Our Sober Countdown to 2026

How we’re spending New Year’s alcohol-free

New Year’s Eve can bring up a lot, especially when you’re not drinking, so I’d love to know:

How are you spending New Year’s alcohol-free?

In Part 1, I shared the first set of responses from our guest contributors. Below are the remaining reflections, arriving on the final day of the year.

If tonight feels quiet, charged, celebratory, or tender, know that there are probably others out there feeling a lot like you do. No matter where you are on this path, I hope you’ll find something here that feels supportive and expansive.

If you’re not drinking this holiday, we’d love to hear from you too. How are you spending New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day? Please share in the comments!

And if you’re interested in contributing an essay or being featured in the My Sobriety Story series, please reach out. You can email me here for submission guidelines. We welcome and celebrate all paths to getting and staying alcohol free.

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“I don’t approach the New Year looking for reinvention anymore. Recovery taught me to show up as I am, stay present, and trust that small, daily choices matter more than big promises. That’s how I’m starting the year, clear-minded and willing to learn.” —Author Jeremy Evans, BETWEEN WORLDS

“As a drinker I once referred to NY Eve as ‘Amateur Night’ along with other classic drinking-infused Holidays like St Patty’s Day and Cinco de Mayo. It was when the..ahem..non-professionals would drink and get stupid. I wanted nothing to do with it. Now the New Year is simply about shedding and renewing…in peace. 🙏” —Dee Rambeau, Of a Sober Mind

“Holidays such as New Year’s Eve, Memorial Day, and Fourth of July are so loaded with this self-imposed societal pressure to have a good time. ‘What are your plans?’ everyone asks, and you feel like a loser if you don’t have any. I’ve learned that the best way to approach these must-have-a-good-time moments is to put your head down and wait for them to pass. Currently, I don’t have any plans for New Year’s Eve, and that’s fine. If I end up just watching a movie and going to bed early, I’ll be happy. That mellow, quiet NYE is much better than any drunken Auld Lang Syne I’ve spent when I didn’t remember what I said or did, or worse, did remember and regretted it.

In my sober network, we have a ‘We Made It’ party on January 2nd to celebrate making it through the big three: Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s without picking up a drink (and with minimal amends!) My plan for this year’s NYE is to put my head down until January 2, when I gather with my sober friends over coffee and cookies.” —Elizabeth Jannuzzi, Elizabeth Jannuzzi’s Substack

“As a longtime hospitality professional, that no longer works the floor - I do not go out on New Year’s Eve. I stay home, make a nice dinner, share a bottle of dealc wine and usually drift off to sleep long before the clock strikes twelve. Then it’s hangover free brunch, paired with dealc sparkling and those closest to me on New Year’s Day.

This year will be a bit different, as I will be on the road and not in my glorious, home city. The celebrations will still be low key and intentional - snacks and dealc wine picnic in the hotel room never disappoint! So, of course I’ve already researched non-alc bottle shops and bars on Zero Proof Nation to ensure I’m stocked up with my favorites to ring in 2026.” —Liz Mendez, The Luncheonette

“My New Year’s plans will not be much different than what I typically do. I’ll be in bed most likely around 8pm. I believe this year I’ll wake up to a bigger sense of gratitude knowing I get to guide 20+ individuals through my first dry January experience.

Externally, the rhythms and such may be perceived as boring, but there’s fireworks happening inside. Breathing into this immense amount of space and peace. I never would have imagined giving up this one thing would allow my life to continuously be enriched.” —Josh Woll, The Sober Creative

“I’ll be tired from a full day of looking after my partner, my seven-week-old son, and myself. I’ll be in bed before 9pm, as I am most nights. Warm, content, and probably sharing laughter and ridiculous stories with the woman I love.

The next day will start like any other: clear-headed, grounded, and motivated to get on with the work I’ve set the day before. This is everything I wished for back then, and it has all come true. I am deeply grateful I now get to live like this.” —Adam PT, Rehabitus®

“This New Years, my partner and I will celebrate quietly and serenely. We will walk the dogs through the farmer road, up onto the ridge that looks out onto my in-law’s home in Wisconsin. We will drink chai spiced tea and sit around a table doing our respective crafts of crocheting and drawing. We will talk about our hopes and goals for this next year by a fire place. And we will connect through card games around the dinning room table. My connection will be sober and clear minded, quiet but memorable at the feeling level, where it will sustain me in the cold, fast paced times to come in the new year. Sobriety gives me the gifts of these connections, these memories, and a sustaining light through the fog of activity.” —Jo Christian (they/them), Recovering Trans Mystic

“My family has a tradition of staying home on NYE where we enjoy take out from our favorite Thai restaurant, a rotation of board games, and the cozy companionship of our dogs.

No countdowns shouted over music too loud to feel, no scramble to be somewhere that promises more than it delivers. Just a calm evening, familiar walls, my favorite people and the sound of life settling instead of revving up. It’s everything sobriety represents for me - presence rather than escape, the simple joy of being clear-headed as one year gently ticks into the next. The best parts of my year are rarely the loud ones.” —Allison Deraney, DARE TO BE

“On NYE I will take some time to take stock: Meditate, see what I’m grateful for and what could’ve gone even better. I usually do some tarot as a reflection tool. Then I’ll go surfing. Possibly I’ll join a community event later in the evening and watch the fireworks at the beach. But I might also withdraw to my room really early and sleep as I’m really noise sensitive as an autistic person. I’ll see what my energy levels allow for.

On the first of January I’ll move. I spent the last two months in the South of Sri Lanka. Now it’s time to go back to India. I’ll visit a temple and a mosque in Colombo on the first, and then I’ll travel ‘home’ to my Guru in India on the 2nd of January to recharge and prepare for the coming year.” —Theresa Rath, The Year After My Mom Died

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What are your sober New Year’s plans? Please share in the comments!

And before you go, would you take a second to tap that little heart? It lets others know there’s something helpful here and grows our sober community.

We know that sharing about recovery and sobriety can feel vulnerable. Like in recovery groups, we ask that commenters in this space refrain from giving unsolicited advice or spreading hate and division. Thank you for helping us foster a kind and inclusive community!

P.S. Ready to start 2026 sober?

Kick off the year supported and connected with the free January challenge on Sober App. Track your sober days, celebrate wins with a community on a similar path, and set yourself up for an intentional, uplifting start to the year.

How to participate in the January challenge on Sober App:

1. Download the app

2. Create a profile

3. Start tracking your sober days

4. Subscribe to the challenge

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Dr. Dana Leigh Lyons, DTCM is a Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine sharing heart-sourced guidance on body-mind-spirit wellness. She manages Sober App Substack alongside writing her own newsletter: PERFECT HUNGER™, feeding your hunger for a more beautiful, more nourishing life.