My Experience Giving up Alcohol in February

 

So this is it...we have reached the end of Febfast! For those of you who didn't know, this whole month of February I gave up alcohol. Now I want to tell you all about my experience.

Did I struggle? Not really.
I mean...don't get me wrong, there were definitely times I WANTED to drink.

Like where I had to talk myself out of a crisp glass of Chardonnay that would go so well with the cheese platter I was munching down on. Or when I felt like I was missing a nice glass of red during the weekly Sunday roast with my family.

I honestly didn't miss it though and that's not because I was avoiding bars like the plague or hiding away in my room so that I wouldn't be tempted.

In fact it was the opposite! I went out of my way to go to places I knew I would be challenged not to drink because I wanted to prove to myself that I could handle it.


So I went to after work events that are often soaked in alcohol and just enjoyed the networking, making business contacts.

I still headed to the bar with my friends and was content just sipping on my lemon lime and bitters, amused by all the drunken antics happening around me.

I attended gigs, even one called LAGERfest (literally based around drinking) and just enjoyed the music...sober.



There were some serious benefits to this enlightening sober experience, let me tell you.

I wasn't tired or hungover come Saturday and Sunday mornings!
I instead started the morning with meditation and either a boxing session or Pilates class. I would also go for a bike ride or take my pup for a walk.

I have been eating so much healthier!
Every weekend I got to swap out the greasy hangover food and instead I nourished my body with a breakfast smoothie accompanied by boiled egg, sautéed spinach and grilled tomato. Not to mention all the calories I cut out by not drinking alcohol.

I was motivated and full of passion on the weekends, finding myself super productive and crossing things off my to-do list at lightening speed.
I found myself getting sh*t done instead of being foggy and hung-over on my couch, watching TV and drinking Berocca to recover.

Now I'm not bashing alcohol, because I am going to go back to drinking it in March. But I will say that my relationship with alcohol has changed A LOT.

I'm going to be drinking a lot less than I used to and not as frequently. There is a time and place for alcohol and for me that will be a couple of cocktails to catch up with friends or a glass of wine or two with dinner.

I would always drink because I felt like I needed it to have fun but going to events and doing things completely sober made me realize that alcohol is definitely not a necessity.

Would I do it again? Absolutely!
I think every couple of months I might challenge myself again to go without alcohol all together. It's inspired me to try going without other things like sugar or dairy too, just to see if I can do it.

So before we conclude this post, I wanted to talk a little bit about Febfast because this was the driving force for me giving up alcohol in February. Febfast is a charity all about keeping youth off the street and so it seemed like a good fit for me to support since it's a really important cause. There are so many young Australians who have been put in unfortunate positions with situations out of their control and find themselves on the streets. This is why I was extremely happy to partner with Febfast in doing my alcohol-free month and support the cause.