Well, I did it again.
Like last time, it wound up being a day of note (this time, the winter solstice instead of Halloween). Like last time, I’m not stopping to quell ongoing problems in my life.
Unlike last time, I’m not leaving it open-ended and saying “no plans” to drink again. This time, my explicit intention is to make this a permanent lifestyle change.
It’s an unambiguous simplification. That’s the best way I know to put it. There is no money spent. There are no calories burned. And there is no doubt that I recover a great deal of energy and initiative for other things when I am not drinking. I have an old dad joke about feeling like I need to do some yardwork, and having a couple of beers so the feeling goes away. That’s real. And, my sleep is finally coming around.
Also, importantly, I am completely convinced that the positives are illusory. Again, I must credit This Naked Mind for helping me rewire how I think about alcohol. I only got a third of the way through the book before I quit last time. This time, I quit before I started rereading it. In each case, I have found it a powerful tool.
This will probably be the last time I blog specifically about it, and I certainly have no plans to “proselytize.” However, if you’re curious about fully understanding your relationship with alcohol, I cannot recommend the above book highly enough.
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