I quit drinking over a year ago. My beloved husband told me that 500 days was how long it took to break a habit. Especially a bad habit. I guess he read it somewhere. I don’t know. But it stuck with me. So months after he mentioned it in a totally unrelated conversation, I decided to quit drinking for at least that long. I set a date a couple weeks out and told only one person at that time, my lifelong BFF. She had quit 6 ½ years prior. I have seen her blossom.
What was hard for me was not really the not drinking. Don’t get me wrong, I liked drinking. I was really good at it. But the harder part was the telling everyone. I know that sounds odd but I was in a different place then. I was quite concerned with how those closest to me would react to my non drinking because it is a very social thing and had been a part of so many of our traditions and activities. I also had believed that it was necessary in business. Everyone around me for so many years drank as a part of business events and culture. So I thought that I, too, had better do so. It was normal. It was accepted and the way it is done. At least that is how I saw it then. I expected a sort of anti-intervention, which I had gotten before when I toyed with not drinking a few other times in my life.
My husband was totally supportive. He was surprised because he didn’t really understand why I had decided to do so. Well, it was just for me. I found that it was stealing my life and my creativity and my energy and my drive. It made me feel less than excellent and that became unacceptable. It was a habit that I could no longer afford to keep around because it was costing too much. Feeling really great and being awake and alert and productive is too desirable to let having a few drinks, or anything else keep me from it. So I quit.
Now, I relish how great I feel practically every single day. Do I think I will never drink again? No, I think I probably will have some Champagne again at some point. Just like I still eat the highest quality and most perfect bread on special occasion. When I do, I savor every morsel. It just won’t ever be a regular part of my life again the way it was. I love feeling fantastic way too much to trade it for anything else.
I have nothing against drinking. I like to see people enjoying themselves in whatever way they choose. I celebrate all of the good things in life. I do, however, encourage you to look at anything, any habit in particular, that no longer suits you and consider letting it go. The results are amazing.
