Alcohol has been a solid part of my life ever since I was old enough to steal the contents of my Dad’s drink cabinet.
For me, a hard drink puts the glitter on a social occasion. Everything seems just a bit more fun once you’ve loosened up with a wine or cocktail.
Lock down no.1 saw me upping my booze intake quite considerably. Suddenly several ‘home pour sized’ gin and tonics on a Tuesday night felt absolutely fine.
I was pretty happy to ignore the side effects of the increased alcohol consumption because there was quite enough to worry about without worrying about what I was eating and drinking.
Then came the weight gain. I realised that over the years the weight had piled on and I knew alcohol was a major contributor of that.
So I summoned the discipline to cut down on the booze and the food and the weight loss followed.
A recent fairly significant surgery has forced me to give it up completely.
Sometimes in life, you don’t have a choice. Pregnancy, illness, surgery – your body demands and you have to fall into line.
So here I am, five weeks dry and seriously thinking about how I want to introduce alcohol back into my life.
I’m sleeping better, my mental clarity is improved and whilst I don’t want to go permanently sober, I am thinking about what I want my relationship with alcohol to look like in the future.
Can I consign it the weekends or social occasions only? Or break up those drinking nights with a few zero alcohol drinks in between to reduce my overall consumption.
If any of this resonates, Dry July is a great opportunity to remove the booze altogether and give you the space and sobriety to re-evaluate the role that alcohol plays in your life.
FED. has joined the Dry July Challenging to help raise funds for people going through cancer.
Many of us have been touched by cancer. Whether it be a personal diagnosis or that of a loved one.
The funds raised by participants of Dry July 2022 will help Look Good Feel Better NZ, PINC & STEEL NZ and Prostate Cancer Foundation of New Zealand improve the comfort, care and wellbeing of people affected by cancer.
That’s something not to drink to!
How to get involved
- Go dry this July and join our team https://www.dryjuly.co.nz/teams/fed
- Make a FED. order and add your donation at the checkout
- Make a donation directly to Dry July https://www.dryjuly.co.nz/fundraising/offline-donation
