Happy December everyone!! So, as we all know, the holidays are a time where people usually wine it up, or break out the annual eggnog. I’ve also heard some people refer to this time of year as Tipsy Time. Thanksgiving is also another infamous time of year for people to drink. I, myself, am also guilty of this. Since Thanksgiving has already passed and we are now a few days into December I am pledging myself to a “Don’t Drink in December” challenge. The rules are simple, no alcohol period.

Why I Am Choosing To Be Alcohol Free

There’s a few reasons why I am choosing to do this. I have been thinking about it for a while now. As mentioned earlier, over Thanksgiving I think I drank a bit more than I usually do. In fact I KNOW I drank a bit more than I usually do. Even though I am not currently an everyday drinker, it is important to me that I point out I used to be. I have done a lot of work on myself to get where I am today, but it’s time to step it up. Also, my body needs a bit of time to detox. There are so many reasons why I am doing this, but these are just the basics.

1. My skin is very sensitive. I also have eczema. When I drink wine or anything alcoholic for that matter, it seems like my eczema flares up BAD. I end up with dry patches all over my face. My skin needs time to heal and rehydrate. 
2. When I’m drinking, there’s an initial time where I am happy and bubbly, then that seems to disappear. At some point I always end up over thinking everything, and it’s BAD for my anxiety. 
3. Speaking of anxiety, that nasty beast always rears its head the next day. My anxiety always seems to be really bad the morning / day after drinking. Even if I just drank a little bit. 
4. I want to be present. It is December.  Our family has traditions, where we decorate the tree, we decorate our own stockings etc… I usually do this with wine in my hand. I have fun, for sure. I just want to do it this year without the wine. 
5. I smoke cigarettes, and it seems I smoke A LOT MORE when I’m drinking. We don’t smoke in our house, so this means my cigarette habit also takes me away from the activities going on inside the house. On any given night when I’m not drinking I may not even go outside after we get home from work for a cigarette for the whole night. 
6. I can’t remember the last time I went a whole entire month without drinking. Sure, I will go for two weeks or three weeks without a drink, but I can’t remember the last time it was a whole entire month. 
7. LESS CALORIES!!! I am not a large person, but I have definitely put a couple pounds on over Thanksgiving. It’s not just from the turkey and all the fixins’ either!

My Plan For Execution

The everyday aspect will be pretty easy. I don’t do a lot of social activities, go out to eat, or go to the bars a whole lot. The only times I usually go get my wine of choice is every other Friday or Saturday. So here, instead of going to the liquor store I might opt to get myself something else. I could use a new face mask, and I’m always up to getting new nail polish colors. I might even put aside the money to save it for a family vacation we are trying to plan for this summer.

The hard part will be on the actual holidays. Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and our annual holiday party at work. On the actual holidays that we have at our house I just won’t get any alcohol to have at home. I might even do some research on mock-tails just so I can use my pretty glasses. I’m an absolute sucker for carbonation as well.

The holiday parties outside of my home will be a challenge. Especially considering that our work holiday party will most likely be held at a bar. LOL. I work with a (very) rowdy crew and last year a bunch of us got pretty drunk. I forgot my phone at the bar! We had to go back the next day to get it. I had a lot of fun, but I was also extremely hungover the next day. So was my boss. We were a miserable bunch. Haha. This year I can have fun without the hangover. I can order my virgin drinks. A couple others that will be there don’t drink either. So I might just find myself hanging out with them.

What I Am Hoping To Get Out Of This

First and foremost my body needs to heal. I would love my skin to clear up. It’s dry enough as it is being winter here in cold ND. I want to enjoy life without feeling all of the negative effects of alcohol. I want to be present here for our family traditions, and I want to enjoy my family. I can’t do that completely if my body isn’t properly healed.

Also, I am not giving myself an “end date”, other than the fact that I have to get through December. So I’m not telling myself that if I successfully get through December, I can get smashed on New Years at midnight. I know that I sleep better when I’m not drinking, so I would like my sleep schedule to get back on track, even lose a little weight. Basically I want to reap all of the benefits of the reasons I listed above for why I am going alcohol-free. Also, it’s time. I have had my fun, and not so fun times with alcohol. It’s time to change my relationship with alcohol. If it ends up being a permanent thing, then so be it. Day by day, right? Maybe I’ll find some peace.

I will write updates on how I am doing along the way. I don’t imagine it will be too difficult, but I may just be underestimating this. I have read a lot of blogs on here about sobriety and being alcohol free, so I know if needed there is a support group. For that I am grateful!

I also think it’s important to note that I seriously considered doing this during a month like January, AFTER I already had this written, because I thought to myself it would be easier (ya know, without all of the holidays). Then after some deep thought decided I HAD to do it this month. I had already committed to it. If I pushed it off another month, I would probably just keep coming up with excuses for those months.

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Have you ever given up your relationship with alcohol? What did you like, what didn’t you like? If you did give up alcohol, why did you choose to do so? What were your challenges? Let me know in the comments!