15 Days Alcohol Free

Today marks the 15th day since I gave up alcohol. The pandemic came about while I was living in the Pacific Northwest, Oregon to be exact. It’s a rainy, gloomy environment where drinking alcohol is the average hobby of most. I too fed into the madness of finding the crown jewel of beer, the IPA (India Pale Ale). It was a strong beer and was delicious to the taste. I would find myself having a few beers each night after work to settle down, but when the pandemic struck and everyone was pretty much bound to their homes my healthy habits had changed. It was the end of hiking and biking in the great outdoors and my gym had closed. I started drinking more, much more and quickly started putting on weight. I was becoming depressed and beer seemed to be my escape from the current reality.

After the pandemic started easing its grip on society I started my exercise routine once again, but I still held on to my love for the brew. The one change I made in my drinking habit was switching to light beer. It seemed like a reasonable solution to all the calories I was taking in each day, but the calories weren’t the only problem I had. I had become addicted to alcohol and while I thought I was taking in less calories I was only fooling myself as the number of cans of beer increased. At times I could drink two six packs of beer a night.

While eventually I cut down on the quantity of beer I still carried the habit of drinking all the way into retirement. I started feeling like I couldn’t get through a day without beer and I don’t like the feeling of loosing control.

I tried several litmus tests to see if I could bring this horrible habit under control. The first was having just two drinks before dinner and no more for the rest of the night, which I failed. The second was trying to go three whole days without alcohol, which I managed to pass and made the decision to try to go 30 days.

A change was inevitable so on May 8th of this year I made the decision to totally eliminate alcohol from my life after making it three whole days without the stuff. I started watching youtube videos from others who had gone through the same thing. I was quickly astonished when I realized all of the horrible things that your body and mind go through due to the abuse of alcohol. Oh Yea, I was ready to turn off the switch on alcohol.

It has been 15 days now as I am striving towards my goal of, “30 Days Alcohol Free”. I started noticing changes immediately as some are good and some are uncomfortable. For the first 7 days I woke up each morning feeling like I had a hangover so I started drinking more water. There are still nights where I get “night sweats” which I hope will subside. At night I still felt the desire to drink alcohol but rather than giving into it I simply went to bed and slept it off. But on the bright side my daily energy levels were increasing and I am now walking around 10,000 steps per day. I am finding myself taking on projects around the house that I have been putting off. Even my bathroom habits are changing and becoming more healthier. Stiffness and pain I felt in my joints is slowly subsiding and I can picture myself back in the gym again practicing yoga and lifting weights.

As of now all is well.