Member-only story

Black Bear January Prompt: What Did You Learn in 2024?

Tell me a story of something you went through in 2024

Michele Maize
Black Bear
3 min readDec 31, 2024

--

A moonlit hike that I embarked with my sober friends, minus one — Photo by author

Wow, 2025 already! Time goes so fast when you get older. 25 years ago, I met my husband-to-be and have learned so much through our relationship through the 2000s.

I believe that this year has been our best yet, as we have truly came to understand each other fully, and I have sobriety to thank for that.

I’ve been going through something with a dear friend of mine who can’t seem to stay sober. I met her at the beginning of my sobriety in 2021, she had some years under her belt, but about 2 years into my sobriety, she started relapsing. Each time it gets worse, and I often wonder what has to happen for her to want to quit for good.

I plan on writing about this topic for my prompt answer this month so I won’t go into it but I know what I have been learning from it. It’s been on my mind a lot, especially since she missed our amazing sober hike in the dark — something a little scary but exhilarating to hike by moonlight.

But, no matter how hard you try, you can’t make anyone get sober. I know that, because I lived it, but I still wanted to try and make her quit. I want her to feel how I feel about sobriety now. Toward the end of 2024, it got really bad and I had to…

--

--

Black Bear
Black Bear

Published in Black Bear

At Black Bear, we share informative articles and personal stories about struggling with mental health and substance use disorders.

Michele Maize
Michele Maize

Written by Michele Maize

Sober Traveler | Wannabe Vegan | Yoga Addict. Dog-loving extrovert turned introvert. Owner of "The Maze". Editor at Black Bear and Globetrotters.

Responses (24)