You know exactly what I am talking about, don’t you? After all there is a multi-million dollar industry dedicated to all these “cute” drinking sayings on wine glasses. (Full disclosure, I made up the multi-million dollar number, but it’s probably pretty accurate).

I was THE spokeswoman for the Mommy wine culture. I had to have my glass of red while cooking dinner (also had to post a pic; see my blog on social media for more on that), followed by one or two more rather large glasses in the evening. I deserved it though, right? After all I’m a hard working Mom, and my wine glass says I deserve it right on it! My friends say I deserve it. Social media and advertising sure says I deserve it. So after taking 4 years off of alcohol (not one drop) due to back to back nursing my kids until age two each *pats self on back* I dove right into the Mommy wine culture.

I believed that I needed it, and I believed I deserved it. And I did deserve a break! However, it’s a very slippery slope. Women are now drinking dangerously high levels of alcohol and it’s being wholeheartedly accepted by society. When I say it’s a slippery slope, I mean how easily one glass while cooking can turn to two in the evening and then it can turn to women drinking at play dates. I never did that for the record, but I know many who did.

I remember an Instagram post I saw once that read something along the lines of “I choose my Mom friends based on who will day drink with me”. Ummm, that’s not cool. We don’t need to teach our daughters that they need alcohol to survive Motherhood. Why is this something we need to “survive”, anyway?? Ok, it’s freaking hard. But it’s harder to do while hung over.

I found after a few years of over indulging in Mommy wine culture that I was miserable. Of course we know it’s a depressant, and a stimulator for anxiety (which I have), poorly affects sleep, which I lack already due to kids who STILL wake up at ages 8 and 10 some nights, it is empty calories (so my pants began to get tight) and it made me sad. For no real reason.

I remember one night I was watching Adele sing live on YouTube all alone and I just cried my eyes out. I have a great life! Why was I so sad? ALCOHOL. That’s why. It served me nothing, yet I was really just following along with a trend. Sure it tasted great, I really did love wine. But it’s not healthy to promote this as a healthy and normal lifestyle because I know so many were in my boat of having an actual borderline drinking problem. Most just won’t admit it; I sure didn’t want to.

So when Covid hit, during the first week of my husband working from home, we drank a lot…never stumbled up to bed, but we drank every single night that first week. Slippery slope. I knew then that if I didn’t quit drinking, Covid was going to end with me in AA. I don’t say that jokingly, alcoholism is not a joke. I also know that I cannot blame advertising, and society for my over indulgence in wine.

I can however say, that if you feel you’re having too much, you probably are. And if you don’t think you can live without it, you certainly can. I thought both those things, but I did the hard work of quitting and never looking back. Just like leaving Instagram, it’s only left me feeling more at peace with my life. I craved wine for weeks (another scary truth) but once that went away, it was smooth sailing. I sleep better, my pants are not too tight, I feel better, I swear my skin looks younger now, I never wake with a headache, and I am always in a conscious state of mind.

If you have a legitimate problem with alcohol, I know that just quitting cold turkey isn’t a luxury you have. I don’t take that for granted, and I urge you to seek help from a professional if you feel it’s needed.

Life is so precious, we should always enjoy it with a clear view.

Simply, Jules