What I learned from a year off alcohol

Today I celebrate one year since I took a break from alcohol! I never intended this experience to last a year (or imagined it was possible); initially it began as a 21 day experiment to “remind myself what life is like without alcohol”.

I was in San Francisco when this all began, attending a company conference and suffering from a combination of jet lag and weariness from a wine fuelled flight from Singapore. The opening speaker at the event was a buddhist monk who taught us about mindfulness and shared his story of how being “mindful” became his number one value in life.

This session had a profound impact on me. I thought about my own values, what was important to me and questioned whether my reality was measuring up to the one I always imagined or knew was possible for me.

I decided it was time to make some radical changes in how I was showing up in the world. I wrote a long list of things that I wanted to improve and got excited about making these changes. There was only one problem. As I went through the list I became aware of a glaring omission. One that I had unconsciously chosen to ignore for far too many years. Alcohol.

I know we’re all different and alcohol may not be a big deal for you. For me alcohol had become central to the weekend, the accompaniment to evening meals and often a way to deal with stress. No matter whether it was a friendly social catch up, dinner or drinks after work, or a more formal function there was almost always something happening where alcohol was involved and almost always someone keen to “have a drink”.

It doesn’t begin this way of course. Regular consumption of alcohol builds up a tolerance and most of us don’t even notice the evolution. What we do start to notice is the impact alcohol has on us, especially as we age and our responsibilities increase.

I found that even though I was training every day, regular drinking (and the subsequent poor food choices I would make) was inhibiting me from achieving and maintaining my fitness goals. I would also have interrupted sleep even after a few beers or wines so I was often not feeling my absolute best during the day which would lead to further poor decisions in the evening.. and the cycle continued.

What really struck me when I first took a hard look at my drinking was remembering that I once enjoyed every aspect of life without the need for alcohol at all. It was only through conditioning that I’d come to expect a drink after work, on the weekends, at functions, on planes etc etc.

So I committed to taking 21 days off alcohol and challenged a friend to join me. After 21 days I felt so good I continued towards 3 months, then 6 months and it’s now been a full year!

In those 12 months:

• I haven’t woken up with a hangover, instead I feel radiantly alive
• I never missed a morning workout
• I effortlessly lost body fat & increased strength and flexibility
• I cultivated a greater sense of peace, happiness and mental clarity
• I improved relationships with friends, family and myself
• I found it easier to stay focussed on achieving goals

I simply don’t need to add alcohol to handle stress, delight in a meal, go to a function, be on holiday, have fun, fly overseas or do business etc. I’m up early to exercise, I’m saving thousands of dollars and enjoying truly meaningful conversations with people over a soda water and fresh lime.

I’ve also discovered that there are many people (quietly) questioning what is ‘normal' regarding alcohol. I hope my example encourages people to think about their own relationship with alcohol. If there’s any doubt my simple suggestion is this:

Take 21 Days off and remind yourself what life is like without it.

Remember, it's just an experiment.

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