For my 150th post - I'm taking on a 50 day challenge!
My relationship with alcohol started in college. To say I
ever drank in moderation would be a complete lie. Sitting around with my girlfriends
now, looking back on how we drank 3+ nights a week in college, makes me almost physically
ill. Sorry liver…
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| Yeah, that's not just juice... |
In college there were several occasions my drinking was out
of hand. I would do horrible, ridiculous things while blacked-out and assed-out. I am embarrassed even thinking about them now. I can remember how it felt
to be told the day later what had happened the night before and being mortified.
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| I even wen t to Havasu... which I do regret |
While I thoroughly enjoyed my college experience and still
graduated with honors despite my active party life, it is not a lifestyle I
could ever go back to. Sure I miss not getting hang overs, not having to go to
class till 11:00 AM and having summers, spring break etc. OK – let’s be real,
college is AWESOME. But now there is no way my body could handle it.
Somewhere between 24 and 25 my body had had enough. Enter
hangovers. The bad kind, with puking (which is more of me violently screaming
why projectile vomiting/crying) until late in the evening. This is usually
followed with 1-2 days of recovering from the puking, which makes my whole body
hurt.
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| Yes, that is a fish bowl of beer... |
Now a days I don’t go out all the time. But when I do, I usually over-do it. I end up throwing a fit or crying at the end of the night and wake up the next day completely useless.
And I’m
over it.
That’s why after talking to Blake over at Blake’s EverydayAdventures I decided it might be a good idea to give it up for a while. Thus “Sober ‘till October” was born.
Blake and I have challenged each other to stay sober (not a
single drink!) until October 15th, 50 days from today. It is something
we feel strongly about and are going to help each other with. Our goal is that
by the end of 50 days we will not only feel incredibly better, but we will have
broken our dependence and desire for alcohol, so that we no longer over-do it when drinking.
50 days is a long time. I know it will be hard. I know I am
going to want a cold beer while I watch football. But 7 weeks from now I might
not feel the same – and that’s the feeling I’m after.
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| I was pretty proud I finished "das boot" all in one chug! |
I will just have to keep in mind all the reasons I am doing
this:
- Because I want to be successful in my fitness and health goals
- Because I want to stop poisoning my body
- Because I want to feel comfortable in social situations without alcohol
- Because I want to be OK going to the gym on a Friday night instead of the bar
- Because I want to have productive Saturdays and Sundays
- Because my boyfriend/friends should never have to take care of me because I’m intoxicated
- Because I will have more energy throughout the week
- Because I will lose weight and feel better
- Because I will save money
- Because my money can be better spent than on poisoning my body
- Because I need to learn how to have fun without alcohol
- Because I don’t ever want to have a hangover again
- Because I need to harness and strengthen my willpower
- Because I have accepted this challenge, and I am not a quitter.
These, and so many other reasons, prove it makes sense for me
to take a break. I need to do this for myself, and prove to myself that I can
do it.
Yes, it will be a challenge. But nothing good in life comes easy.
If you want to follow along with Blake and me on this
journey, check in on Thursdays (starting next week) as we re-cap how the
challenge is going and highlight the benefits of going alcohol free. We will be
keeping up with it on social media as well, with #sobertilloctober. We would
love for you to join in. Feel free to use the hashtag with your sober fun!
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| This is not sober fun... just to be clear... look how shocked the lady is in the background |
What are your thoughts? Do you want to join us on this
challenge? Whether taking on the challenge or just being supportive, we hope you follow along.
And since all this drinking and my goal to give it up for a while IS a confession! Let's link up with Kathy!
TTFN,
You are so awesome for doing this! I think that it's hard for any 20-something to not drink anything for that long, but I have no doubt that you will be successful!!
ReplyDeleteI love this post! We have so many of the same thoughts/feelings about alcohol and why we're doing this.
ReplyDeleteWe will make it! I'm excited :)
Wow, I'm impressed!! I struggle with this one too. I always over do it, which usually leads me to eating a bunch of crap and/or making an ass of myself. But football season... ouch. I have been trying to cut out my week night beer or glass (es) of wine... for my start. It helps keep me on track for sure!
ReplyDeleteYou got this! Your reasons are really compelling. I think it's really important to be able to be comfortable socially and to be able to have fun without booze. If you need a crutch there's something else going on to address.
ReplyDeleteI just looked at my calendar and it's been 18 days since I last had a drink. My husband doesn't drink at all anymore after a long battle with booze. He's been sober for over nine months. He just can't have it in his life and be successful and who he wants to be as a person. He's not a moderation guy.
This is such an awesome challenge. I was at my bff's wedding a few weeks ago and got drunk and honestly I regretted it. I felt so crappy afterwards. It's really not worth it anymore.
ReplyDeleteWow, this is impressive! I definitely went through those phases as I've gotten older. It took the four day hangovers to knock some sense into me. That, and also writing 'no fireball' on my wrist before I went out. I definitely have more moderation now, but when I was your age I didn't. Good luck!!
ReplyDeleteI'm in! I have been thinking about doing something like this for a while so when I saw Blake's post about it, I figured now was as good a time as any! My problem isn't so much the binge drinking, but the fact that having a beer (or let's be real, 2 or sometimes 3) almost every day this summer has me feeling like crap. I feel like just need a reset! I won't be joining you guys for ALL 50 days, but other than a handful of events where I do plan to have a drink (maybe 2 max), I won't be touching any alcohol.
ReplyDeleteWomen's recovery house I would like to say that this blog really convinced me to do it! Thanks, very good post.
ReplyDelete