October 15, 2014

5 Things I Learned Over 50 Days Sober

We made it! I did it! I went 50 (actually 53 total) completely sober. I did not have any alcohol. Zero. Nada. Nilch. NyQuil doesn't count because I was very very ill.


I can honestly say I am very proud of myself. Alcohol is something I have a relationship with – something I have found that I love dearly. I needed to re-adjust that relationship though, and I feel I have been successful at that. Here is the recap of the reasoning behind Sober 'Til. October.

That being said, I CANNOT FREAKING WAIT to have a beer tonight. Mostly to celebrate this great success, but also to toast to my first day of vacation! 10 day road trip here we come!



Overall, this break from alcohol has been great for me. It taught me things and surprised me a lot.

5 things I learned from this challenge:

  1. I’m a lazy person. I will be lazy on weekends weather I did drink or not. I thought without hangovers my weekends were going to turn into these jam-packed cleaning, cooking and working out weekends. Ha. No. I still spent a lot of time on the couch. I did feel AMAZING sitting on that couch though instead of like a bag of shit.
  2. People respect when you say no to alcohol. I don’t think I really had a single person pressure me to drink over these 50 days. I did do a lot of explaining, why I was doing it and what it was. And I was surprised by people’s responses. Most were impressed. All respected it. It was a nice change, although I purposely tried not to put myself in situations where people might seriously pressure me.
  3. Life is kind of boring without alcohol. I spent a lot of weekend nights in. And you know what? I’m ok with it. I don’t feel like my life was less without it, just slower, more relaxed. It is kind of nice to use the weekend to re-charge instead of spend it going on all cylinders.
  4. Drinking is expensive. Ok, I knew that one already. But seriously, a month and a half of drinking/going out savings in my pocket just in time for vacation. Boom.
  5. You don’t feel that different. Sure I didn’t have hangovers WINNING!!! But, since I didn’t change my diet all that much I didn’t have a distinct feeling of “better.” Last time that I did a stint with no alcohol I also ate SUPER clean and I did feel way better. This time however without the clean diet, the removing the alcohol did not make that big of a difference.
So, was it some life altering experience? No. Sorry. I do think it was very very good for me. It helped me realize that my weekends don’t need to revolve around alcohol, that it’s ok to say no, and that I can be a happy, healthy person without it.


Will I do it again? Possibly. Preferably when it’s not football season next time.

Thanks so much to my partner and supporter Blake for joining in this challenge. And to all of you lovely blogger friends that had such kind words of encouragement. You truly helped keep me on track!

And because I feel it ties in so well… my favorite quote, via Nike.


Because what better philosophy to live life by? Give up alcohol? Why not? Just do it.

Joining in for #blogtober14 with Helene and Tay!

Helene in Between Blogtober


PS – I am on vacation and looking for guest bloggers. If you would like to be featured here free of charge shoot me an email or comment below!

Till next time,

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16 comments:

  1. Woo! You did it! Glad you learned some things from it... now go have a beer or two. ;)

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  2. That's so exciting!! Not drinking alcohol does supplement our bank accounts very nicely. Have fun on vacation!

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  3. Drinking is SO expensive! When my husband and I lived in Charlotte, we'd get paid on Fridays--go out Friday and Saturday night...by Monday I'd get the "we're broke again" text. And I would CRINGE at the fact that all our hard earned money was spent on something I spent the whole next day puking from my system. A lot of times now I find myself reaching for a mug of tea to relax in the evenings instead of a glass of wine. That sounds totally super lame--but the main reason for it is because I try to make choices throughout my day that will make me feel "good." And so by the time I go to relax, I would rather have tea than something that will negate all of my other choices from that day...if that makes any sense. GOOD for you! So glad you did it!

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  4. look at you! I think it's awesome that you stuck to it! have fun on vacation!

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  5. Awesome! I think it's cool that you saw the need to reevaluate your relationship with it and actually followed through. But yeah, treat yourself tonight! And enjoy your vacation!

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  6. have fun on vacay! I'm glad you had such a good experience with your no alcohol period! I think there are some times that just call for beer. Like tailgating.

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  7. Love your quote! Short, sweet, and to the point! Congrats on making it 53 days w/o alcohol, that's an accomplishment!

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  8. Woot Woot glad you learned a few things but yes I enjoy alcohol - I think it's a great social aspect and it can definitely be a fun time; plus its great for cooking too!! I'm sure it saves you money but all in moderation right? Have a wonderful vacation and can't wait to hear about it when you return! Take Care Laura! -Iva

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  9. Good Job! Just be careful when you drink tonight because someone is going to be a lightweight after that much time off! You'll be a cheap drunk! ;)

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  10. That's awesome that you made it! My husband just recently took 30 days off and said it was remarkably easy. I think I might jump on that bandwagon after the holidays :)

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  11. Way to go!! That's an awesome accomplishment. I bet it was so hard to stick to the challenge on football weekends. It would have been for me! I think it's a great idea though! Maybe I'll have to challenge myself... after football season is over, of course! :)

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  12. Yay!! Congrats on making it. And yes.. next time let's not do this during football season! haha

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  13. Congrats on making it! If it weren't for football season nearing its end here in the GWN I would have joined you! I have realized that I drink WAY more over the Summer than I do during the Winter so I think next Summer (before football starts... haha) I need to try something like this

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