Although I’m not actively participating in Dry January, I think it’s an awesome trend and I thought this would be a good way to bring up the topic of alcohol. I actually completely transformed my relationship with alcohol this year. I had a very transformative year in many ways, and a lot of this was due to all of the amazing books I read. One of the most powerful books I read last year was Quit Like a Woman by Holly Whitaker. Another book I loved was This Naked Mind by Annie Grace. These books really helped me to examine my relationship with alcohol, but more importantly, they taught/reminded me how unhealthy alcohol is for my body. It seemed pretty counteractive to be working out and eating healthy all week and then pumping myself with poison on the weekend. “Poison” isn’t really a word associated with alcohol in our society, but what I have learned is that it probably should be.

My main takeaway from the books was that for me, alcohol was often a way to self-medicate my anxiety. What I realized was that instead of relieving my stress, I was actually keeping myself in an endless cycle of anxiety. The books really do a great job of explaining the physical effects of alcohol on your body, and it’s honestly hard to enjoy a drink when you know and can feel what is happening inside when you drink. To briefly sum it up, I would feel stressed out and/or anxious and think a glass of wine would make me feel better. In reality, that drink would calm my nerves for maybe 20-30 minutes, and then my body would start to filter out the alcohol and my anxiety would actually be worse. I don’t know how I never realized this, but once I read the book, I could feel it happening! Sometimes I can tell when I have one drink I am in a good mood, and then a half hour later I am cranky. This has never happened to me after having kombucha or tea ;)

The effect these books had on me was so profound that I went three months with no alcohol- and it was seriously amazing! I had zero anxiety and I even lost 15 pounds. I definitely didn’t drink enough calories from alcohol to lose 15 pounds. The weight loss was due to my increased energy levels which lead to more frequent and more effective workouts, and it was also much easier to stick to healthy eating when I didn’t drink alcohol. I was sleeping much more deeply and feeling so rested when I woke up. When I’d go out with my friends, I would order a “mocktail” (my go-to is club soda with some cranberry and pineapple juice in a wine glass) and still have great conversations and feel so good. I think the easiest way to reduce or eliminate alcohol intake is to find replacement drinks that you really like. I love to have kombucha in a wine glass (Health-Aide even makes a Bubly Rose flavor) after a long day when I’m cooking dinner, or have sparkling water or non-alcoholic beer at a cookout (there are really great ones that taste so good! We love Athletic Brewing, Heineken 0). Having something in your hand makes it less “awkward” to not drink alcohol.

During my three months of not drinking, I even went on two alcohol-free vacations and they were some of my favorite trips I have ever taken. I went to the beach with my family and really felt so serene at the ocean and made amazing memories with my husband and our girls (and really enjoyed some virgin pina coladas!) I also went on a wellness retreat to the desert with one of my closest friends and we woke up at sunrise every day to do yoga or go hiking. It was incredible. These are things I honestly would not have enjoyed as much had I been drinking alcohol. I felt absolutely amazing.

Yet for some reason, I decided to have a glass of wine while out to dinner one night, and that honestly just lead me back to my old habits of having a glass of wine or two whenever we would go out to eat or have friends over, or any situation that involves alcohol (which when you decide not to drink, you quickly realize is almost every social interaction). I think this is why Holly Whitaker says when you make the decision to stop drinking alcohol, never question it. When you decide you are going to be a non-drinker, you don’t really think twice about it or question it, the decision is made. But when you decide to drink mindfully, it’s always a choice- “Will I drink or not drink?” And in social settings, the answer is usually “I will drink,” because we live in a society where alcohol is the center of pretty much every social gathering.

I know having an occasional drink isn’t necessarily a big deal for most people, but I don’t feel good when I drink, and I know this about myself. I don’t sleep well that night and I know that it increases my anxiety. It’s crazy that I know this and still decide to participate… and the reason I do it is that not drinking in our society is “weird.” My friends and family have been supportive, but being the non-drinker on a girl's trip or a night out, no matter how supportive people are, I still feel like a literal buzzkill. I’ve always been a people pleaser, and I think a lot of why I still have a drink here and there is to not make other people uncomfortable, and it is just so strange to me that our society is like this.

One of the craziest things about this experience with questioning alcohol is it seemed to have the side effect of causing my husband to stop drinking! He never even read these books but saw first-hand how happy I was not drinking and how healthy my lifestyle was and it inspired him to want to make the same change for himself, especially since he is on medication for diabetes. As of writing this, he has been alcohol-free for almost 6 months! I wish I had stuck to it as faithfully as he has. January is obviously a great time to cleanse and set intentions for the year, and even though I didn’t start on the first of the month, I have decided I do want to get back to a healthier lifestyle and remove alcohol from my routine again. I’ll keep you posted on how it’s going! If you’re participating in Dry January, a really awesome tool to help you stick to it is Annie Grace’s free app “The Alcohol Experiment.” https://learn.thisnakedmind.com/the-alcohol-experiment-registration. If you decide to read either (or both) of the books I suggested, please let me know how you like them! Good luck on your journey, I’ll be cheers-ing you from afar with my mocktail :)