Out with the old in with the new!

As time ticks on and I go into my 4^th month of not drinking I realise it’s the 4th of February and I have not planned to have the first drink yet.   If you have read previous blogs you will know that I have been thinking about trying moderation.  I still am.  I was committing to 3 months off the booze initially, then dry Jan.  I realised it’s the ^4th of Feb so there is no need to not drink anymore yet I am not.

It made me think why? I then started to think about habits and the new ones that I have formed without realising.  One habit I am keen to keep is my mornings. I am so productive in the mornings now.  Every podcast you listen to related to the habits of highly successful people talks about how having a morning routine is vital.  As far as I can tell they are right!  Nailing that morning routine really sets you up for the day.  Last night I went to bed extra early so I could get up at 5am, make a coffee, do some study, 10 minutes of yoga and then get to work for 8am.  There is something really nice about it being dark when you get up and to complete silence before anyone else is up.  By the time I arrive to work I feel like its mid-day and I have achieved so much.  I wouldn’t be doing that on a Monday morning if I was drinking over the weekend.  I’d be tired and my mood would be low, I wouldn’t be motivated.

I heard this recently in an audiobook, Get up and get shit done!  I love that.  So to the point and not dancing around it like so many tend to do.

My mindset has changed too.

I am going to see Jack Whitehall this Friday night and I have no plans to drink. I just don’t want to.  I don’t want to have to queue up at the 5 deep bar only to buy 3 single glass bottles of gross wine but be charged through the roof for it, spend the concert trying to balance them and make sure I don’t knock them over and spill them.  Then have to keep going to the toilet because I drank so much and actually miss the show.  If I don’t drink I will have none of that hassle, I will genuinely laugh at the show knowing I am laughing because its actually funny and not because I’m drunk and best of all I will remember it.  I will save heaps of money and get to drive home.  4 months ago I would never have thought like this no way!

Its true when people who have quit drinking or successfully gone from heavy to moderate drinker say, you need to do at least 3 months to really see the benefits and have that attitude change.  I also think you need to be ready to do it, if I had to stop drinking for let’s say a health reason when I was 30 I wouldn’t have done it whole heartedly as I loved to drink then, I wouldn’t have been ready, you can’t be forced to do it as you are more reluctant to change that way.  It’s not even about age, I have friends older than me who probably drink more than I did yet they don’t want to stop, they are just not at the point I was, everyone has a different point, a different motivation or reason, they may never get to it.  I am truly grateful that I did, it really has been life changing. 

Emma xx