Thinking about Drinking
Why I went alcohol-free: The BEGINNING
As an upper middle lifer, I wasn't a big drinker when I quit this past winter - I guess? I was averaging about 17 drinks a month, and usually only having one drink at a time, placing me well within the current drinking guidelines for women. The thing is, I had wanted to quit for many, many years now. I'd spend a month or so not drinking at times, but I would always go back.
Because I wasn't drinking a lot in one sitting, I was seldom getting hangovers at this point. On my birthday, I even had 4 beers (over five hours) and felt fine the next day. My drink of choice was an IPA. One. Followed by water and a sensible dinner. But then 2024 struck, and within 3 weeks, I had two nasty hangovers within weeks. The second one had me in bed till 6 o'clock the next day, just waiting for the misery to pass.
The night before, I'd gone to see "Hamilton" with the fam. I had one mixed gin drink at dinner and I had one 16-oz Voodoo Ranger IPA at the theater. I was fine when we parted ways that night, driving myself home from a parking lot a few miles away and doing a little reading before I went to sleep.
I awoke the next day to complete and total misery. At points I thought about driving myself to the hospital for an IV. I knew, though, based on sad experience, if I waited it out, drank some water, Coke and choked down some bread products, I'd recover by nighttime. I decided that day that I was never going to do this again. Ever. It didn't matter that it was only two drinks. It didn't matter what the drinks were. It didn't matter how often I did or didn't drink. I was done.
Although I was highly motivated, this time I enlisted the help of several online sources (listed at the end of this post) to stop. Several of the sources encouraged me to examine my feelings about drinking. Why did I do it and what would I lose if I stopped?
I drank because:
· It’s fun
· I actually like hanging out at breweries, relaxing with a beer and some BBQ
· It helps me feel like I belong
· It eases boredom, stress and loneliness
· I think it’s ok to have an occasional drink – but what does that really translate into?
· Habit
Analyzing my answers I saw that I wasn’t really looking to get drunk. I was looking for the psychological rewards I thought drinking provided. Armed with this knowledge, I starting looking for alternative activities to fill the gaps I thought drinking was filling in my life.
This time, when “witching hour” approached -- that time in the early evening when I would normally head to the local marketplace and have a Tropicalia, I took a walk, journaled, or did yoga instead. I visited the local Sprouts and loaded up on a variety of fancy sparkling waters like Aura Bora, and "alternative" sodas like Pop Culture.
Long before I quit drinking, I'd been supplementing my weekly intake with an AF beer or two. I was so committed to quitting this time that for the first 3-4 weeks, I didn’t even pop an AF beer or other alcohol alternative.
UP NEXT: I go 83 days without drinking alcohol for the first time since maybe college.
How to quit drinking resources:
Reframe App -> https://www.reframeapp.com/
To 50 and Beyond Podcast -> https://www.lorimassicot.com/to-50-and-beyond-podcast
Sober-Powered Podcast -> https://www.soberpowered.com/
Day by Daybook -> https://www.soberpowered.com/
