn\u2019t worked in the past. My Mum is in active retirement now, I\u2019m jealous of her in some ways. She has an art class she goes to and she also participates in PickleBall. Again it\u2019s all about the connection. Sometimes I feel, let me rephrase that most of the time I feel lesser than others. That is a myth I need to get out of my head. Again, maybe Our Lady would be a better human being but we are all equals. I\u2019m not yet ready to talk at meetings and I hope that is respected at the meeting tomorrow. I don\u2019t even have the two euros I\u2019ve committed to the basket but I\u2019m going for it. One thing I need to work on is having no regrets. Regret will lead me to relapse. I could excuse myself tomorrow because I will be attending a relapse prevention group online but I\u2019d have regrets. Regret will inflame my urges to pick up a drink. Anyways I\u2019m probably waffling on a bit. The moral of this article is to find something you like and do lots of it!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reading Time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>We all have them. Remember, recovery is meant to be enjoyed and not endured. Personally I\u2019m on a journey of finding things that interest me and make life that little bit more enjoyable. In DBT they would call it \u2018pleasant activities\u2019. For me I\u2019m currently enjoying my rollies and Coke ...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":834,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,60,69,62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-activities","category-addiction","category-recreation","category-reflections"],"yoast_head":"\nGuilty Pleasures - Sober.ie V1.3<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Personally I\u2019m on a journey of finding things that make life that little bit more enjoyable. In DBT they would call it \u2018pleasant activities\u2019.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/2025\/06\/11\/guilty-pleasures\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Guilty Pleasures - Sober.ie V1.3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Personally I\u2019m on a journey of finding things that make life that little bit more enjoyable. In DBT they would call it \u2018pleasant activities\u2019.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/2025\/06\/11\/guilty-pleasures\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sober.ie V1.3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-30T22:18:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sober.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Post-BG-FINAL.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1281\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Shanley\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@#\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Shanley\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/2025\/06\/11\/guilty-pleasures\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/2025\/06\/11\/guilty-pleasures\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Shanley\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sober.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/3722c2ea24643db39df2442d10d25025\"},\"headline\":\"Guilty Pleasures\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-30T22:18:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/2025\/06\/11\/guilty-pleasures\/\"},\"wordCount\":547,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sober.ie\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/2025\/06\/11\/guilty-pleasures\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sober.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Post-BG-FINAL.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Activities\",\"Addiction\",\"Recreation\",\"Reflections\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/2025\/06\/11\/guilty-pleasures\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/2025\/06\/11\/guilty-pleasures\/\",\"name\":\"Guilty Pleasures - Sober.ie V1.3\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sober.ie\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/2025\/06\/11\/guilty-pleasures\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/2025\/06\/11\/guilty-pleasures\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sober.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Post-BG-FINAL.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-30T22:18:11+00:00\",\"description\":\"Personally I\u2019m on a journey of finding things that make life that little bit more enjoyable. In DBT they would call it \u2018pleasant activities\u2019.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/2025\/06\/11\/guilty-pleasures\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/2025\/06\/11\/guilty-pleasures\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/2025\/06\/11\/guilty-pleasures\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sober.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Post-BG-FINAL.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sober.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Post-BG-FINAL.png\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1281},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/2025\/06\/11\/guilty-pleasures\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sober.ie\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Guilty Pleasures\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sober.ie\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sober.ie\/\",\"name\":\"Sober.ie V1.0\",\"description\":\"Happy Living\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sober.ie\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sober.ie\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sober.ie\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Sober.ie\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sober.ie\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sober.ie\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sober.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/SoberLogo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sober.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/SoberLogo.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":100,\"caption\":\"Sober.ie\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sober.ie\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sober.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/3722c2ea24643db39df2442d10d25025\",\"name\":\"Shanley\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sober.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dbbd30e52f8734dde1221b7df7cf0c5bab6216912a29b6af1fe6f9268c6f7277?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dbbd30e52f8734dde1221b7df7cf0c5bab6216912a29b6af1fe6f9268c6f7277?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Shanley\"},\"description\":\"Twenty Five Years of Addiction Sums Me Up\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/sober.ie\",\"#\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/#\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/author\/conor-shanley\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Guilty Pleasures - Sober.ie V1.3","description":"Personally I\u2019m on a journey of finding things that make life that little bit more enjoyable. In DBT they would call it \u2018pleasant activities\u2019.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/2025\/06\/11\/guilty-pleasures\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Guilty Pleasures - Sober.ie V1.3","og_description":"Personally I\u2019m on a journey of finding things that make life that little bit more enjoyable. In DBT they would call it \u2018pleasant activities\u2019.","og_url":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/2025\/06\/11\/guilty-pleasures\/","og_site_name":"Sober.ie V1.3","article_published_time":"2025-06-30T22:18:11+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1281,"url":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Post-BG-FINAL.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Shanley","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@#","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Shanley","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/2025\/06\/11\/guilty-pleasures\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/2025\/06\/11\/guilty-pleasures\/"},"author":{"name":"Shanley","@id":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/3722c2ea24643db39df2442d10d25025"},"headline":"Guilty Pleasures","datePublished":"2025-06-30T22:18:11+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/2025\/06\/11\/guilty-pleasures\/"},"wordCount":547,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/2025\/06\/11\/guilty-pleasures\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Post-BG-FINAL.png","articleSection":["Activities","Addiction","Recreation","Reflections"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/2025\/06\/11\/guilty-pleasures\/","url":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/2025\/06\/11\/guilty-pleasures\/","name":"Guilty Pleasures - Sober.ie V1.3","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/2025\/06\/11\/guilty-pleasures\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/2025\/06\/11\/guilty-pleasures\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Post-BG-FINAL.png","datePublished":"2025-06-30T22:18:11+00:00","description":"Personally I\u2019m on a journey of finding things that make life that little bit more enjoyable. In DBT they would call it \u2018pleasant activities\u2019.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/2025\/06\/11\/guilty-pleasures\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/2025\/06\/11\/guilty-pleasures\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/2025\/06\/11\/guilty-pleasures\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Post-BG-FINAL.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Post-BG-FINAL.png","width":1920,"height":1281},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/2025\/06\/11\/guilty-pleasures\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Guilty Pleasures"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/","name":"Sober.ie V1.0","description":"Happy Living","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/#organization","name":"Sober.ie","url":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/SoberLogo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/SoberLogo.png","width":300,"height":100,"caption":"Sober.ie"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/3722c2ea24643db39df2442d10d25025","name":"Shanley","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dbbd30e52f8734dde1221b7df7cf0c5bab6216912a29b6af1fe6f9268c6f7277?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dbbd30e52f8734dde1221b7df7cf0c5bab6216912a29b6af1fe6f9268c6f7277?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Shanley"},"description":"Twenty Five Years of Addiction Sums Me Up","sameAs":["https:\/\/sober.ie","#","https:\/\/x.com\/#"],"url":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/author\/conor-shanley\/"}]}},"featured_image":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Post-BG-FINAL.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1222"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1223,"href":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1222\/revisions\/1223"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sober.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}