abstain from alcohol for one full year

I’m at the 5 month mark! Wow! And what hasn’t happened during this time! So much! I’ve got a great job, just received a Dean’s award for academic achievement for my results with Uni, I’m in the gym and feeling great, eating really well and very fit and healthy, I’m calm, happy, settled, content. I’m in a really wonderful place at the moment, and I know it’s because I’ve absteined from a terrible habit. And I’ve had a number of occasions where I’ve been able to gracefully resist any suggestions of having anything to drink! Life is very very good at the moment.

It’s nearly 4 months now – as of next weekend. These past few weeks have been really bearable and I haven’t thought much about drinks at all really. Glad in many ways to be out of the loop and off the crutch. I’ll keep ticking along with it.

I’ve made it over the 3 month mark and this past week has been a hard hurdle, mentally. 3 months is the longest for me, and I’ve been toying with the thoughts that it’s a pretty good record and perhaps I’m done about none. I’ve proved enough to myself. I have to work hard to remember now why I’m doing this and what benefits it is bringing. I’ll continue to hang in there.

This almost comes as a surprise to me, but I did it. I really did spend an entire year sober. More than a year, because it’s the end of the 17th now, and my anniversary was some unspecified time on the 15th. (I think my last drink was actually in the early hours of the 14th, but I declared in the middle of the hangover later that night that I would go the extra day just to be sure.)

I have been told that some people assumed this project to be a well-intentioned improbability. (Less charitable language has been used, but that was the gist.) I can’t say that was an entirely inappropriate assumption, at the time. I have also been told that I make it look easy. Though flattering, I don’t know how I feel about that – I think it might even be true, but I assure you that ‘easy’ is not a word I would use to describe this.

As for the future, my decision for now is to continue not drinking. I think that is the wisest decision. I don’t predict I will stay quit for my entire life; a relapse at some point down the road is almost an inevitability. Or maybe not? But accepting that it might happen, thus preparing myself for the possibility of dealing with it, seems a healthier attitude than denying the possibility.

And I still want a beer. :p

Well, I have also made it to the 2 month mark! Boy, time’s flying a little with this. Once again, lots of opportunities and reasons to have a few drinks, but I haven’t succumbed. I am starting to tell a few people what I am doing with this goal as invitations come up for socialising. I am really very proud of my efforts to date. My hubbie made the remark last night that it’s much more peaceful with my new goal, and he’s actually not drinking either. Life isn’t too bad without my crutch!

I just realized I have less than one month left to make this goal. This came as something of a surprise.

Considering … some other aspects of my life right now, I think it might be best if I declare another year once this one is over. I’d like to just declare myself quit, but with the place my head is at right now, “just one little exception” is going to be too tempting.

Hmmm.

Okay, tomorrow it has been 4 weeks! I feel good. Actually, I feel great. I haven’t hidden in a closet. I’m out there, around people and around drinks, and all I’m sipping is coke. I’m LOVING getting up in the morning and realising I don’t have a pounding headache! It’s nice to have choices. I can choose to go to the markets at 6am on Sunday or I can choose to study a little longer of an evening or I can choose to take the kids on a run – all because I’m able in body to do so. I’m not on the couch passed out ;) I feel good :)

Wow, can’t believe it’s day 6 already. Things are going reasonably well. I have been on detox with one more day to go, so just eating well and getting out to the gym a lot more. Already had a few opportunities to say “no” to some drinks, and have done that well enough. Thanks for the cheer Patrick :)

Day one begins with a bit of a de-tox program.

Seven months now. Pretty insane. I know several people didn’t actually believe I could do this – or more to the point, didn’t believe I had any intention of actually do_ing_ this. But so far it’s going fairly well. I’ve tried some more not-beers, and so far Kaliber is the only one I really enjoy. The craving doesn’t strike me often, except during game, and since I don’t game that much these days, that’s not really a terrible thing.

One strange thing: I quit smoking more than two years ago, but on some level I still think of myself as a smoker. I no longer seem to feel the same way about drinking. Very strange.