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This month, I celebrate four years of sobriety.
Like any birthday or anniversary, I enter this time reflecting on my journey with, and now without, alcohol.
But before you go assuming I was a total lush, I’m about to blow your mind a little…
My drinking wasn’t any different than what we see promoted as casual social drinking on television and in movies, or that takes place for most in the Western world.
Three to four times a week I would go out to social events, happy hours, and wine tastings, drinking on average one to three glasses of wine. On the weekends, I would let myself have four glasses and if the celebratory mood was really vibing, maybe five. This meant I was—as my husband, who’s also sober, would call it—“drizzy.”
Or what you might call drunk.
But I had never blacked out or even thrown up from drinking. I also never drank alone. These were all facts I was sure indicated that I did not have any sort of problem with alcohol. In addition, I was fully functional and wildly successful in my go-go-go-glam city life (Portland, I still love you).
So, I was hardly a candidate for a “drinking problem” or needing to “get sober.”
Just one glass of alcohol begins to impair our judgement, intuitive abilities (this was important as I was a coach and healer at the time), and our ability to be grounded and centered in our body. Alcohol is technically a poison that within minutes begins to retard and impair our body’s ability to function normally.
We often laugh at the slurring speech, the hysterical laughter over nothing, or the inability to feel our face, legs, or other parts of our body, which is kind of shocking since it’s actually a sign of being poisoned. Even stranger, we call this fun—and center the majority of our social events around drinking.
Could it be that alcohol, a known toxin, was introduced into our “cult-ure” for the benefit of disabling its members, making us easier to control?
It’s something to seriously ponder.
I finally “decided” to quit drinking when I saw the above crystal clearly. I saw that this poison was introduced to us as a way to have “fun” and how truly disturbing that was because of what it was actually doing to the body.
For a more tangible reference, watch the movie “Cloud Atlas” and pay attention to the “soap-drinking” in Hugh Grant’s futuristic scenes. It will blow your mind, even a little more than I already have here.
One of the best parts of letting go of alcohol for me was all of the new activities and new ways of being that I could now enjoy, now that my life wasn’t centered around happy hours, wine tastings, and going to the latest bar or club.
So, while you’re now pondering why alcohol is even allowed to be a socially revered toxin in our world, consider taking your own break from drinking while you read the 11 things you can enjoy once you’re alcohol-free:
1. Leaving a social gathering completely stress free—without fear or worry about how to find a ride or how to make it safely to your home. You’re now one step closer to living a peaceful life!
2. Waking up on Saturday and Sunday mornings feeling wonderful in your body, no longer spending the day on the couch or in the bathroom “recovering” from your ingestion of poison from the night before.
3. The arts! While I was a huge fan of First Thursdays for the free wine served by the art galleries (sad but true), once I quit drinking I was able to actually appreciate the art that was everywhere, waiting for my attention. Suddenly, I was going to plays, operas, ballets, and art museums to enjoy art for the sake of art—and I discovered that it deeply nourishes my soul.
4. No more drunk texting/dialing while your brain is completely disabled of its ability to reason and make sound decisions. Your exes, and current partner, will thank you.
5. Sure, everyone is getting Botox and fillers these days (no really, like everyone, it’s crazy) but when you don’t drink, you actually begin aging in reverse (try eating a mostly plant-based diet to support this as well). You’ll start receiving compliments galore with that no-poison-in-my-system-glow.
6. Better sleep. Without harmful toxins like alcohol in your body, you’ll sleep more deeply and have more restful sleeps. You’ll also have more productive healing dreams, which is the main purpose of the dream state. Alcohol opens up your energy field to all kinds of energies (drinking in a dive bar or haunted bar is not recommended) and this energy can often play itself out via nightmares and anxiety. Once you remove alcohol, you’ll be sleeping better, and you’ll no longer be psychically polluted.
7. Clearer intuitive abilities. Even one glass of alcohol dims your clarity and reduces your ability to be of service to yourself—and if you work in the healing arts, to others. Your intuitive and healing abilities for yourself and others skyrockets once your system is free of alcohol. You’ll find yourself clearer, more on point, and able to trust your inner guidance more fully.
8. Genuine connection with others. Once free of the alcohol trap, which can result in “drinking until he/she/it/they is fun”—you can now have authentic, quality interactions with friends and loved ones. You also totally eliminate stupid, alcohol-induced arguments/debates that consist of two slowly disabling egos battling it out. You can show up for each other in new ways and have a level of vulnerable connection that wasn’t possible before.
9. The world is literally your oyster! There’s nowhere you can’t go, nothing you can’t do; you are free of one of the leading addictions on the earth, which opens up your life to fulfilling all of your deepest dreams. It allows you to be fully present for your life experiences without the influence of alcohol so that you can fully be who you really are in this life—not a dimmed down or diluted version. You can finish that book, take that class, heal your traumas, ask that hottie out—whatever it is that you’ve been too “busy” to do—you now have time, clarity, and brain power for it.
10. Your overall health and fitness levels drastically improve. Without the heaviness of alcohol in your system, your longevity increases. With less time spent drinking, you have more time to move your body, eat high-vibrating foods, and reduce—if not eliminate—your incidence of many cancers, stroke, and other alcohol influenced diseases. Here’s to making it to the 100+ club!
11. You’ll be rich! Drinking is expensive AF and without that consistent drain on your income, you can achieve some major financial milestones.
And these are the mere highlights of what’s possible when you say yes to an alcohol-free life.
Have questions? Post them below!
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