I Quit Alcohol

Summer, for my husband and I, involved lots of fun trips, including our first journey across the pond since COVID.  We went to the lands where whisky flows like water and beer is a national treasure.  So the blast could also be described as a boozy bar-hopping extravaganza.  Now don't get me wrong (and don't judge me), I'm not taking this out on booze in general, but when you say authentic Scottish pub crawl I'll find my way to the front of the line (& the karaoke mic) every time - so it was really me and the booze that got along a little too well the last weeks of summer.  By the time kids returned to school my cells were more like a flickering neon Guinness bar sign.  I needed a detox.  ☠️

 

Step 1:  lovingly approach my spouse.  He is my best influence and my worst influence.  He is the one who drags me out of bed when the clock strikes 5:00 to do yoga.  He's also the one who cracks a beer at 5:00 (pm), making a glass of wine impossible for me to pass up.  When I broached this Sept detox with him, he was less resistant than I thought he'd be - I'm not sure he's ever detoxed for more than a few weekdays - perhaps his cells were ready to be wrung out as well.  🕺

 

Step 2:  agree to some timelines & boundaries.  We agreed to start on Labor Day, and go until his Birthday this past Sunday.  4 weeks, no booze!  Those were the timelines & rules.  Basic, yes, but call them a stretch goal for both of us.  👏

 

Step 3:  find some replacements.  My husband found Athletic Brewing and I'm pretty sure it has changed his beer-drinking life permanently.  I love the Kin Euphorics functional bevies.  Both fill that ritual and taste preference for a beer or cocktail, without the downsides of alcohol (you're welcome... you will now get all the insta-targets for non-alcoholic beverages).  🤪

 

Our at-home happy hour ritual swaps squelched the temptation to drink alcohol at home so that was fairly seamless.  We made some adjustments to our social schedule like swapping the annual beer fest for a family hike.  We prioritized social gatherings with friends during the day.  We drank more water, more iced tea, more sparkling water in general and brought our swaps with us to evening social gatherings (literally no one ever cared that we weren't drinking alcohol 🙀).  We went to bed earlier, we worked out more.  We woke up feeling fresh & ready to rock every day.  We saved a lot of money, not only in liquor store visits, but our dining out tabs were noticeably less.  Without measuring any specific bio-metrics, we both agreed that we look leaner, feel less inflammation, and have brighter & tighter skin.  This was without any diet or exercise changes at all.  It's hard to look back and identify any real downside to this 4-week detox. 🤷‍♀️

 

It was not that hard to give up alcohol once the commitment was made and the accountability buddy was in place and let's just say (for me) the buddy (husband) was the biggest part.  Once you get past the built-in habits, find some replacements, or opt out of the temptation zones (like the beer fest) it becomes a bit of a no-brainer as the benefits start to manifest.  Did we drink on his birthday?  Yes!  We enjoyed a super nice splurge-worthy bottle of wine.  Did we drink the day after his birthday?  No, it was pretty easy to slip back into our newly formed habits of alcohol-free living.  We've talked about Thanksgiving as our next alcohol-free goal, which would be 8 weeks, but honestly, the benefits start to speak for themselves, and setting short-term goals seems more trivial than necessary.  Will we stop drinking altogether?  Probably not.  Will it be significantly less than in years past?  Most definitely. 

 

Have you ever stopped drinking alcohol for a period of time?  How'd it go?  Did it change any habits permanently?  If you haven't tried it - perhaps now is as good a time as any?  On we go to Sober October, who's with us?  👊

 

Here's to life less toxic!

Live free,

Dana

🫶

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