One of the biggest health trends I’m seeing this year is a reduction in people’s alcohol intake. People are significantly cutting back on drinking for many different reasons, myself included. This journey started for me back in August and I wrote a blog post about what was going on for me and why I decided to take a break with alcohol.
I don’t like labels, so I would never say I’m “sober” just as I wouldn’t put myself in a box when it comes to my eating because I think being flexible in all areas of life is healthy. Since I wrote that post back in September, I have had less than 10 drinks. There have been occasions I’ve thought I wanted a drink and ended up only having a few sips and realizing I was ordering a drink for the wrong reasons.
Vacation seemed like the perfect time to have a few drinks. In Hawaii I made my first cocktail (pictured above) and had a few sips and it somehow got thrown out, so I took that as a sign lol. After our flight cancellation ordeal I thought I “deserved” a drink because I was so stressed. I had a spicy marg poolside and it honestly didn’t taste good. (What’s happened to me?!) I had to get a club soda and water it down. I tried ordering glass of Prosecco at dinner that night and it just tasted so sweet I couldn’t drink it. I realized I was ordering a drink to fit in, but I actually just don’t even like the taste anymore.
All that to say, I guess I’ve adopted a “damp” lifestyle (maybe more on the sober side lol) which simply means a reduction in alcohol intake. So maybe this means only drinking on the weekends, limiting # of drinks per week, or only drinking on special occasions. I’m hearing from more and more people how they have also cut back on their drinking because it wasn’t making them feel good, couldn’t tolerate it the way they used to, or for other health reasons.
We had people over for the Super Bowl and I was so worried to tell people I wasn’t drinking. I worried they would think I was lame or boring. I worried I would disappoint people I wasn’t drinking or make them feel bad for drinking, but in reality it actually started a great conversation.
I used to use alcohol to unwind. I would have one drink almost every night during the pre-dinner hour (IYKYK). It was a habit, a routine I got into and it felt justified because I survived another day with kids lol. It was actually backfiring. It feels good in the moment, but the impact it was having on my energy, sleep, hormones, and mood just wasn’t worth it.
I work so hard to do all the things to feel good and be healthy, so I’ve learned that drinking just doesn’t fit into that picture for me anymore. I’ve become more comfortable and confident in this decision with some trial and error over the past 6 months. It was really just breaking that cycle and developing a new routine that didn’t involve me making a cocktail at 4pm ;). Now I don’t even think about it in the evenings.
xx, A
