Hello, World!

 Day 6 

I've made the conscious decision to try my hand at sobriety from alcohol. I've had my moments of vowing to never EVER drink alcohol again when I'm in the throws of an intense hangover - an often empty promise that sometimes didn’t last past 6pm or the next opportunity to get happy hour with my girlfriends. This is the first time I'm committed, I'm serious and I'm actually excited! It is important to note that today I am six days into this new lifestyle that I've been noodling on for just over two weeks now. Four days of no drinking before traveling to Florida for my first family reunion post quarantine, then I broke that sober seal - but I was still proud of myself for controlling my alcohol intake on vacay - we were upgraded to Delta One with the lay flat beds that comes with free booze the entire flight, which I declined for the first time ever! Small victories are still victories, I still plan on celebrating my achievements. Instead of popping a bottle of champagne for a technical cloud computing exam I passed at work yesterday, I did a Peloton Pop ride with Tunde (always a mood lifter) and treated myself to some Chick-Fil-A (I ordered the cool wrap and a kale salad to get my greens but add side of medium fries). 

I honestly don't have anyone in my life that  abstains from alcohol 100% of the time AKA lives sober (aside from my 90 year old Southern Baptist grandmother - legend). One of my girlfriends that I really admire from work whom I've developed a personal relationship with, took one entire year off of drinking and wow I remember having mad respect and a glint of envy when she easily declined to imbibe at post daylong meeting happy hours or opted for sparkling water over a martini at a Chicago steakhouse. She's been off the booze for 2 years straight now! Not drinking can be more impressive than the social and cultural impetus to 'be cool and keep up with the boys, chug chug chug'. So, now I'm trying my hand at being 'that girl' and I have made respect for myself for wanting something not as mainstream but positive. 

The past year was a whirlwind of finding the right cocktail of coping mechanisms to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic - including many literal cocktails and bottles of wine. I also put a lot of time, energy and effort into getting my health on track in 2020. I started working with a nutritionist that my sister had amazing success with, did a diet to rid my system of Candida and histamine, bought a Peloton and completed a 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training program - glow up game strong! But for some reason after all of those healthy changes, booze was still something I didn’t evaluate my relationship with and just passively kept in my life. I hadn’t seriously considered the health consequences of 'just one drink', a few to 'relax' then tomorrow time to 'celebrate' with some more alcohol. Drinking is 'fun'! It's 'social'! It's 'normal'! Well that type of habitual drinking is far too normalized in our culture and I'm totally over even mild hangovers, bubble guts and wine belly. 

Tomorrow I leave for a week long annual trip to Mexico with our pals from Seattle (my sweetheart and I relocated to southern California last fall so this will be our first reunion with the crew). This is the third year going to Punta de Mita together (took 2020 off for obvious reasons) and my first vacation I will not be drinking. Typically, these trips for me consists of being served Mezcal margaritas beach side all day long followed by a boozy dinner of more Mezal and probably wine. So cheers to saving approx. $500 on my bar tab and being fresh and hydrated! Viva! 

xoxo maddymo