There is this cloud if you drink during the week or over weekends. It’s scary that we are not aware of the wine-cloud, while living under it. It’s just this permanent weather forecast = outside of our control – and simply part of life.
Now that I am not living under the wine-cloud anymore, I can see it for what it is. I feel like I have had a lucky pass to a new cloud-free life, and it was just a fluke really that my life-path has changed – even if it’s over 30 years into my drinking journey.
Being Alcohol Free brings many big awesome changes. I have talked about this in a previous blog. My biggie is the reduced anxiety – almost to zero – and no depressive episodes since going AF 110 days ago. But it’s the small, daily things that bring joy throughout my days. Even now on Day 110.
Here are some of the small miraculous changes I never expected:
- I used to pop headache pills most days. I thought I suffered from tension headaches! Now my pill stockpile is moving so slowly.
- Loving my Sundays. Now I have a whole new free day of possibility. The shocking thing is that I am baking goodies for the family on Sundays, even though I have never liked the kitchen and certainly don’t bake!
Sundays used to be the worst day of the week, signalling the end of a week’s imbibing, low mood, gearing up for the work week. And with the understanding that drinking on a Sunday is not a good idea and I could only legitimately start winding down on wine come Wednesday.
Not that this stopped me from wine on a Sunday, simply to try and alleviate the low mood for a while. And the low mood came back on a Sunday night anyway.
- Breakfasts with my husband. We used to catch up over weekend dinners out, with a bottle or two between us. Now my Life Partner and I catch up, lucidly, over weekend breakfasts.
- Gym and Pilates upgrade – get in more sessions, and work harder during my exercise sessions.
- Food tastes better. This may be counted as a problem, as I have certainly tucked into this new joy over the last few months. Bites of everything taste delicious.
These small things being Alcohol Free bring joy every single day. I am acutely aware of how lucky I am to have become aware of my wine-cloud and now the sunny forecast ahead.
