One Year No Booze!

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Well, who’d have thunk it, I actually did the whole of 2019 with no wine!

Was it hard? Sometimes.

Was it worth it? Yes!

What did I learn? Lots, but mostly that I have way more time than I thought.

Was I treated differently? Sometimes, by surprising people.

Will I continue? Possibly.

That’s a pretty succinct wrap up of 365 long days LOL, so let me expand on this a little….

Was it hard?

Sometimes, yes absolutely.  The first 6 weeks were the toughest though.  Once I was through that it was more about just saying no and waiting out any desire.  The most challenging times… Friday nights, but probably more from a lack of anything else to do than really missing booze.  Mind you there were a couple of days where I’d have killed for  drink when work was driving me nuts.

Interestingly towards the end of the year (Christmas mostly) I was being ask this exact question by a lot of people who seemed genuinely interested and slightly terrified of the answer.

The reality is that not drinking itself is pretty simple.  All you need to do is not drink, it’s one thing.  It’s not like learning a new skill like driving or cooking where you need to master multiple things.

Was It Worth It?

Yep, no question.  I’m lighter mentally, richer financially, calmer, more focused and my eyes are damn white!  LOL.  My bins get put out, I’ve not killed anyone and I’ve made some decisions that will impact the rest of my life this year.  Oh, and Crazy Cat Boy has had major life improvements over the year as well.

What Did I Learn

I drink when I’m bored.  Hands down, no question.  Because I wasn’t doing anything productive with my time I was filling it with drinking instead. And as a kicker, drinking because I was bored only made me boring, a vicious cycle of poor me, I have no life.  Fun stuff hey, what a way to live – NOT! 😉

So, to combat that in 2020 (and freaking beyond), because I’m clearly an all or nuthin’ kind of girl, I finally signed up to start my Masters (note the life changing impact from above para). I’ve been whining about it for close to 10 years and how it’s expensive and I probably won’t get the monetary ROI from it given my age, but stuff it, I want to do it, I’ll enjoy it, it’ll terrify me, and it’ll keep me from pointless drinking – I won’t have time to waste!

Was I Treated Differently?

Not by anyone who matters to me.  However from casual acquaintances and business associates I’ve encountered everything from confusion, slight awe, poorly disguised disdain (screw ’em, they don’t count) and convenience.

The last one is odd, everything from “great you can drive, here’s my keys” to “oh, as you aren’t drinking we’ve decided to put you in the dangerous seat because you are less likely to fall off the platform and hurt yourself”!   The last one was really weird and actually pretty insulting given that it came from one of the event hosts who set up the dangerous situation… almost a we’ve done a risk assessment and decided that you’re the guest who can be most inconvenienced by this!

Will I Continue?

Maybe, I’m still tossing up.  The year has been over for 6 days now and I’ve only once had the urge and that was Saturday afternoon…. the cricket was on TV, Crazy Cat Boy was playing video games and I was…. yep, you guessed it – Bored!  The reality is I’ll continue at least until the end of February as I’ve got a couple of really busy months, including starting my Masters.  Crazy Cat Boy is also toying with the idea of staying permanently on the wagon, which is unexpected, but great for him if he decides to do it.

So, that’s it, my year without wine wrap up.  It’s been a great experience and I’m very pleased I’ve done it.  I’ll do a separate post with the things I didn’t do because I wasn’t drinking in a day or so.

Stay healthy and happy good internet people.