I stopped drinking alcohol on the first day of this year. Here's a little update...
I'm actually surprised how easy this is so far, however I don't have the illusion that it will be this easy in a couple weeks. Of course, I kind of expected the worst, so I really, really, prepared myself in the last months of 2023. I read books, listened to podcasts & watched videos on how to best quit alchohol. I have a journal, a calendar with stickers, a sobriety app and a very solid group of people checking on me. But somehow, it all feels unnecessary at the moment.
Well-prepared
This is always the thing, isn't it. You expect something really great or heavy to happen and that in itself carries a huge part of the load. Anticipation for a party or a vacation is the same story to me: lots of thought and excitement (even anxiety) beforehand, and then when it happens - meh.
But I'm glad that with quitting drinking this is also the case. It somehow proves that I did my homework. I knew what I was getting into, and I prepared myself so well that now sobriety doesn't feel heavy at all. That, or..
Did I overestimate how hard it would be for me? Maybe alcohol wasn't such a big thing my life after all?
Still craving
I'd love to say so, but I do still crave a drink almost every day. I do still get anxiety when I think about never drinking again (which is also why I made no such commitment). And I do wonder how I will feel going to Bonaire at the end of the month and not sipping my cocktail on the beach, or how I will feel when someone offers me wine at a (dinner) party.
Because one thing that makes this phase easy is that I already did Dry January every year, and I'm practically still only doing that so far. Also, the rest of society kind of keeps quiet anyway in January, there's not a lot of parties, everyone is on a diet, so I haven't been in many 'hard' situations yet.
Positive effects
Now let's talk about some of the health or mental effects I already feel. The first thing I noticed is better sleep: I sleep 6 or 7 hours in one go almost every night. This is huge for me since I have been a bad sleeper (awake every 3 hours) since puberty. I also notice less bloating/puffiness and less tummy problems.
The last and most important thing that happened is that my happy hormones seem to be balancing back. Where I used to be quite up and down, either very excited or very existential and dark, I now feel more 'aligned' with my purpose, calm and content on a daily basis. I've also felt random happiness more often (just a grateful feeling) and have less irritated, frustrated or impatient moments.
So far, I'm really happy I made this choice, the results and how it's going. I would love to hear in the comments how your Dry January or sobriety journey feels so far!
xxx
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